Your favorite time period in history and why?

[Josh]

Originally posted March 30, 2006:

Mine would have to be the 1st Century AD-- what with the Roman Empire in ascendancy, and all the intrigue of second temple Judaism, plus the birth of Christianity- heady and fascinating times. I read as much as I can about it.

That and World War II. The late 1930's and 1940's had that same complexity- the interaction of various nationalities in a titanic struggle. WWII was what started my interest in history, but I am still fascinated all these years later by this awful conflict.

Needless to say, when I teach history in school I tend to pause for quite some time on both of these topics.

[aimee]

Originally posted Sept. 12, 2006:

I would have to say that the era of the late 1800’s, early 1900’s in Britain is my favorite. The English empire was going full swing the world was being experienced by Europeans which was both sad and exciting at the same time. It was a time where the media was all about adventure and discovery and deeds of heroism. It was a wonderful time for Literature: Jane Austin, Charlotte Bronte, Byron, Lewis Carrol, Wilke Collins, Charles Dickens, George Elliot, Nathaniel Hawthorne, John Keats, Rudyard Kipling, Edgar Allan Poe, Sir Walter Scott, Mary Shelley, Robert Lewis Stevenson, Alfred Tennyson, Thoreau,Whitman, Wordsworth, Chesterton, H.G. Wells, L.M. Alcott All these wrote during this period. Plus it was the Victorian era with butlers, servants, tea, elaborate gowns, etc…

I also like the period in England during the 1930’s to 50’s. In the 20’s&30s there seemed to be a lot of little ‘societies’ about reform. Everyone was experimenting with the ideas of socialism and communism and trying to discover a better way. Until of course the Nazi’s came along and gave it all a bad name. I really admire England during WWII as well… I was watching a program on OPB the other night and it was showing real footage of the fire-storms and bombings. The people there were unbelievably brave. A couple of my favorite authors from this period are Dorothy Sayers and P.G. Wodehouse, (and of course C.S. Lewis and Tolkien)
I was looking Wodehouse up online, and there are some really interesting transcripts the Germans took from him while he was detained during the war. www.wodehouse.org

[Josh]

11/20/06:

Originally posted Sept. 15, 2006

Yep, I've always been an Anglophile at heart. I know that admiration you're talking about.


(Just kinda testing out the new features here)

[Josh]

I'm teaching the 1950's right now, and though I wouldn't really say it's among my top favorite time periods in history, this decade does hold a fascination to me. I've noticed that a lot of the documentaries I've seen and the texts I've read tend to be pretty critical of 1950's culture- especially in regard to supression of women and conformity to certain norms, but I have to say I think we overlook a lot of great things about that time period that we have lost- things that should cause us to feel some serious loss.

Also, one of my very favorite songs by my favorite band, Daniel Amos, is all about the "Greatest Generation"- a tribute to that generation in all their strengths, weaknesses, virtues, and foibles:

When Everyone Wore Hats
Terry Taylor

Here's to the long-lost world of
Chain-smoking dreamers
War and baseball heroes
Ticker tape and streamers,
Cocktail drinkers, Bible believers
When light was still filling up a
New York river

They knew the grace of tradition
Possessed a love of decorum
Shook the hand of conviction
No one complained then of boredom

When everyone wore hats
They dreamed of ocean voyages
Believed in true romance
Found their hearts and voices

Here's to the long lost hopes of
Those mothers and fathers
Of rags to riches
Of style and manners
To the American dream in a
Pledge to honor
Promises made to their
Sons and daughters

Threw off the chains of depression
Built up the arms of aggression
Left us a mixed impression
Some died before they learned their lesson

When everyone wore hats
In the land of immigrants and pilgrims
The world came rolling off their backs
And landed on their children's

They knew the grace of tradition
Possessed a love of decorum
Shook the hand of conviction
No one complained then of boredom

When everyone wore hats
And innocence found simple pleasures
They built the cities, drew the maps
With clues to find their buried treasures

When everyone wore hats
And handed down their pride and prejudice
They dropped good fortune in our laps
We traded it for vice and avarice

When everyone wore hats
Would-be kings with ragged crowns
They say the style is coming back
What's out-of-fashion comes around

Uncertain where the road was leading
But trusting God was on their side
They traced the moral chain of being
And filmed it all in black and white

And everyone wore hats...

[Josh]

Anyone else have a favorite time period in history?

The history teacher in me certainly hopes so

[Josh]

Man... you guys must have had some boring history teachers in high school!

[michelle]

Here is what I remember from high school history:

• We read "From Sea to Shining Sea" by Alexander Thom and it was one of the best books I've ever read.
  
• We read "Centennial" by James Michener and I hated every page of it.
  
• I wrote a research paper on the Underground Railroad/Civil War.
  
• I had to memorize a bunch of stuff to write essays for our tests.
  
• We made a video with stuff from a bunch of eras.
  
• We watched (I slept through) "From Russia with Love" for our final.
  

Sorry to dissapoint you, Josh!

[Josh]

Did you like the teacher? Was he/she a good teacher?

[ryan]

Wow, I am a little surprised that there hasn't been more feedback here.

I have a host of favorite time periods. I have always been interested in Church reformation and reform. I am drawn to the first century after the Protestant Reformation. The Reformers such as Luther, Zwingli, Calvin and Knox - the religious wars (particularly those between the Huguenots and the Kingdom of France) through the English reforms made under Elizabeth I- these I find interesting. I am particularly interested in the motives for challenging the Church. Sometimes the motives are religiously based, but other times they are quite obviously based on political gain.

I am also an amateur Egyptologist. A favorite period within the Egyptian Empire would be the 18th Dynasty. Many have supposed this is the period in which the Israelites labored under the whip of the Egyptians.

I gotta appreciate WWII (a newer interest for me) and I have used the "Everyone Wore Hats" line while talking about the "man in the gray flannel suit" in my 50s unit.

[Josh]

Wow, I am a little surprised that there hasn't been more feedback here.

Me too. Not enough of us history teachers I guess.

On the subject of the Reformation, I just watched part of an interesting documentary the other day about Michelangelo's involvement with a protestent-friendly Catholic reform group in Italy. Pretty interesting.

As to Egyptian history, I prefer the position that Ramesses II was the Pharaoh of the Exodus (19th Dynasty, right?). If you have thoughts on that, take this link. I'd be curious about your perspective on that and related topics:

Is the Exodus Account Historically Reliable?

Also, are you familiar with K. A. Kitchen's On the Historical Reliability of the Old Testament? He's a Christian egyptologist and that's one of my favorite books are archaelogy and the OT.

[ryan]

I also personally believe that the Exodus happened during the 19th Dynasty, though, I am not entirely confident that it happened during the reign of Ramses II. I have heard way too many theories. I have some favorite theories, such as Akhenaton was Moses. I do not subscribe to this theory at all, but there are a few parallels that are unavoidable to the casual observer.

I have not read Kitchen's work, but now I am interested. The archaeological reliability of the Old Testament is a topic that is right up my alley. I am most familiar with Keller's work The Bible as History. Unfortunately, much of the scholarship of this book is a little date as the book was written in the 1950s.

Do you happen to know the title of the Michaelangelo documentary? I would be interested in checking it out.