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Full-Text Articles in History
The Barber Who Read History And Was Overwhelmed, Rowan Cahill
The Barber Who Read History And Was Overwhelmed, Rowan Cahill
Rowan Cahill
Beginning with a chance encounter in a Barber's shop whilst travelling, the author ruminates on history, and the proposition that each and everyone of us is an historian, and that in a sense we are all time travellers. Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956) is invoked, and the role of radical historians from below discussed before the author returns to his Barber shop encounter, and to Brecht. The title of the piece references Brecht's poem A Worker Reads History (1936).
"The Church Or The Wheel?" Religious Institutions Respond To The American Bicycle Boom.Pptx, Christopher A. Sweet
"The Church Or The Wheel?" Religious Institutions Respond To The American Bicycle Boom.Pptx, Christopher A. Sweet
Christopher A. Sweet
“These bladder-wheel bicycles are diabolical devices of the demon of darkness.” Thus railed a Baltimore preacher against the massive wave of popularity for the safety bicycle in the mid-1890s. From a 21st century perspective it seems quaint that American religious institutions felt threatened by something so mundane as bicycles. At the time though, easy-to-ride and relatively cheap safety bicycles presented a direct challenge to many established cultural and social norms. Women cyclists gained independent mobility and were able to press for dress reform. Physical health became a priority for city-dwellers. Christian churches and pastors primarily criticized the bicycle for encouraging …