We're All in This Together: Studying Karl Marx

We will begin our tour of Karl Marx tomorrow in class. After reading through pp. 601-02 and 638-40, read here about other students who are currently studying Marx, and watch this to see how Marxian analysis influences American pop culture.

Find out more "below":

Read more about Marxism and compare Marxism and socialism here. There are scholars and citizens who call themselves "non-Marxist socialists," while others employ the term "democratic socialist."

Members of both the proletariat and the bourgeoise are encouraged to leave comments, but especially the proletariat.

(And, as a follow-"up" from today's class, here is an on-line exhibit of art related to Giribaldi).

[Photo credit here.]

From the Painters' Point of View: Romantic Art

While I'll resist making a pun by saying that I love Romantic art, I will provide links to the paintings several artists.

Take a look at the paintings, and brush up on the basic biographical details of the painters' lives; we will need this information as we canvass the history of Romantic art.

[For the first three links, find Romanticism on Mark Harden's homepage, click, and find the painters and their paintings here.] Here are some arresting landscapes from John Constanble. Check out the work of French artist Theodore Gericault, and the German painter Caspar David Friedrich. And finally here is an assortment of paintings for your viewing and analysis.

[Photo credit here.]

Industrial Revolution

Check out this site that deals with inventors and inventions related to the Industrial Revoltion, and read some about the travels of Muhammad As-Saffar, a Moroccan who visited France during the Industrial Revolution. Read selections from the book here. Think about ways you might compare the travel writing we've read previously with As-Saffar's journey, focusing on context, point of view, and change over time.

History SMARTs in Room 3103

Here's a picture from Friday's unveiling of the SMART board. SMART technologies is based in Canada, and you can read more about the company here.

What do you think of the SMART board, and how useful is it for history class? Even though we used it for review jeopardy, what ideas of your own can you offer for how we can better use it in history? Pardon the pun, but I bet you can think of many, many ways to utilize SMART board in class. I am sure your comments will be right on the money, and priceless.

Read more about the photographer here.

Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite

Welcome back, and Happy New Year!

Check out the companion site to the French Revolution documentary. A host of interesting links, trailer(s), and even a historical game.

Make sure your volume is up when you upload the site. And no (pardon the puns), it is not available on wii as far as I know.