Over the past few months I’ve enjoyed listening to the podcast series Presidential; each episode focuses on one of the presidents of the USA, providing a colourful overview of their life and times. I have been listening in chronological order and am currently at the end of the 19th century, and I have been impressed […]
2021 has continued the frenzied divisive politics of the 2020 American presidential election. President Trump is leaving office in a matter of days – perhaps via impeachment – and Joe Biden will take over the presidential hot-seat; however, the partisan chasm between Republicans and Democrats looks set to worsen over this next election cycle. But […]
In terms of conflict between Britain and the United States, everyone has some knowledge of the revolutionary war of the late 1700s (a British defeat), and some may have heard of the “War of 1812” in which the White House was burned down (a draw between both nations); but hardly anyone will have heard of […]
Earlier in the year at the start of lock-down I read a book about one of the USA’s earliest foreign wars: their conflict against the barbary pirates in the first decade of the 1800s. I was interested to learn more about the growth of American imperial power, especially due to covering it on a couple […]
During lock-down I have taken the opportunity to sort out my book collection – both physical and digital. This has resulted in a rather high “to read” pile of books: one is beside a book-case, whereas the digital pile has been uploaded to various devices to plough through. My eyes have been rolling down pages […]
Last month I posted about Richard Nixon and the extent to which he tackled and solved domestic problems during his presidency (1969-1974). The main motivation for the post was related to the ending of study of the module ‘American Dream: Reality & Illusion 1945-80’ at my college (having taken the decision to ditch it in […]
There is a debate amongst historians regarding the moment as to when America became a world power. When did this vast country emerge from a position of isolationist continental force to become a significant player on the global stage? The 1898 Spanish-American War is a clear candidate for that very moment; when the young United […]
The new academic year has seen my involvement in A-level teaching increase: from covering one module in both the first year and second year I’m now teaching all classes 100% of the time. This has led to the inheriting of a module to continue to its conclusion in the second year; the AQA module ‘The […]
The recent end of A-level teaching has meant that I’ve been able to start planning ahead to the next academic year in 2018-19. I’ll be continuing onward with – what will become – the new second year class and will complete the AQA module ‘The Tudors’ with them. Furthermore, I’m also picking up a brand […]
So, today was the premiere of the new play by Dave Shakespeare: The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln. It was received warm to middling reviews and responses from the unfortunate souls that were willing to indulge my artistic endeavour. In the same of 4 sheets of A4 it recounts not only Lincoln’s death, but also the […]
Last week I posted about the importance of the 1860 presidential election in the United States. The victory of Abraham Lincoln for the growing Republican party formalised the wedge that existed between the Northern and the Southern states. Previous to Lincoln’s ground-breaking win came the threat that those in the South would secede from the […]
