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Category Archives: history
Daniel Isaac Eaton, Thomas Paine’s publisher, accused of blasphemy
The prosecution mounted a brilliant case against Thomas Paine’s publisher. The first witness the attorney General called was Henry Ben Raven, who, as stated earlier, had purchased a copy of Thomas Paine’s book from Daniel Isaac Eaton’s shop. The Attorney … Continue reading
The Ghost of Thomas Paine haunts the Church of England
When Richard Dawkins recently claimed that Christians were “not really Christian at all”, he wasn’t the first famous secularist to make such a claim. Over 200 years ago, Thomas Paine, that oft-quoted American patriot, wrote a pamphlet that said basically … Continue reading
Then she stole the sailor’s heart
It had all started when Susannah Lalliment “stole” that ten pound note she saw lying on the floor. After a year of life at sea and waiting at port, it must have seemed that her sentence of a “life of transpotation” really was a life of transportation. Until she met a ship’s carpenter, and a forgotten hero… Continue reading
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A historical look at climate change
The term “climate change” is much older than I once believed. I found it in a newspaper from May 2, 1913, almost 100 years ago. But that isn’t the first time “climate change” has been used, or debated… Continue reading
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Fort Allison: Black History and the War of 1812 in Illinois
The early settlement of Crawford County, Illinois is still relatively clouded in mystery. The movies used to simplify the westward expansion as a contest between “Indians” and “The White Man.” But when I presented this stereotype a couple of decades … Continue reading
The fate of Captain Rowland and his privateer brig Holkar
Stranded on her tropical island, it’s likely that Susannah Lalliment didn’t know or care what happened to her would be rescuers turned deserters, Captain Rowland and his Holkar privateer. To the British navy and merchant marine, however, the brig Holkar … Continue reading
Susannah Lalliment meets the American pirates
Despite her conviction, Susannah Lalliment was lucky. The far off colonies of the Empire had too few loyal subjects, and the parliament had an idea of how to get more people there. Susannah’s death sentence was commuted to banishment, life … Continue reading
When Tecumseh made the Mississippi flow backwards
Are recent earthquakes in middle America only aftershocks of a much bigger disaster from two hundred years ago? Continue reading
The Empire’s New Talent
The Academy Awards this year, like other years, are going to the British. But does the Isle across the Pond deserve it? Has it ever such praise deserved? Continue reading
