Gil Hahn's Blog, page 7

Significance - Part 2

With these qualifications in mind, let's look at the mentions of Mr. Lincoln made in American newspapers during the month immediately following his speech at the Cooper Institute. According to the database of digitized newspaper maintained online at the Library of Congress, during the period from February 28, 1860 through March 29, 1860, the phrase "Abraham Lincoln" appeared on 30 of 3001 pages published by 96 newspapers. (The numbers omit 95 pages published by two newspapers in Hawaii and on...

Significance - Part 1

As a reader of history, I am annoyed by specious claims of originality, discovery or significance – think "lies, damned lies and statistics." Such claims sometimes denote simply innocent cases of over-selling the "merchandise." Sometimes they dress up the fact that the same old story is being retold the same old way. Sometimes they warn the reader that objectivity and context have been compromised to an extent that render the work untrustworthy. And sometimes they serve as the apologia that j...

Moby-Dick

The failure of Moby-Dick to become popular when published in 1851, and its subsequent resurrection in the 1920s, is an abiding mystery.  One school of literary criticism argues that the slaughters of World War I profoundly altered human consciousness and produce intellectual and artistic "modernity".  The timing works to explain the rediscovery of Moby-Dick, but the putative explanation begs the question why the Civil War, being comparably ghastly, more proximate in time and more im...

Oysters

According to the 1860 census, eight states produced oysters. The census enumerated 426 firms that employed 2,165 hands and produced a catch worth $1.4 million. Connecticut possessed that largest portion of the industry (44.7 percent). Oysters were dredged by sailboats and rowboats. Dealers in New York paid between $3 and $12 per thousand common oysters. They were shipped fresh, canned and pickled. A description provided by a traveler to the United States in the mid-1850s testifies to the popu...

George Whitefield - Part 2

Although Rev. Whitefield stoked the fires of religion in Britain and America, his legacy was to undercut the authority of the established churches and to encourage religious diversity. When local Anglican authorities in the colonies opposed him, he defied their authority. While not deliberately encouraging the dissenters in their opposition to established authority, the ecumenical nature of his mission led him to preach in any pulpit offered and to speak wherever invited. The joy he extolled...