David W. Tollen's Blog, page 8

Jericho River Article at Ancient History Encyclopedia

Ancient History Encyclopedia has just published an article about me and about my book, The Jericho River. Please check it out!

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Ancient History Encyclopedia (ancient.eu) is a dynamic nonprofit spreading knowledge of history. The site has both depth and breadth, and it’s become one of my go-to sources for research. It’s doing extremely well, winning the EU Web awards and attracting extremely high traffic (and impressive Alexa rankings). I’ve recently joined AHE’s board of advisors.

The Jericho River, by David W. Tollen, (Winifred Press 2014, 2017) is a fantasy novel about history, for adults and young adults. Through a magical adventure, it explores and teaches the entire history of Western Civilization.

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© 2017 by David W. Tollen. All rights reserved.

Teaching Center: News from the Turbo-Charged World of Education

This is how the world should work …

The Democracy Watch List

Here’s what to watch out for.

How would the Trump administration erode American freedom and democracy, if it went down that road? I’ve approached this question as a lawyer and amateur historian, studying democracies that lost freedom in recent years, as well as some currently on the brink. I’ve put together a list of their leaders’ moves against liberty — then deleted those I consider barely possible in the United States, thanks to our culture and Constitution. The result is below: steps the Trump administration and its GOP allies might take without obviously violating the Constitution.

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Aleberto Fujimori, President of Peru, 1990-2000

We often look to Hitler and Mussolini as models (or to the emperor in Star Wars), but I doubt America risks a quick trip to totalitarianism. The real risk is a slide to hybrid or “illiberal” democracy: a system led by elected officials but without the political liberties and other civil rights that support fair elections, responsible government, and true freedom. So my review focused on governments like Erdoğan’s in Turkey, Chavez’s in Venezuela, and Fujimori’s in Peru. I also looked at teetering democracies, like Poland under the Law and Justice Party and Hungary under Orban. (I left out Russia: a land so in love with brutal authoritarians that it makes a poor model.)

This post does not argue that the Trump administration will erode American freedom. Rather, it offers warning signs. Here’s how modern elected leaders have eroded freedom: The Democracy Watch List.

Refusing to investigate or prosecute crimes by allied politicians, civil servants, and police.
Threatening investigation or prosecution of opponents (politicians, civil servants, judges, journalists, advocacy leaders), and launching actual investigations and prosecution.

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Recep Erdoğan, Prime Minister then President of Turkey, 2003-present

Refusing to arrest or liquidate vigilante groups or militias that harass the administration’s opponents.
Refusing to investigate the administration’s own alleged wrongdoing, or to participate in investigations.
Barring unfriendly journalists from press conferences and other events or keeping them from asking questions.
Pressuring advertisers not to support unfriendly media, by withholding government contracts and licenses.
Helping friendly media through special access and interviews — more than previous administrations.
Favoring friendly media in the award of broadcast licenses and rights for radio, TV, and other communication systems (e.g., a politically biased replacement for net-neutrality).
Claiming a “war with the media”: in other words, attempting to discredit unfavorable news by suggesting the media itself opposes the administration.
Packing the courts: appointing more judges than the system normally requires, to dilute the influence of uncooperative judges (e.g., increasing the Supreme Court to more than nine justices).
Firing civil servants who disagree or criticize.

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Donald Trump, President of the United States, 2017

Collecting and/or publicizing private, embarrassing information about political opponents.
Refusing to cooperate with opposing governors or mayors, or union leaders, to prevent their reelection.
Expanding libel and slander laws protecting political leaders.
Refusing to cooperate with international organizations that monitor and protect human rights.
Excusing the administration’s crimes and other lawbreaking as breaks with “political correctness.”
Telling the public obvious lies, over and over — in other words, regularly making claims or offering explanations that aren’t just debatable or suspicious (like so much said by politicians) but rather demonstrably false.

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Images:

Prime Minister of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan cropped.jpg, by World Economic Forum from Cologny, Switzerland, provided through Wikimedia Commons
Fujimori and Trump images from the public domain

© 2017 by David W. Tollen. All rights reserved.

Teaching History by Sailing the Jericho River

How an Unusual Novel and an Ohio Teacher Are Repackaging History Education

I’m the author of a fantasy novel that teaches history, and a high school teacher in Ohio has done some smart, creative instruction with it. This post describes her lesson-building and offers ideas on teaching with my book — along with links to sample lesson plans — in high school and middle school and at the college level.

The book is The Jericho River, by David Tollen (2d. Ed.; Winifred Press 2014). It’s a fantasy novel, but it’s also a history. The plot turns a timeline of Western Civilization into a river in another world. The story’s teenage hero travels the river by boat, on a quest that takes him through Sumer, Babylonia, ancient Greece, Medieval Europe, and the other key societies of our past — in chronological order. The text includes short notes about the underlying history. They tell, for instance, how a humble French lawyer’s son became king of Sweden, as well as the origins of coffee, the cat, chivalry, and the Atlantis myth. The story also shows young readers the magic of history: the myth, the pageantry, the castles and temples, the glamorous royals, the downtrodden slaves. And it links history with the type of fantasy adventure many teens enjoy. The Jericho River has won several awards, as well as endorsements from historians and educators — and fortunately, it’s attracted the attention of a particularly creative teacher.

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One of the maps in The Jericho River

Rudy Edwards teaches at Goshen High School in Ohio, which happens to be her alma mater. She also has a master’s in social studies education, from Miami University. She’s used The Jericho River for three years in a class on the history of Western Civilization, for juniors and seniors, as well as some sophomores. “I was actually looking to lighten up the subject,” Rudy explains. She also wanted to distract students from an unhelpful focus on dates. “I wanted my kids to follow the story, the progression. Dates are very hard for me … and for the students.” And after all, she points out, history isn’t dates. “History is a story,” or “a soap opera.” You might think Rudy’s goals would lead to historical novels, but that’s not what she wanted. “Teachers tend to back away from historical novels because they usually hit only one or two objectives, since they only cover one period.” Hoping for something broader, Rudy googled “fiction” and “Western Civilization” and, “[t]o my surprise, I got exactly what I was looking for. The Jericho River hits multiple objectives.”

During their first two quarters, Rudy’s students study Western Civilization up to 1492, and they read The Jericho River in the second quarter. “It’s a good culminating event,” Rudy says, and it “helps cement what they’ve learned in their minds.” Rudy also gives her class lessons related to the book. Last year, she assigned boat dioramas. Each student built a model boat and scene based on the culture, technology, and style of a historic society visited by the story. And each wrote a summary of the society’s history and its role in The Jericho River. Another year, Rudy assigned a suite of “choose-your-own” activities, particularly written work. The options included an editorial on a controversial issue in The Jericho River, an essay on the student’s favorite passage, a top-ten-list of facts learned, and a faux front-page news article on a scene from the story. “I like thinking exercises,” Rudy says, and these exercises call on the students to think about history.

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A “lumin”: one of the mythical creatures from The Jericho River – art by Maia Kobabe

Rudy suggested another lesson to me, based on an idea from her students. “Lumins” are the mythical creatures of The Jericho River: Greek centaurs and satyrs, Egyptian sphinxes and mummies, Medieval European fairies, etc. Rudy suggested a lumin-creation lesson. For instance: Design a lumin for ancient Roman society, based on images in Roman art and literature. Draw it and describe it in an essay. What values does it stand for? What sort of conduct does it encourage? Is this a lumin for all Romans, or only for certain classes or other groups?

I’ve created lesson plans based on all Rudy’s ideas, and they’re posted (free of charge) at my author website. They incorporate multiple learning objectives — research, writing, technology, visual arts — and teachers can target them to fit their state standards for social studies and language, as well as their unique classrooms. The lessons also offer options for partner, peer, and small group work, and they support multiple learning styles.

Rudy’s used The Jericho River in several ways, and I’m hoping other teachers will too. The book has a five-point educational strategy. First, it teaches students that history is fun. Second, by serving up history as fantasy, it triggers the part of a young reader’s mind that retains the details of Harry Potter’s world and of fantasy video games, aiding retention. Third, story itself serves as a high level timeline for Western Civilization, giving young readers the entire 5,000 year arc in easily retained chronological order. Fourth, the book connects well-known icons from the past with the societies that generated them. That gives historical context to familiar images, like pyramids, knights, centaurs, and battleships. Fifth, The Jericho River offers memorable tidbits form the past, increasing interest and the connection between familiar icons and the societies that generated them. For example, the notes explain that those winged babies in Renaissance paintings aren’t actually cherubs. They’re called putti, and people confused them with cherubs during the last couple centuries. Biblical cherubs were actually gigantic, fearsome beings.

The Jericho River is particularly useful for high school world history, as well as for sixth and seventh grade core teachers, since it supports their dual responsibilities for history and English. And obviously The Jericho River works in Western Civilization courses like Rudy’s, as well at the college level. It’s particularly powerful in the hands of creative teachers, like Rudy Edwards.

The Black General in 18th Century Europe

Revolutionary France had a black general. His name was Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, and he was born a slave in Haiti — then a French colony — the son of an African slave and her master, a French nobleman. Dumas’ father had little money and actually pawned the boy in 1776, when he was fourteen, but then bought him back. Father and son moved to France, where Dumas gained his freedom and a gentleman’s education. He enlisted as a private in the army at age twenty-four and soared to the rank of general by thirty-one, thanks to courage, brains, and charisma — and thanks to the French Revolution, which created unheard-of opportunities for talented young men of humble birth. Dumas repeatedly distinguished himself in combat, and France’s Austrian enemies called him the Schwarzer Teufel: the black devil.

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Napoleon Bonaparte was another talented young officer, and Dumas served under the future emperor in Italy and Egypt. Napoleon had risen even faster than Dumas, and he was a military genius, but he was insecure. And Dumas — tall, handsome, athletic, and capable — made for a threatening rival. The two clashed more than once, so when Napoleon seized power in 1799, Dumas had an enemy at the top. He’d been captured by Italian enemies the same year and languished in a drafty dungeon, and Napoleon’s government was slow to work for his release. When Dumas finally gained his freedom in 1801, his health was broken, and Napoleon never restored his military career. In fact, the emperor soon reversed the Revolutionary government’s egalitarian race laws, ending the freedom that had made Dumas’ career possible.

Napoleon’s empire didn’t even pay Dumas his pension or back pay. The black general died of stomach cancer in 1806 at age forty-three, leaving his wife and two children poverty-stricken. But his legacy lives on. If the name sounds familiar, it’s because the general’s son was Alexandre Dumas, author of The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo. Much of author Dumas’ writing features adventure inspired by his father’s life.

For a fun full biography, check out The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo, by Tom Reiss — winner of the Pulitzer Prize.

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Painting: Général Alexandre Dumas, by Olivier Pichat (1825-1912)

© 2017 by David W. Tollen. All rights reserved.

 

The Roman Empire Survived Unbalanced Executives — Maybe America Can Too

The early Roman Empire survived two mentally unbalanced emperors: Caligula and Nero. In fact, neither seems to have harmed to the economy or disrupted the lives of the common people, despite bizarre behavior. That’s encouraging in the age of Donald Trump.

Nero entertains the crowds

During the 2016 campaign, Mr. Trump repeatedly threatened to ignore legal restraints on executive power. (See my posts on the Founding Fathers, jailing Clinton, and the death of democracy.) If he tries to govern that way, and the GOP Congress fails in its duty to impeach, American democracy faces an existential threat. But psychologists have suggested Mr. Trump is a clinical narcissist. (See Psychology Today and Vanity Fair.) If so, he’s apt to lie without considering the consequences, and we shouldn’t take his promises seriously. Narcissism would also suggest we shouldn’t compare Mr. Trump to thoughtful, capable authoritarians, like Putin and Mussolini, but rather to imbalanced rulers, like Caligula and Nero.

Caligula

Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus — a.k.a. Caligula — ruled from 37 to 41 A.D. Roman sources report that he made his horse a senator, slept with his sisters and prostituted them to other men, ordered his soldiers to collect seashells as plunder from Neptune, killed nobles frequently, dressed up as both male and female gods, and possibly craziest of all, planned to move the imperial seat to Alexandria. It’s hard to say how Caligula’s reign impacted the economy in the short run, and he certainly bankrupted his own treasury. But during his lifetime, the Roman Empire rose to new heights of power and wealth. And not even Caligula’s worst critics claimed he ravaged the common people’s lives. So far as we can tell, Caligula’s erratic rule didn’t set the empire back much at all.

Nero, imagined (Remind you of anyone?)

Nero was Caligula’s nephew and ruled from 54 to 68 A.D. He apparently murdered his mother and step-brother and two of his wives — one of them pregnant — performed music and poetry in public (shameful for a high-ranking Roman), and competed in the Olympics, where he “won” multiple events through bribery or coercion, including a chariot race he didn’t even finish. And despite his awesome political responsibilities, Nero saw himself mostly as a performer; his legendary last words were: “What an artist dies in me!” But it seems Nero didn’t disrupt the economy or the common people’s lives any more than Caligula. In fact, one source (Tacitus) reports that the lower classes mourned his death. And though Nero did preside over a depression, it’s not likely his spending was the cause. In the long run, his reign did little or nothing to stall the empire’s rise in power and wealth.

The Roman example isn’t all good. Caligula died at assassins’ hands, and Nero’s reign ended with revolt, suicide, and a year or more of civil war. Those outcomes sound terrifying as predictions for America’s future. But assassination and civil war were much more normal for the Romans than for the modern world. They didn’t break with tradition any more than, say, an impeachment in the U.S., or a contested vote decided by the courts. Plus, America has impeachment and courts to decide power battles, along with limited terms of office and a clear, peaceful system for replacing a disgraced leader. The Roman Empire didn’t. (That’s why it fell, in large part, as explained in my post on America and Rome, bullet 5.) So violence isn’t anywhere near as likely for America.

Of course, it’s hard to say what really happened during Caligula’s reign or Nero’s. Their Roman enemies may have exaggerated or even made up their worst exploits. Still, it’s likely each emperor was, at a minimum, a narcissist — like, apparently, Donald Trump.

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Images:

Christian Dirce, 1897, Henryk Hektor Siemiradzki — cropped
Caligula and Germanicus aureus (gold coin), 37-41, from Classical Numismatic Group, Inc. http://www.cngcoins.com, via Wikimedia Commons
Kaiser Nero, Abraham Janssens van Nuyssen (1575–1632)

© 2016 by David W. Tollen. All rights reserved.

Here’s what I think progressives and moderates should do …

Get more involved in politics, not less. The country needs you now more than ever.


Support the new president, so long as he governs like the leader of a democracy, not as an authoritarian. None of us benefits from the president’s failure.


Reach out to threatened minority communities, particularly Muslims and Hispanics. Visit mosques, community centers, etc., and tell them you stand with them, value them, and won’t stand by quietly if they’re victimized.


Do not tolerate the basket of horribles. Don’t let the fact that Trump won (in the Electoral College, probably not the popular vote) legitimize the bigotry and hate of vast numbers of his supporters.


Try to understand the majority of Trump voters, who are not in the basket of horribles. Life in the 21st Century is threatening for millions of Americans, particularly working class white people, or they’d never have voted for Trump. Neither party has addressed their needs, and that must change.


Support the Democratic Party, donating time and money. The Democrats apparently gained in both the House and Senate in 2016. Prepare to retake both in 2018, and as many state governments as possible.


Monitor and defend civil rights and democratic institutions. Resist any attempt to discriminate on the basis of religion, including in immigration. Resist any attempt to prosecute Hillary Clinton, because in a democracy, the losing candidate doesn’t go to jail. Resist voter suppression, disguised as voter ID laws or in any other guise. March, protest, donate, and vote.


If the new president tries to rule as an authoritarian, work for his removal. Defend liberty and freedom. March, protest, donate, and vote.


But, again, give President Trump a chance. Hope that we can work with him as the loyal opposition, rather than as bitter enemies.

Trump, ISIS, and the Tactics of the Weak

A prominent Trump supporter recently offered a view that seems to represent much of the nation. “When I’m looking for somebody who’s going to deal with ISIS,” said Pastor Robert Jeffress, an influential TV host, “I want the meanest, toughest, son of a you-know-what I can find.” Few would doubt that Donald Trump is mean, but what makes Pastor Jeffress thinks he’s tough? What makes millions of Americans think Trump is tough when, in fact, his behavior suggests he’s unusually sensitive? What, for that matter, makes us think ISIS is tough — so much so that “looking for somebody who’s going to deal with ISIS” becomes the top priority? The answer is that Americans have been fooled by bluster and the tactics of the weak.

President Theodore Roosevelt: “speak softly and carry a big stick”

Bluster means loud, boastful, and threatening talk. It’s meant to give an impression of power. Terrorism plays a similar role, and in fact you might call it geopolitical bluster. It is devastating for its individual victims, but it has no military impact. So on a geopolitical scale, between nations, a terrorist attack is a loud, threatening statement.

Terrorism and bluster are tactics of the weak. In the modern world, strong governments don’t use them much. Those governments have real power, so they don’t have to give the impression of power. That’s why Theodore Roosevelt recommended in 1901 that America, “speak softly and carry a big stick.” American presidents have followed his lead, warning off potential opponents with promises of “serious consequences” and “proportional response,” rather than death and destruction. Nor do America and other great powers resort to terrorism. Contrast that tradition with Saddam Hussein, dictator of a weak nation. “We will chase [Americans] to every corner at all times. No high tower of steel will protect them against the fire of truth.” Bluster. (Americans weren’t impressed, and a few weeks later, in February of 1991, Saddam’s armies surrendered to U.S. and coalition forces.)

Donald Trump is all about bluster. “I beat China all the time, all the time.” “Day one, my first hour in office, those people [illegal immigrants] are gone.” “[N]obody builds walls better than me … and I will have Mexico pay for that wall.” And, “[I have] a foolproof way of winning the war with ISIS.” And like most blusterers, Mr. Trump lacks actual, visible strength. In fact, it’s his extreme sensitivity and vulnerability to criticism that have repeatedly gotten him into trouble, leading to resentful 3:00 a.m. tweets that alienate voters, and leading to furious attacks on the media and the “rigged” system whenever he starts to lose a contest.

ISIS is all about tactics of the weak too: terrorism and bluster, the latter often through carefully choreographed videos. The loud threats and vicious murders of individuals cloak ISIS’s extreme weakness. It holds only a small, shifting, and constantly threatened territory, and it’s fighting governments with substantial armies, including some of the world’s greatest powers. Its days are numbered. Yet vast numbers of Americans — including Donald Trump and apparently Pastor Jeffress — consider ISIS so dangerous that they’re willing to compromise core values, like freedom of religion, to beat it.

America must return to the common sense of Theodore Roosevelt and to the calm, steady confidence of our last few generations. ISIS is not an existential threat to the United States; it’s a bee attacking a tiger. As for Donald Trump, he’s not our “toughest, son of a you-know-what.” He’s all bluster. Terrorism and bluster are tactics of the weak. The strong speak softly and carry a big stick.

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Painting: John Singer Sargent, Theodore Roosevelt, Presidential Portrait (1903) (cropped)

© 2016 by David W. Tollen. All rights reserved.

This is How Democracy Begins to Die

You might think it’s aristocrats and the rich who most threaten democracy. But actually democracy tends to die the hands of angry working people, who turn against elites and their own constitution and follow an authoritarian leader. That leader destroys democracy, or injures it so much that it begins to die.

The Acropolis – Athens: mother of democracy and of tyrants

Populist tyrants regularly threatened democracy in the ancient Mediterranean. Tyrants like Dionysius the Elder of Syracuse (405 BC+) and Lachares of Athens (300 BC+) rose to power as populist demagogues, then overthrew democratic constitutions. The Mediterranean’s greatest ancient republic died the same way. Julius Caesar led the working classes against the Roman Republic’s troubled aristocracy, and he ultimately used elected office to seize unconstitutional power. And though Caesar didn’t finally destroy the Republic, he paved the way for his great-nephew, Augustus, the first emperor. (None of these ancient states qualifies as fully democratic, as we use that term. But they were democratic for their time, until the rise of the authoritarians.)

Hitler and Mussolini fit the pattern too: authoritarians leading angry working people against the elites, attacking democracy as corrupt, and initially taking power through elections. So do a long list of more recent dictators, particularly in Africa and Latin America. They’ve used the people’s anger against colonial powers or their fear of communism to seize total power.

American democracy had never even started down this path, until Donald Trump. Populists like Andrew Jackson and FDR led working people against the elites, but without threatening authoritarian rule or attacking the Constitution. So Donald Trump brings something new to American politics, though the ancients would’ve recognized him quickly. Mr. Trump leads a movement of working people angry at the nation’s leaders. He’s contemptuous of the old Constitution — calling for greater presidential power, along with religious discrimination, torture, and restrictions on the press — and he attacks our democracy as corrupt. He even talks like a tyrant: “I alone can fix it.” Mr. Trump probably can’t create a dictatorship in America. But as an authoritarian president, he could erode democracy. Turkey’s democracy started down that path this year, as did Russia’s with the rise of Putin, who Trump so admires.

What would it take to get a President Trump out of office in 2020, if he loses the next election and claims it was corrupt? What would it take to prevent voter intimidation, if the man commanding the federal police and military encourages it? Would a President Trump enforce court decisions he claims are corrupt, or protect the civil rights of his political opponents? This is how democracy begins to die.

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Painting: Leo von Klenze, Ideale Ansicht der Akropolis und des Areopags in Athen (1846) — cropped

© 2016 by David W. Tollen. All rights reserved.

Trump Threatens to Jail Clinton: An Authoritarian in America

George Washington’s legacy is restraint, particularly on presidential power. That legacy is threatened like never before.

Last night, Donald Trump told Hillary Clinton he plans to put her in jail if he’s elected President of the United States.

Dictators threaten to arrest political rivals. American presidential candidates never have. One of the central features of our democracy, since the Founding Fathers, is that we do not use the criminal justice system against political opponents. We separate the two realms as much as possible, to protect political freedom.

Mr. Trump has repeatedly said he admires the methods of dictators, rather than the restraint of George Washington, which has guided American politics for more than two centuries. Last night was another chilling example. Mr. Trump does not understand democracy, and his election could lead to a quasi-democratic regime like Putin’s in Russia, which he so admires, or Erdoğan’s in Turkey — or to civil war.