In its heyday, dynamite was a transformative tool; it could blast rock quarries, excavate tunnels, and demolish buildings with power and reliability never before seen. But it also proved to be useful in some surprising ways. In this special episode of Sidedoor, we team up with the history podcast Backstory to explore two less-typical applications of the explosive: the artistic blasting at Mount Rushmore, and how anarchists used dynamite to advance their political agenda in 1886.
Tag Archives: History
Best New Books: “Ahab’s Rolling Sea – A Natural History Of Moby-Dick” By Richard J. King
From a University of Chicago Press review:
A revelation for Moby-Dick devotees and neophytes alike, Ahab’s Rolling Sea is a chronological journey through the natural history of Melville’s novel. From white whales to whale intelligence, giant squids, barnacles, albatross, and sharks, Richard J. King examines what Melville knew from his own experiences and the sources available to a reader in the mid-1800s, exploring how and why Melville might have twisted what was known to serve his fiction. King then climbs to the crow’s nest, setting Melville in the context of the American perception of the ocean in 1851—at the very start of the Industrial Revolution and just before the publication of On the Origin of Species.
Featuring a coffer of illustrations and an array of interviews with contemporary scientists, fishers, and whale watch operators, Ahab’s Rolling Sea offers new insight not only into a cherished masterwork and its author but also into our evolving relationship with the briny deep—from whale hunters to climate refugees.
Website: https://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/A/bo27616248.html
New History Books: “Dreams Of El Dorado” By H.W. Brands Offers “Broad Scope” To American West
From a Wall Street Journal online review:
The so-called winning of the West is one of the fundamental dramas in American history, and Mr. Brands makes the most of his subject by quoting extensively from the participants’ own accounts. In his chapters on Lewis and Clark, he cites the explorers’ descriptions of the daunting cataracts on the Missouri and Columbia rivers and their reaction on reaching their goal.
In “Dreams of El Dorado,” H.W. Brands has made his job even harder by taking on such a broad swath of western history, from Thomas Jefferson’s seminal purchase of Louisiana, in 1803, to Theodore Roosevelt’s sweeping measures to conserve western resources and landscapes, more than a century later. That’s a lot of history to crowd into just over 500 pages—as Mr. Brands no doubt appreciates, since his own books on Texan independence and the California Gold Rush were each somewhat longer than that.
To read more: https://www.wsj.com/articles/dreams-of-el-dorado-review-mountains-rivers-and-deserts-11572015889
New Museums: San Francisco Historical Society Museum Opens Oct 7 In The Old Mint
From a San Francisco Chronicle online article:
As trivia game experts know, San Francisco has had three U.S. mints. The first mint, on Commercial Street, was replaced in 1874 by a grand structure at Fifth and Mission streets. That building, now called the Old Mint, was itself replaced in 1937 by a new mint on Duboce Avenue, which is still coining money,
The newest museum in San Francisco will open in the city’s oldest mint this week.
The Commercial Street building is built on the site of the first U.S. mint in the West, which opened in 1854 during the California Gold Rush to turn nuggets and gold dust into coins and bullion. Later it was used as a subtreasury, where the government stored millions of dollars in gold and silver bars.
To read more: https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/nativeson/article/SF-s-newest-museum-is-opening-in-the-city-s-14494442.php
Collectible Books: “Gold” By Sebastião Salgado Chronicles The Brazilian Gold Rush (Taschen)
From a Taschen.com online release:
“Salgado’s photographs project an immediacy that makes them vividly contemporary. We know that the mine at Serra Pelada is now closed, yet the intense drama of the gold rush leaps out of these images.”
For a decade, Serra Pelada evoked the long-promised El Dorado as the world’s largest open-air gold mine, employing
some 50,000 diggers in appalling conditions. Today, Brazil’s gold rush is merely the stuff of legend, kept alive by a few happy memories, many pained regrets—and Sebastião Salgado’s photographs. This signed edition gathers the complete black-and-white portfolio in impeccable, grand-scale, museum-quality reproductions.
To read more: https://www.taschen.com/pages/en/catalogue/photography/all/86908/facts.sebastio_salgado_gold.htm
Best New History Books: “Escape From Rome” By Walter Scheidel (Oct 2019)
From a Princeton University Press release:
The fall of the Roman Empire has long been considered one of the greatest disasters in history. But in this groundbreaking book, Walter Scheidel argues that Rome’s dramatic collapse was actually the best thing that ever happened, clearing the path for Europe’s economic rise and the creation of the modern age. Ranging across the entire premodern world, Escape from Rome offers new answers to some of the biggest questions in history: Why did the Roman Empire appear? Why did nothing like it ever return to Europe? And, above all, why did Europeans come to dominate the world?
In an absorbing narrative that begins with ancient Rome but stretches far beyond it, from Byzantium to China and from Genghis Khan to Napoleon, Scheidel shows how the demise of Rome and the enduring failure of empire-building on European soil ensured competitive fragmentation between and within states. This rich diversity encouraged political, economic, scientific, and technological breakthroughs that allowed Europe to surge ahead while other parts of the world lagged behind, burdened as they were by traditional empires and predatory regimes that lived by conquest. It wasn’t until Europe “escaped” from Rome that it launched an economic transformation that changed the continent and ultimately the world.
To read more: https://press.princeton.edu/titles/13581.html
Top Travel Destinations: Ortigia Island, Historical Center Of Syracuse, Sicily
From a New York Times online article:
A passeggiata, or evening walk, around the perimeter of Ortigia reveals many notable structures and stories. Start from the Parco Letterario Elio Vittorini, on the eastern side, and head clockwise. As waves crash against the rocks below the sea wall, you’ll pass crenelated lookout points and the chiseled facade of the 17th-century Chiesa dello Spirito Santo, before finding yourself in the palm-planted gardens of the 13th-century Castello Maniace.
Founded by Greeks around 734 B.C.,
Ithe southeastern Sicilian city that Cicero called “the greatest and most beautiful of all Grecian cities” achieved a size and status in the ancient world that made it a rival of major powers like Athens and Carthage. Takeovers and makeovers by Romans, Byzantines, North Africans, Normans and others left their marks as well, influencing everything from religious art to the region’s distinctive savory-sweet-sour cooking style. Much of the ancient city has crumbled since Cicero’s day, though the ruins can still be explored in Syracuse’s celebrated archaeological park and museum. But the main attraction today is the historical center of Syracuse: Ortigia island, a maze of narrow streets, ornate Baroque churches and centuries-old palazzi.
To read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/05/travel/what-to-do-36-hours-in-syracuse-sicily.html
Top European Cities: Cadiz, Spain Features “Delicious Andalusian Cuisine”, Ancient History
From a New York Times online article:
One of the reasons the province of Cádiz is on this year’s 52 Places list is food, as chefs in the area are innovating with pork and fish, the base ingredients here. I tried out a few of the white-tablecloth joints, but came away remembering the noisy, cheap tapas bars that have been around forever.
What makes Andalusian cuisine so delicious are the ingredients, and sometimes less is more. Why go crazy with reductions and infusions when freshly caught sardines sprinkled with olive oil are enough to elicit moans?
Cádiz, the province and city on Spain’s southwestern edge, is an underdog — and I’m among the many travelers who have spent years overlooking it. I know Andalusia, the southern region it is part of, well. For years, it’s been a meeting point for my family who has just as much wanderlust as I do and is spread across the world.
To read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/03/travel/cadiz-an-underrated-corner-of-spain.html
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