This series proves that old dogs can learn....if not new tricks, at least new history! I'm an 82-year-old white widow from Illinois but now choosing to live in New Mexico, and I'm eating up this American Revolution series with a ladle, not just a big spoon. After watching the first 5 episodes, with only the closing one remaining. my main impression is "how on earth did this country ever get off the ground?" And, along with that, our origin is not much to be proud of. (Which I ready knew, but it's much worse than I'd imagined!) Conversely, the stamina, the determination, the grit, the faith, the vision that so many people maintained and persevered with is beyond amazing.
I've been pleased that so much has been presented of how the Iroquois Confederation helped in serving as a role model for democracy. But the cavalier manner in which the white European "Americans" assumed in giving away the native lands is only what's happened everywhere. (I've been reading Jared Diamond's "Guns, Germs & Steel." which analyses the forces that promote or discourage change in culture, foods, customs, and "whose ox is being gored" this time. Climate, weather, topography...all things humans have no control over are, often, a bigger influence on who wins and who loses some crucial contest than the people themselves. (That, in fact, is brought out in this series with the emphasis on weather and climate, storms at sea, and extreme temperatures in both summer and winter.)
Sorry to ramble on so, but thanks for providing the opportunity to do so.
This episode was a lot! What Historian Duval said about the women stood out to me as well, but I thought of their work as honoring the lives lost. The public being educated & why, I still can't even appreciate it. Isn't virtue subjective? Authorities here in Florida recently signed off on the Heritage Foundation's education principles "to seek the GOOD...without obscuring that America is a great source of GOOD in the world," so I'm wary of what this looks like.
What I’m learning is how the normal colonists, going about their routine lives, were screwed over by both the English soldiers AND the Colonial fighters. Men conscripted, property seized, women left to run things and clean up and being raped by the unsavory people on both sides. Of indigenous people being given promises and still losing their lands ( who WAS George Clark and what gave him the right to kill all Indians?). Of African Americans having to choose which devil was the right one to cast their lot with. This is surely not the sanitized story of American independence that we’re taught from our first day of school. As I learn more I’m left to think it would’ve been better to have lost, or at least be divided into two, or more, separate countries. I sure don’t subscribe to American Exceptionalism
Whatever it takes to get the poor to take on the battles of the rich will be pursued and offered - wow, how can we unpack that…over 250 years…
I can see that being applied to every war we’ve ever fought.
Baratunde, you highlight all my highlights! All these parts of the episode hit me - especially the one about the bodies on the battlefield.
This series proves that old dogs can learn....if not new tricks, at least new history! I'm an 82-year-old white widow from Illinois but now choosing to live in New Mexico, and I'm eating up this American Revolution series with a ladle, not just a big spoon. After watching the first 5 episodes, with only the closing one remaining. my main impression is "how on earth did this country ever get off the ground?" And, along with that, our origin is not much to be proud of. (Which I ready knew, but it's much worse than I'd imagined!) Conversely, the stamina, the determination, the grit, the faith, the vision that so many people maintained and persevered with is beyond amazing.
I've been pleased that so much has been presented of how the Iroquois Confederation helped in serving as a role model for democracy. But the cavalier manner in which the white European "Americans" assumed in giving away the native lands is only what's happened everywhere. (I've been reading Jared Diamond's "Guns, Germs & Steel." which analyses the forces that promote or discourage change in culture, foods, customs, and "whose ox is being gored" this time. Climate, weather, topography...all things humans have no control over are, often, a bigger influence on who wins and who loses some crucial contest than the people themselves. (That, in fact, is brought out in this series with the emphasis on weather and climate, storms at sea, and extreme temperatures in both summer and winter.)
Sorry to ramble on so, but thanks for providing the opportunity to do so.
This episode was a lot! What Historian Duval said about the women stood out to me as well, but I thought of their work as honoring the lives lost. The public being educated & why, I still can't even appreciate it. Isn't virtue subjective? Authorities here in Florida recently signed off on the Heritage Foundation's education principles "to seek the GOOD...without obscuring that America is a great source of GOOD in the world," so I'm wary of what this looks like.
What I’m learning is how the normal colonists, going about their routine lives, were screwed over by both the English soldiers AND the Colonial fighters. Men conscripted, property seized, women left to run things and clean up and being raped by the unsavory people on both sides. Of indigenous people being given promises and still losing their lands ( who WAS George Clark and what gave him the right to kill all Indians?). Of African Americans having to choose which devil was the right one to cast their lot with. This is surely not the sanitized story of American independence that we’re taught from our first day of school. As I learn more I’m left to think it would’ve been better to have lost, or at least be divided into two, or more, separate countries. I sure don’t subscribe to American Exceptionalism