history

  • Literary T-shirts, scurvy and the wisdom of Marcy

    I love history humor, and my algorithm knows it. Instagram keeps offering up a Pompeii Fun Run T-shirt, complete with mosaic depiction of panicky people fleeing the erupting volcano. So dark! It might be an effective history teaching tool, though. You’ll never forget the year Vesuvius erupted after seeing 79 A.D. spelled out in mosaic…

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  • Shipwrecks, Arabia and the Oregon Trail

    Here on the West Coast, the word “shipwreck” conjures visions of the square-riggers, schooners and clippers that foundered on the Pacific coast in the pre-lighthouse days. And the Titanic, of course. Can’t forget that one. But back in 1856, the Missouri River was a treacherous place for steamboats. Snags — downed trees and tangled branches…

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