Today's Date:
January 16, 2025
Puritan Ideology in “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” and “A Model of Christian Charity”
The early American writers Jonathan Edwards and John Winthrop had quite little in common even though they were backers of the same basic principles of Christianity. Perhaps this difference is because of the situations each faced during his time of →
Puritan Influences on Modern American Culture and Thought
The ideas put forth by the Puritans are not simply an important starting point for American culture because they were the first in the country, but because they offered ways of thinking that are still ingrained in our culture today. →
Feared Versus Loved: An Analysis of The Prince by Machiavelli
In The Prince, Machiavelli sets forth several guidelines and a summary of behavior for a ruler and establishes that, “It is best to be both feared and loved, however, if one cannot be both it is better to be feared →
Violence, Fear, and Glory in The Prince by Machiavelli
In Machiavelli’s The Prince, the author discusses the path to effective leadership through a combination of cunning, controlled violence, balance of the respect and fear of subjects, and other routes to maintaining power. One of the most striking features of →
The Meaning of Virtue in “Meno” by Plato
Meno seems surprised when Socrates is unable to provide an answer to his questions about the nature and definition of virtue, but this rhetorical method allows Socrates to later question Meno’s assumptions about what is and is not virtue. “For my soul and →
Narrative, Rhetoric, and Audience Awareness in the Speeches of Martin Luther King Jr.
A great deal of the power behind Martin Luther King’s “Letter From Birmingham Jail” and “I have a Dream” speech lies in an acute understanding of the power of rhetoric and keen awareness of the audience. While all of the →
The Kansas-Nebraska Act Controversy
Before beginning a discussion about the Kansas-Nebraska controversy, it is useful to point out that there were sectional and other political problems brewing. For example, one cannot ignore the role played by Stephen Douglass nor the current economic situation in →
Analysis, Review, and Summary of Jesse James, Last Rebel of the Civil War by T.J. Stiles
It is impossible to consider the life, crime, and times of Jesse James without first considering the historical context within which he was situated. In a biography of Jesse James by T.J. Stiles “Jesse James, Last Rebel of the Civil War”, →
American History Since 1865: Major Events and Trends
The America that existed after the end of the Civil War is nothing like we know it as today. Major urbanization and industrialization, equal rights for all citizens, and two major world wars have shaped how we understand it. While →
