Here are some history-related finds from around the web:
I was excited to come across this short (18-minute) documentary, since my novel-in-progress touches on the theme of Luddism vs. Neo-Luddism. The description says it best:
“Collective Bargaining by Riot looks at what it meant to be a Luddite in the 1800s and what it means to be a Neo-Luddite now through interviews with Neo-Luddites, historians and an immersive soundscape. Discover a chapter of British history often misunderstood as a revolt against technology. The film looks closer to establish a movement that only opposed technology that was hurtful to commonality. An uprising empowered by knitters and croppers who were struggling for work in a faltering economy. Historians map out events that led to the government sending troops to counter the Luddites and prevent a working class revolution. Listen to the observations of Neo-Luddites as they look critically at a society obsessed, and perhaps oppressed, by technological development and corporate greed.”
How do urban legends form? Read this article about the Times Square Time Traveller.
An author describes how she turned her mother’s letters into a novel.
Could the Norse riddle of Odin’s ravens convey a message about Thought vs. Mind?
World’s first biotech laboratory in a public library!
According to the Wall Street Journal, “There’s a revolution afoot inside museums as technology sparks experiments in exhibit design. From virtual reality to 4-D films, here’s what to expect.”
Share your own historical highlights below!
I have not found anything so fascinating than E.M. Forster’s short story “the Machine Stops” about a world totally taken over by technology. There is much we can compare to our present day and easily project to our future, and this is especially amazing as Forster wrote this in 1924!! In this story, people are now living in rooms underground , because of a war which is not clarified, but wired completely to the outside world, with almost no connection with others except through screens . Worth while reading.
Thanks for sharing! I’ve never heard of this story, but I greatly enjoy E.M Forster’s novels, so I just ordered it from my public library (in the book The Eternal Moment and Other Stories).