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- History 8B. Mfecane, Mines and Mandela: Southern Africa from 1600 to 2006, Fall 2006
- History 8C From Leopold to Kabila: The Bad Twentieth Century in Central Africa, Spring 2008
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Author Archives: Timothy Burke
What a Beautiful World
When I was a teenager, I had a chance to spend some time in France with my family and another family we were friends with. I’ve only been back to France once since as an adult, so this time is … Continue reading
Puddleglum
Is anybody else feeling just kind of totally depressed about the political and economic scene of the moment? And not just for the obvious reasons? As the possibility of an Obama victory becomes more and more tangible, I find myself … Continue reading
Posted in Politics
22 Comments
Gaze Into the Crystal Ball
Everyone is prognosticating right now. I’m not immune. In those moments where genuine uncertainty enters the room in an undeniable way, we all desperately want to know what is happening, and what will happen next. One of my private pleasures … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Politics
16 Comments
Artist Bleg
I’m looking for an example of a well-known visual artist who did a lot of black-and-white drawings with charcoal, pastels, or pencil-and-ink whose work was heavily tonal rather than involving a lot of line. This is for the life drawing … Continue reading
Posted in Miscellany
5 Comments
Always Never Sometimes Generalize
In the discussion of my previous entry about Mark Edmundson’s essay, Alonzo raises a pretty fair challenge to the intensity of my reaction to that essay. I’ve been thinking about this issue a bit this morning. This is a discussion … Continue reading
Posted in Academia, Blogging
17 Comments
Where There Is No Vision
I have very little understanding of the nuts-and-bolts of the current financial crisis. One thing that the media covering the crisis could talk about more clearly (except maybe I think some of them don’t understand this issue and others do … Continue reading
Posted in Politics
2 Comments
Physician Heal Thyself
Many academic bloggers responded to various essays in the New York Times magazine devoted to colleges and teaching two Sundays back. I’ve been meaning to get around to this myself, specifically to Mark Edmundson’s essay “Geek Lessons”. Edmundson basically reprises … Continue reading
Posted in Academia
9 Comments
A Man Among Men
Paul Newman is dead at 83. The role I think I loved him in most was as Sully Sullivan in Nobody’s Fool. It was a role that almost anyone else would have screwed up by playing it broadly, making the … Continue reading
Posted in Production of History
4 Comments
Trade Secret of Teachers
I once had a student who was a prolific (and not proficient) bluffer ask me if I knew when he had no idea what he was talking about. I said, yes, it’s almost always obvious, even when a student is … Continue reading
Posted in Politics
10 Comments
I Can’t Campaign! I’m Too Busy Running For President!
McCain is declining to debate because he’s too busy solving urgent problems, imagining himself as the already-president. This is like Walter Mitty refusing to go to work because he’s too busy doing emergency-room surgery.
Posted in Politics
5 Comments