Posts Tagged ‘Professor Buzzkill’
Ty Cobb Myths
Does Ty Cobb live up to his reputation? He is often referred to as one of greatest baseball players of all time, but was Ty Cobb, the Georgia Peach, rotten to the core? Was his professional greatness mirrored by personal repugnance? As is so often the case, Cobb’s soiled reputation was mostly the product of a…
Read MoreThe Political Ideas of George Washington
Dissecting George Washington George Washington, the general who won the American War of Independence and became the first President of the United States, is probably the most revered politician in American history. People generally consider him the wisest of the founding fathers. Not a heavy duty intellectual like Jefferson or Madison, and not a vote-counter…
Read MoreThe Hindenburg Disaster
How a technical error affected our interpretation of history We often talk about the effects that the reporting of dramatic and important events from the past has had on how those events (and the people involved) are treated in history. The initial reports are accurate enough, but usually are then misunderstood, misinterpreted, or deliberately tweaked…
Read MoreCocaine & Coca-Cola
Was Coca-Cola’s magic ingredient cocaine? Don’t you just love the jolt you get from Coca-Cola, Buzzkillers? It lifts you up when you’re down. And it gives you energy to get you through the draggy hours of the afternoon. But do you ever wonder where that magic comes from? Well, for decades, a story flew around that…
Read MoreGrigori Rasputin: The Mad Monk
The myth of the mad monk I love the Russian Revolutionary period in the early twentieth century, Buzzkillers. It’s one of those exciting and dramatic episodes of modern history that has everything: an out-of-touch and strange royal family, fiery politicians of various stripes trying to reform things, oppressed people rising up, and a mad, but…
Read MoreThe Myth Surrounding “Amazing Grace”
Did you know the author of “Amazing Grace” was once a slave trader? Amazing Grace, the hymn published by the Anglican clergyman John Newton (1725-1807) in 1779, is one of the most popular selections in Christian songbooks, and one of the most recognizable songs in the world. By one reasonably reliable account, it is sung…
Read MoreSt. Patrick’s Day Myths
Is St. Patrick’s Day more of an American tradition? What can possibly be wrong with St. Patrick’s Day? Not much, except that there’s very little historical basis behind stories about St. Patrick. And there’s certainly no historical basis for excess drinking, green beer, and the Chicago River turned green. Or is there? The Professor becomes…
Read More“Washington Crossing the Delaware”
“Americans will cross a frozen river to kill you in your sleep on Christmas.” -Unknown The painting “Washington Crossing the Delaware” (1851) by Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze (1816-1868) is one of most iconic images in the American cultural consciousness. On Christmas night in 1776, the General, faced by a hostile and half-frozen Delaware river, mustered 13 men into…
Read MoreThe Many Myths about Rosa Parks
“The Only Tired I was, was Tired of Giving In” The general story we’re all taught about Rosa Parks was that she was a meek and mild housewife who refused to give up her seat on a segregated bus in 1950s Alabama because she was just tired after a long day at work. She was…
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