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Jason Jewell
ParticipantGrove City may be your best bet, if studying at a Christian college appeals to you. The economics faculty is 100% Austrian.
ParticipantBlizzard, I’m sure most of us have family members who don’t agree with us on important issues like you describe. I, too, have had unproductive exchanges like the one above.
In my opinion, your relationship with your grandfather is more important than whether you get him to agree with you. Assuming you feel the same, direct confrontation is probably not the way to go here. Maybe a more fruitful avenue would be to ask him to read an article or something manageable that takes our position on an issue and ask him for a reaction to it. But don’t push the issue in such a way that it damages your relationship.
ParticipantAndrew, you are on the right track.
The two fronts were with France and Russia. German assistance to Austria was going to mean war with Russia. France was allied with Russia, and it wanted revenge against Germany for its defeat in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870.
Germany knew that France would enter any conflict between Germany and Russia. This certainty is what led the German generals to plan for a quick invasion of France at the war’s beginning. The idea was that the war would not _really_ be on two fronts because it would take Russia months to mobilize. By the time Russia was ready to fight, German leaders wanted to have dealt with France already. They were sure they’d have to one way or the other. They were convinced that a “wait and see” approach would mean fighting both France and Russia simultaneously when both enemies were at maximum readiness.
ParticipantAndrew, the decision to invade France was made out of a perceived military necessity. German military commanders had feared a two-front war ever since German unification in 1871. The thinking was that a quick invasion of France while Russia was still mobilizing could prevent the need to fight on two fronts. By the time Russia was prepared for war the Germans hoped to have defeated France already.
Does this help?
ParticipantIf this is a reply to my recent Facebook status, it’s brilliant.
ParticipantI go into this question in some depth in the first Industrial Revolution lecture of the Western Civ since 1500 course. Are you asking about something not covered there?
ParticipantEsselbach, I don’t know the answer to your second question. As to the first, I was asked to provide suggested readings specific to each lecture rather than a general textbook. However, for those who have asked specifically, I’ve been recommending Jackson Spielvogel’s text as a decent supplement:
ParticipantThis page has links to a series of blog posts I wrote about Adler’s How to Read a Book: http://westerntradition.wordpress.com/recommended-resources/
As to your other questions, a full answer would require a book-length treatment. I guess it depends at what social level you’re talking about, although all the things you mention are valuable.
At the individual level, I’m a believer in relatively low consumption and a high savings rate to provide a foundation of self-sufficiency that reduces the temptation to be dependent on the State. A big influence on my thinking in this respect is Aristotle, who argued that one cannot really pursue the good life and develop the necessary habits of virtue without reaching a certain threshold of wealth. I’ve recently been won over to Bob Murphy’s strategy for financing one’s major goals through dividend-paying life insurance, a process that does not inflate the money supply: http://consultingbyrpm.com/uploads/HPBRW.pdf
Joel McDurmon (of Ron Paul’s homeschool curriculum) likens individuals and families to mice who are tempted to walk into the State’s mousetrap by the cheese of some welfare benefit. His slogan is “Don’t Take the Cheese.” I think that’s a useful phrase to keep in mind, whether it’s “free” public education or whatever. To a great extent we can secede from these systems if we’re willing to make some financial sacrifices, and it’s much easier to do that if we’ve developed the financial discipline I mention above.
There are lots of other things we should do, too, but these are some thoughts off the top of my head upon seeing your message.
ParticipantPerry is pretty good in terms of mainstream texts. He is an intellectual historian, so there is a good emphasis there. And although I have not seen the most recent edition of his book, the older edition I used for a time had a complete chapter on the ancient Hebrews, giving them more attention than many other mainstream texts.
ParticipantI am plugging along on the readings . . . passed the 17,000-page mark last week. I need to make my weekly post today, but I have to finish some Cervantes chapters first.
ParticipantAnonymous 4 is one of the outstanding medieval ensembles in recent years. You won’t really go wrong with any of their recordings. Here is one: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000007DL/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B0000007DL&linkCode=as2&tag=thewesttrad-20
If you want the texture of male voices (Anonymous 4 is all women), Chanticleer has a CD of chant: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000000SRW/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B000000SRW&linkCode=as2&tag=thewesttrad-20
If you want to try some secular music (e.g. troubadour songs) of the period, the Martin Best Ensemble is good: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000QR16V4/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B000QR16V4&linkCode=as2&tag=thewesttrad-20
I believe you can sample tracks at all these links. I hope you find something you like!
ParticipantThat documentary is currently sitting on the shelf of my office, but I have not had a chance to view it yet!
ParticipantRob, are you interested in secular or sacred music of the period, or both?
Participant” One of the 4 stars (think McChrystal) said the Marshall Plan was military counterinsurgency shrouded as economic aid. Truth?”
Yes, to an extent. After the numerous revolutions in 1918-1920, American thinking was that spreading money around in western and central Europe would minimize the chances of a repeat.
“What are the chances of an American coup by the 4 stars?”
I don’t know enough of the Inside Baseball on this to venture a strong opinion, but I’d guess it’s very slight.
“If/when the American Empire breaks up, would it be like Rome where the generals divvy up the country?”
I doubt it. Within the continental United States I suspect the state governments would come up with something: either go it alone or make a confederation with other states in the region.
ParticipantI read this book about 20 years ago, so my memories of it are not fresh, but I remember finding it a very engaging work that does a good job of sweeping the reader up into the drama of the first weeks of the war. You’re correct, though, in noting that Tuchman quite freely imputes motives for people’s actions that can’t be substantiated. As I recall, Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., did this a lot, too. I also seem to remember that Tuchman pretty much follows the “blame Germany” interpretation for the war that (in my opinion) is not really tenable.
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