Tocqueville
Alexis de Tocqueville was an aristocratic young Frenchman with vaguely liberal sentiments who wondered if the new democracy in the United States had any ideas that could be applied to France and other European countries. His real audienc Continue Reading...
...a symphony which could present its creator's image of the world," a concept which "lay at the heart of the Romantic revolution" and through which Beethoven "first brought Romanticism into Western music ("Ludwig Van Beethoven," Internet).
Of cours Continue Reading...
Duiker and Speilvogel's book, World History Since 1865, Volume II examines the emergence of imperialism promoted by Europeans and the resulting affects of their determination to expand, far surpassing imperial Rome.
Great Britain, France, Holland, B Continue Reading...
Evaluating Art
Francisco Goya’s “The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters,” plate 43 from Los Caprichos, 1797/99, is available for viewing at the Art Institute of Chicago. This etching on ivory print paper (301 x 207 mm) depicts an ind Continue Reading...
American Democracy
A nation wherein the masses elect representatives to the government, thus ensuring the law is shaped by public opinion (so long as this opinion is Constitutional) is considered a republic. This was the aim of America's Founding Fa Continue Reading...
Traditions that are presented as age old and showcase a link between the distant past and present tend to have their origins in present times and are rather modern public, social, cultural and political manifestations. Most have their origins not mor Continue Reading...
It was simply not modern or wealthy enough to withstand such strong economic pressure. In 1917 the first of two major coups occurred; the Tsar was imprisoned and later executed, a Civil War erupted eventually resulting in the emergence of the Bolshe Continue Reading...
The controversies around her smile and eyes have generated almost as much research and debate as the painting itself. Anyone who has seen Leonardo's Mona Lisa had the illusion that the Gioconda was staring at them irrespective of their angle. There Continue Reading...
" The consolidation of the nation-states meant first the union of pre-existing states, and second the creation of new ties between the government and the governed. Seton-Watson traces the beginnings of the trend toward the formation of a German natio Continue Reading...
Suddenly Western Music no longer needed to follow all the old rules. Just as the abstract painters dispensed with the traditional canon of art at just the same time, so also men like Bartok and Stravinsky take a fresh look at what constituted good m Continue Reading...
George Washington's Contributions
When George Washington died on December 14, 1799, he was hailed as America's "savior" and the "father of liberty" (Petri pp). Today, he is referred to as the father of this country. Delivering Washington's eulogy, J Continue Reading...
Eighteenth Century was a time of profound change and upheaval in the western world. Alexander Pope, Samuel Pepys, Jonathan Swift were among the most prominent of 18th century writers, and each left his mark on literature. Importantly, the 1800s were Continue Reading...
Torah law exhibits a quid pro quo vision of the divine, in which human beings enter into a sacred and immutable contract with God. Like the Sumerians in the Epic of Gilgamesh, the Hebrews in the Torah viewed the world of the gods and the world of hu Continue Reading...
" In other words, that art springs from within, rather than must be supported from without.
The author places the blame for female artists to be culturally central squarely upon culture itself, specifically Western culture's failure to create system Continue Reading...