History Vita.

(Original) Site Purpose

This site is intended to present a resume of my work in the pursuit of history. It consists of samples of my essays in the pursuit of history linked with a database of sources and notes.

(Original) Site Content (and Organization)

This site is about self definition. The majority of my studies can be called the struggle of people and countries to define themselves and to determine the terms and conditions that they live. Our culture is obsessed with choice. Examples such as classic or alternative rock, coke or pepsi colas, gay or straight couples, republican or democratic candidates, free or communist countries are presented as opposing categories from which we are to choose. The world history of my lifetime is usually defined in terms of the apparent struggle between our country and its allies against those countries allied with Russia.

Those countries who choose not to participate in these two aliances by definition constitute the "Third World". I found that very few people inspire the third worlds attempts at self definition like the argentinian guerilla Che Guevara. SEE: http://digithink.com/history/guevara.html

The "second world". is not to be found in most dictionaries but is implied by the definition of the third. Countries like Spain and Czechlosovakia are delegated to the suburbia of the worlds two self declared centeres. Yet they also come to the for front as icons of the worlds strugles, and produce such anomolies as Vaclav Havel, the dissident playwrite elected to the president of his country. SEE: http://digithink.com/history/actones1.html

These definitions exclude a entire worlds of possibility. My task as a historian is to look beyond the given definitions and to find models which highlight and elevate the human ability to transend them.

(it was my intention that )In each section I will provide a brief chronology and "publish" one of the major papers I have written over the course of my undergraduate study in history at the University of Oregon. In addition I will link to smaller papers which I felt worthwhile. The scope of this site will be limited to the areas I have covered as a student. The majority of this study has been limited to the last 250 years.

Documentation

My intention to consolidate my "BookNotes" never materialized Primary and secondary sources of information are what traditionally separate history from fiction. A search through history is the search through books, articles, newspapers, interviews. each piece of information a clue a pointer to a truth or an idea. Unfortunately the paths to the truth are often long and windy, leading to refocused ideas, dead ends, or information not relevant to the immediate case but worth saving for later searches. As a research tool, I developed the database part of this site. The Booknotes database contains standardized bibliographic information on the sources found in my searches along with brief descriptions of the sources I evaluated and detailed notes on the sources I used. Wherever possible I have kept/used standardized keys such as ISBN and Library of Congress catalogue numbers. In addition I have created a mechanism for cross referencing material and for gleaning chronological references to events wherever they appear.

The Booknotes database has 3 major goals.

Streamline as much of the data gathering as possible. Provide a centralized location to store, filter and annotate notes. Automate footnote and bibliographic documentation as much as possible. The Booknotes database will be linked to the papers published on this site and made available for browsing. This will allow users to track and verify my sources while giving a view of the processes used to derive the conclusions in my research. Feedback

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