Described in Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace, the Battle of Borodino was the largest and bloodiest single-day action of the Napoleonic Wars. An estimated 100,000 people died in the battle between the Russian forces of General Mikhail Kutuzov and Napoleon’s Grande Armée. After severely battering but not totally defeating the Russians, Napoleon’s forces marched the 70 miles (110 km) to Moscow and entered the city. As the population evacuated, fires engulfed much of the city. Who caused them? Discuss
Month: September 2023
Margaret Higgins Sanger (1879)
Sanger married and had three children before becoming active in the women’s labor movement and the Socialist Party. Convinced that control over childbearing was the key to female emancipation, she published a pamphlet in 1914 in which she called for legalization of contraception and coined the term “birth control.” Founder of the organization that became Planned Parenthood, Sanger remains controversial for her views on contraception as well as race. Sanger was the sixth of how many children? Discuss
have a voice (in something)
To have an active and participatory role in making or influencing a decision about something. Watch the video
Kites
The kite is an aircraft restrained by a towline that derives its lift from the aerodynamic action of the wind flowing across it. The apparatus consists of a stabilizing tail and light framework across which paper or thin material is stretched. It has been popular in China and East Asia for centuries. In the 18th century, Alexander Wilson used kites to obtain meteorological readings, and Benjamin Franklin used them to study lightning. Where is kite fighting a popular activity? Discuss
erratum
Definition: (noun) An error in printing or writing, especially such an error noted in a list of corrections and bound into a book.
Synonyms: misprint, typo, literal error.
Usage: Subsequent printings of the book contained an index of the errata that had been noted since the first printing.
Discuss
Los Niños Héroes Die Defending Mexico City's Chapultepec Castle (1847)
Los Niños Héroes—the “Boy Heroes”—were six teenage Mexican army cadets who died defending Mexico City’s Chapultepec Castle from invading US forces during the Mexican-American War. Ignoring orders to fall back, the young cadets fought until the end. According to many accounts, the last survivor leapt from the castle roof wrapped in the Mexican flag to prevent it from being taken. What US President visited the monument honoring the cadets a few months before the battle’s 100th anniversary? Discuss
Milton S. Hershey (1857)
After serving as apprentice to a Lancaster, Pennsylvania, confectioner, Hershey opened his own candy store in Philadelphia. By 1886, he was back in Lancaster, where he soon found success making caramels using fresh milk. By 1900, he had sold his caramel business to concentrate on chocolate. In 1903, he built a factory to manufacture five-cent chocolate bars, which became so popular that “Hershey” became virtually synonymous with chocolate in the US. To what causes did Hershey donate his fortune? Discuss
have a say (in something)
To have an active and participatory role in making or influencing a decision about something. Watch the video
Salman Rushdie
Rushdie is a British-Indian novelist known for the allusive richness of his language and the wide variety of Eastern and Western characters and cultures he explores. After his 1988 novel The Satanic Verses was deemed sacrilegious, Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, or legal ruling, sentencing him to death. Rushdie was forced into hiding, where he wrote Haroun and the Sea of Stories, a novelistic allegory against censorship. What is the fatwa’s current status? Discuss