Category Archives: History

New Video: The History of Christmas Music

Posted on December 20, 2022 by Alex R. Howe

I had a weird question for Christmas this year. How many “standard” Christmas songs are there? You know, the ones we sing over and over every year. I went through a bunch of playlists and compiled a master list, and … Continue reading →

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Reading Levels and the Surprisingly Recent Stratification of Children’s Books

Posted on March 2, 2022 by Alex R. Howe

Note: this is the second of two three companion posts to Episode 44 of my podcast, Children’s Science Fiction. (I told you, this episode took a lot of research.) For the first post, click here. Today, children’s books—especially fiction books—are … Continue reading →

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Where Did School Book Fairs Come From?

Posted on February 26, 2022 by Alex R. Howe

Note: in preparing the next episode of my podcast, I had a surprising amount of supplemental material that was kind of off-topic and that I didn’t have time to talk about, so I decided to save it for the blog. … Continue reading →

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Essay: Who Was Really the Richest Person in History?

Posted on June 11, 2021 by Alex R. Howe

Every so often, some business magazine or other notable publication will publish a list of the richest historical figures of all time. Topping the list is usually John D. Rockefeller, the founder of Standard Oil and the first person ever to earn a billion United States dollars. … Continue reading →

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History’s Dinner Party

Posted on June 22, 2019 by Alex R. Howe

I wrote this post in 2016, but it got buried in my folder of planned posts. I honestly don’t even remember where I got the idea. I think it was a writing prompt in a group I attended at the … Continue reading →

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Happy Amerigo Vespucci Day

Posted on March 9, 2018 by Alex R. Howe

Today is the birthday of Amerigo Vespucci (1454-1512), an Italian navigator who explored the newly-discovered Americas, got his name attached to them, and arguably deserves his own holiday more than that other Italian navigator you might be thinking of. Columbus … Continue reading →

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Cosmos follow-up: Hypatia and the Library of Alexandria

Posted on June 15, 2014 by Alex R. Howe

The recent Cosmos series has been a tour-de-force for science education and popularization, equal to the original. However, there is one aspect of both series that I have to take issue with, and that is the holding up of the … Continue reading →

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On Giordano Bruno

Posted on March 16, 2014 by Alex R. Howe

The new Cosmos TV series has drawn criticism for its depiction of Giordano Bruno, a Dominican Monk and philosopher who was burned at the stake for heresy in 1600. A lot has been said about this, including criticism of the … Continue reading →

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A brief, festive history of time travel

Posted on December 19, 2012 by Alex R. Howe

In this holiday season, let us take a moment to remember the first popular book that brought the idea of time travel to the readers of the world…A Christmas Carol. Wait, Charles Dickens was the father of time travel? Well, … Continue reading →

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