On PBS: The War

[Adam L]

You can't get too picky with this stuff. I've seen people use both Burns and Potter as stepping stones into more serious stuff. Not everyone does, but if just ONE person does make that leap, then someone of value has been accomplished that might otherwise not have happened.

Yes, thay is true. I will praise it for its accomplishments in this area but I shall not exagerate them. We have schools in this country wanting to use both Burns and Potter in the curriculumn. Although I would have to say that most material they are using is just as bad.

I have my own elitist (and yes...it is that...I'll be honest about it) outlook on history (which includes lumping Ambrose in with the plagiarists and disliking Keegan as a shallow re-hasher of ideas...to name two examples), but at the same time I see the value in those people I dislike in that they can act as stepping stones for others into a deeper understanding of the subject.

I also to happen to be one of the people who is not awed by men like Keegan and Ambrose(I really don't car for either), but atleast they write well and even if Ambrose is a plagarist he atleast plagarises descent stuff. Keegan whatever you may think of him, he is one smart cookie (and a good writer), and atleast presents his arguments in a descent fashion (well balanced and articulated, most of the time.) That is one something Burns does not do.

Everyone has to start somewhere, and if a hack or flashy documentary maker can get just one person asking "why" or "I want to know more" or "gee...let's turn off the TV and read" then I'm ok with it.

I get the point, but unfortunately this is often outweighed by the amount of ignorant laymen who actually think they know something because they watched the documentary. "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing." My other problem with this argument is that it can be used for almost anything no matter how bad. You have to rate things on a scale. Unfortunately givven the state of most things to day Burns just lands on the side of acceptable. This really pisses me off because there are so many good documentaries out there, but unfortunately there are a whole lot more that are just terrible.

Not everyone's going to have that inquiring mind, but in part I blame the education system for that. But to lift a quote from someone else (I think it's Mao, but he might have borrowed it from elsewhere as well), "the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single footstep." If "The War" gets some people to take that single footstep, and then keep taking others, then I'm ok with it.

No, not "in part" it is "for the most part" the education system is too blame (parents and society too, but the educational system is terrible.) I get the point of the single footstep, but I'm tired of the people who just take a step and claim its a thousand miles. I know I'm being obstinant here, but if we don't atlest tell people "hey its OK, not great" we are going to have a big problem. As an example, I am not going to praise rap because of the 1 of 100,000 kids who starts listening to the old stuff, learns it was based on walking blues, listens to walking blues and becomes a good blues musician or tracks the music back to jazz and does both. Although, this is an extreme example it is the same scenario. I object to Burns on principle. If everybody just lets this go as "great" work without showing it for what it is, this will become what is considered "great" work and society will take another tumble into the gutter.

Adam

P.S. Sorry about this, but I have just seen to many people remain passive or praise this stuff, because it does a little good, and allow this mediocrity to become the societal standard.

[wm]

. Sorry about this, but I have just seen to many people remain passive or praise this stuff, because it does a little good, and allow this mediocrity to become the societal standard.

No need to apologize. Unfortunately, I suspect that, to bend an old phrase, "mediocrity is the spice of life," not variety, for many people, and this has probably been the case for millenia.

IMO, what you are lamenting is just the latest version of the old "bread and circuses" method of keeping the "mob" from getting too restive. You might try reading Tacitus' "Germania" or "Agricola" for an implicit 1st C. AD version of your complaint. Vegetius' Epitoma rei militaris from the 4th/5th C AD similarly harkens back to a "golden age" of Roman military prowess, bemoaning the current state of the Roman military.

[Adam L]

Thanks for the reading suggestions, I'll probably have some fun with that.

Thanks,
Adam

P.S. I just want to note (you probably got this but I wasn't sure from your post) that the passive people I was refering to are not the mob, but the elites [which in todays society might be us (isn't that a little depressing LOL.)] I am not saying that the mob today isn't passive, because they sure as hell are. Well, the regular one not the Italians, and the Russians are certainly ambitious. LOL.

[carl]

I would recommend the book Touched With Fire by Eric Bergerud. It covers the Japanese, American and Australian ground forces in the Southwest Pacific. I thought it quite good.

[historyguy99]

Rick Atkinson's new book "The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy 1943-1944, is a great read that is every bit as good as his "Army at Dawn." Both are give great insight and takes the reader from the White House to the foxhole. They both make a great companion piece to the series.
www.liberationtrilogy.com

[SWJED]

Rick Atkinson's new book "The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy 1943-1944, is a great read that is every bit as good as his "Army at Dawn." Both are give great insight and takes the reader from the White House to the foxhole. They both make a great companion piece to the series.
www.liberationtrilogy.com

I've read very good reviews concerning Atkinson's books on an e-mail group I belong to. Plan to pick up the two already published - a third is in the works on Normandy, if I remember correctly.

On edit: I see from the link that the third is, indeed, on Normandy...