Postmodernism and History

by Dr I. St John

The Death of Truth 

To understand postmodernism it is well to begin with the word ‘truth.’  All of us are brought up to accord the ‘truth’ unquestioning respect.  To tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, is an injunction early imbibed and retains self-evident claims upon us.  For some, such as Plato, truth was the sublime essence of the universe, coalescing with Beauty and Goodness when understood aright.  Now to understand what Postmodernism is about this most central of our beliefs must be jettisoned.  It must be rooted out and cease to play any independent role in our perspectives on the present or the past. In so far as we deploy the word truth we must always associate it with another: power.  And with power always comes oppression.  From a word synonymous with virtue, ‘truth’ becomes a member of an unholy trinity – truth, power, and oppression. 

Cochrane: Britain’s Garibaldi

by Dr Sloan 

All hail to the HERO – of ENGLAND the boast,
The honour – the glory – the pride of our coast;
Let the bells peal his name, and the cannons’ loud roar,
Sound the plaudits of COCHRANE, the friend of her shore.
 
Abrilliant, buccaneering sea captain in the war against Napoleon, a celebrated leader of the South American struggle for liberation and an outspoken advocate of democracy at home, Thomas, Lord Cochrane was once the hero of every English boy.  As Donald Thomas put it, ‘His immediate contemporaries regarded him as a splendid national advertisement for superior British seamanship… He was the supreme example of the hero of a boys’ adventure story brought to life’.  His subsequent fading from popular memory is as baffling as it was unjust.  Quite simply, Cochrane was a hero whose name should be mentioned with Drake and Nelson and every other military hero to whom this country is indebted.

Timeline is Online

It gives the History Department great pleasure to announce that the 2006 volume of the Timeline Magazine is now available to download online.

A PDF version can be found at http://www.alexnewman.com/timeline2006N.pdf.

Welcome to Timeline Online

Hello there,

I would like to thank you for finding the Timeline magazine online, and hope you enjoy reading the articles. The first few to be posted will be extracts from this years printed Timeline magazine. Then new articles, specially written for this blog will be added.

The whole idea is that we have regular articles, or a suitable length to read online, and they you the reader can have your say in the comments. This will mean that we can develop an online forum of fascinating historical discussion.

If you are interested in writing for this blog, please email new391@habsboys.org.uk.

Enjoy the reading,

Alex Newman & Mr Clark