Methods Final

Alfred Young

-Alfred Young was interested in the unfameous people, the ones whose names are unknown -history from the bottom up -focused on the working class people in Boston and the Revolutionary War

Svetiana Alexievich

-Belarusian author -noble prize winner -worked with people to tell the stories of major events like World War II and the Cold War through the ordinary people -oral history stripped down to segments so raw that it can stretch both credulity and the reader's tolerance for pain -"new literary genre": a history of emotions, a history of the soul -the first person to win the noble prize with a book based entirely on interviews -women talking stories about WWII in a circle, due to many men being killed -uses the people to tell the story -only recently are her books being translated into English -views herself as a historian -Gorbechev read her work and could have gotten influence from her -she got sued by mothers of soviet soldiers in Afghanistan who passed away -deliberately focused on emotions and impacts, not always facts

What are the themes of a Midwife's Tale?

-Community: the people coming together for the son left after the family murders. Rally together to help the child. Female neighbors coming together to quilt and make pies. Many women would gather around the women as she gives birth -Funerals and deaths: they were big celebrations with priests and marches.

Raymon

-Raymon doesn't like her age, her epilepsy, her running away and wanting her husband's inheritance. -he may have like his brother's first wife better, who passed away recently -no concrete evidence she did anything -knew the laws and court, which he used to weaponized and go against his enemies -when he lost and was sued, he used his knowledge to disobey rulings -he tries to whether tortured to see if she really killed her husband -he went above the judge to this done, playing every angle -Raymon never pays her any widow pension, though her sisters-in-law did

Dwight Gardner

-talked about Alexievich's book The Women who Fought and Died -made up of conversations with women who have waited their entire lives to speak -about women in the SU who fought in WWII -women were silent about their service because people didn't care -women were snipers, nurses, tank drivers -negative about the book: interviews are repetitive in facts and tone, original voices are rare, she provides little context for her narrative: only occasionally knew where and why events are happening -horrors of war are told, but things like rape were avoided

Suchomel

-Treblinka SS officer -Lanzmann gets the interview under false pretenses: No Nazi officers will willing tell people about it -the SS held reunions every couple of years -he got the mechanics of how Treblinka ran and how they were able to kill so many people -Schomel was getting offended by the number of people who were murdered that Lanzmann gave, even though the number was correct -Nazis would beat "only the men" to get them into the gas chambers -Lanzmann asks him why such humanity for women, which got Suchomel to fold and say the women were beaten too -they told the Jews that they were getting cleaned up so they could go work -He said it was cold for the SS officers in Treblinka too. Lanzmann doesn't let it go and asks about the poor people who were naked -The jews at Treblinka had to sing a work song- Suchomel says "We are laughing about it now, but its sad" and Lanzmann says no one is laughing. It shows the lack of empathy -The Germans got pleasure being the boss of the camp. They played with the Jews before they were murdered

Sophie Pinkham

-a critic of Alexievich -said she reworked her interviews to suit her own "artistic and political projects." Found times where she moved phrases from one interview to another.

Masha Gessen's

-about Svetiana Alexievich

Gary Edgerton

-about filmmaker and historian Ken Burns

Wendy Anne Warren

-an unnamed slave woman was raped by another slave at her Master's orders (Samuel Maverick) -takes place in the 1630s in the Massachusetts Bay Company near Boston -there was slavery in the North as well -he's not an isolated case/person -the slave did not speak english -Maverick wanted her to have children in order to increase his property because he owned her and her children. He made his male slave have sex with her, despite her not wanting it -John, a visitor, was not upset by what was done to her because in his diary her reported it matter-of-factly, in one sentence, then moved onto a different topic -put the evidence out there in a story, despite not having all the information about the slave. She did justice to the story with what she die. She had a bunch of questions in her essay because she didn't know the answers. Makes the reader think about what could have happened -she is putting someone who held no previous attention in history into history now. This happened. This is only one of the many cases that occurred.

Anthropology and history

-anthropology is more focused on the humanity of people, ritual and habits become front and center, cultures that are different from mainstream to understand different people -we are different but not superior -the past is a foreign culture and we need to enter the culture and understand why we do not understand

Non-Jewish Poles interview (SHOAH part 1)

-as long as the Germans did not come after them, they didn't care. "If you cut their finger, it doesn't hurt me. -They said they did things to help, but they would laugh at the experiences of the Jews. Said they were upset but did not seem it -they were speaking "Jew" by saying "la-la-la" -many of these Jews were Polish and spoke Polish -When the Jews were taken away, non-Jewish people could take their businesses and homes that were left, leaving them better off -level of sympathy to the Jews was limited. However, there were some that did help jews, but not an abundance -the majority of Jews killed in the Holocaust were from Poland -"Jews killed Jesus" reasoning: Poles who weren't very educated were the ones who believed this. This is why one interviewee believed the Jews knew they would have to be punished -they resent the Jews for living better than most Poles. People who borrow money from others have more grievances than those who gave them the money. The Jews had better clothing, bathtubs, and more leisure time for their women

Timothy Shannon

-at the core, it is about material culture -the enlightenment of regular people -wrote about Peter Williamson. -Shannon uses Williamson's "baubles" as a means of reminding readers that there was a "plebian" enlightghtenment running parallel to the more famous enlightenment of that era. It consisted less of great books and big thoughts than material culture flora and fauna. It opened Britons' eyes to a wider world.

Oral History

-began in the 1950s -from the beginning of history, people went to talk to others about their experiences -an interview is not an oral history until it is in an archieve (Ronald Greve)

Allan Nevens

-believed that the telephone and airplanes were making people less likely to write things down like in the 19th century -began an oral history program at Columbia in 1946 -1948: The Colombia Oral history program was the leading oral history program -he would have a graduate student with 20 pencils writing down the answers and questions -presidential libraries pushed for oral histories with people who worked with administrations -1960s: began moving towards a bottom up view, the view of the common people -negatives: people forget things, erase the tough stuff, the older you get the more likely you want to remember the happy things, be skeptical about things.

Ken Burns

-brought new ideas and techniques in documentary film in the 1970s -gained grants to do the films -meant to keep your attention, presenting information -should get the interest of viewers so they want to learn more after the movie -Burns had a lot of people who were willing to talk about Huey Long -uses material front he era like photographs and footage of speech -had people who knew about the event in his "Chorus of Voices," had narration in the film, using old photographs of people who spoke in order to get the viewers to be sucked into the movie, film clips to draw readers into the story line, and background music

Steven Bednarski

-talks to you directly using personal pronouns, which is new to the field -there are dead ends in history: you won't find everything you want -why is harder to answer of the five questions. Do the best you can with the sources you can find -Margarida's husband, Johan, went out to the field after eating breakfast. He has heart pain, comes home to lay down, and passes away -his half brother, Raymon, accuses Margarida of poisoning her -she runs to her brother who hides her from Raymon

Microhistory

a small event in the average person's life, look at the themes and concepts which could be used to understand the broader. -more narrative writing, telling a story, not as much about huge things -examines a singular moment and uses it to shine focus on a broader world -interested in people's mindsets and the society through one person -easier to access compared to the bigger ideas: easier to follow than big things like textbooks

Peter Williamson

-claimed to be an expert on Native American culture -claimed to be captured by them when he was a soldier in America -opened coffee houses in Edinburgh where he would talk about his experiences -some of his stories were fabricated or embellished -the books he wrote were either fabricated or plagiarized -he dressed up as a Native American to put on his performance -he had snow shoes, drums, wooden carvings, that he exhibited in his coffeehouses that are brought alive by his stories -He did give the people what they wanted, while being a showman -people wanted to know more about America. Before WW1, British identity was shaped by wanting to know about the frontiers of their empire -the average citizen is not reading the great minds of the time, but they are expanding their knowledge of the world

MAUS book 2

-deeper understanding of the Holocaust -asking deeper questions about why some survived and others didn't -Artie continuously compared himself to Richieu: he was the perfect child because he couldn't talk back -very hard to categorize: the book is about world history, family history and is an oral history -Artie was afraid that he would not be able to tell the story correctly: if I can't understand my relationship with my father, how can I understand Auschwitz and the Holocaust -he draws himself as a human with a mouse mask: is he really a jew? is he pretending? -He goes to a therapist because he is struggling to understand his father and the Holocaust. The therapist suggests that maybe he has to think he's right so he's not guilty about surviving. The best didn't die or survive. It was luck/random -his father would sneak into resorts to play bingo and eat food. Leaves the stove on because it is free gas. He is too scared not to do it since the Holocaust: he doesn't know what he is doing is weird -he doesn't want Artie's wife to pick up the African-American hitchhiker. Artie was surprised that someone who was a victim of racism and the Holocaust would be racists towards others: he stereotyped another race -Artie: How does he tell this story of his father while still honoring the six million jews that were murdered during the war -he does not get caught by lumping everyone into general categories -Vladek tried to help his friend by getting him clothes and shoes from the Kapos he was teaching english to who gave him clothes. -Not every german person and guard was evil. There was a spectrum -Vladek was able to adjust skills to get into jobs because he's a quick study. This was done in order to survive today and tomorrow -He barded for a clean shirt in order to get soup for the day. (A clean shirt would mean they got food. He kept this shirt separate so it wouldn't get bugs) -He worked to keep himself and Anja alive -He was not in cahoots with the German guards, but he was transactional. He worked for food and helped the guards, in return got advice on where to stand so he wouldn't get chosen for certain work or death -When the guard asked if someone speaks english, he did not raise his hand. He wanted until it was both english and polish -at the end, Artie has come to know his father better. -at the end of the book, his father call's Artie by his first son's name, probably due to the reliving the horrors of the Holocaust -The resentment of his brother is kind of resolved, not in the book, but he dedicates the second book to him -As an interviewer, Artie was very good. He guides his father back to the topic they were discussing when he got off topic, he uses the tape, he translates in the way his father speaks (which is not in perfect english)

SHOAH part 1

-focuses on the Jewish Solution in the Nazi propaganda -most of the video is spent with panoramas of the countryside. Its peacefulness is a contradiction to what occurred in the area. He wants to convey to us how people in Poland have pretty much moved on and "forgot" what happened there. The Nazis also put trees up in multiple places in order to hide what they were doing -having interviews in multiple places keeps it interesting to watch than all in sterile white rooms -Talked about the efficiency and secrecy of the Nazis. Only two survived Chelmno while 400,000 were killed. It would have been a secret if the two did not live. -the trains: the germans wanted unloading and separation to be quick and very rushed -gas vans: delivery vans where the exhaust pipes would be pumped into the vans where the Jewish people were stuck -The Nazis were very technologically advanced: how long they had to drive, how many people could be killed, etc -had to make sure people did not panic on the platforms because shooting them was less efficient than gas -the Nazis put bushes and shrubs over gas chambers so people wouldn't know what was going on

Suzanne Gordon

-followed Ulrich around, trying to learn why Ulrich looked at textiles -Ulrich looked at textiles to learn more about how the objects can be used as historical documents. She is big on material history and material culture -mundane stuff can still give a look into the culture of the time period -Ulrich can take things that people say are trivial and pull information out to create a history not seen before -Ulrich was a feminist historian teaching at the University of New Hampshire. She focused on how the ordinary woman helped make things possible for male accomplishments that dominated recorded history -don't impose 21st-century ideals to the past. These women were not feminists, they were just trying to survive -the hardest part about women's history is the conventional organizing and cataloging of historical documents, which are done under men's names -came across Martha's diary almost by accident because she did not go to Maine for it

Robert Archibald

-museums do not collect antiques: they collect stories of people who made this place and who struggled with the same the same issues we do now -without these stories, the objects would be useless to a museum -artifacts stimulate memory, making the stories and the past tangible, but without stories they are devoid of meaning -the most profound effect of an artifact is emotional: its ability to make us call to mind another time, another place, a memory, and a story -the silence of the past is not merely a void for us to randomly fill in our own -we can explore the humanity we share with the generations that have gone before us and sustain if fort he generations to come after us -we might not be able to know the stories of objects

Martha Ballard

-not considered significant enough to be in the history books. Her obituary didn't list her as a midwife -had 9 children, but three died in an epidemic -main responsibility was taking care of her children, the second job was as a midwife -helped deliver children, prescribe medicine, help with illnesses, mortification -disputed the negative stereotype of midwives -was a herbalist: methods she used worked very well for the time -more embedded into the community than the doctors -she got paid with food and alcohol or in the terms the people were able to pay -kept track of when she received a payment in her journal. It did not always require payment. If it was bad, she wouldn't ask -was not the breadwinner of the family. Money was a compliment to her husband's income -was more concerned with her community than with politics, like the death of Washington -she gave up her comforts to make other's feel better -she was popular as a midwife. She was often called upon, had to take naps because she was often called at night, was very busy. She had almost a perfect record in keeping babies and mothers alive after birth -the only emotion she expressed in her journal was when the mother and baby passed away after childbirth -she kept track of when her children passed away and what their ages would be. It affected her household because her daughters were supposed to help keep the house. She wasn't very emotional about it -When she got older and is on the forward slope of life, she is still in the community. It makes it harder though because she lost a lot of children young, so there was no one left in the house to help with household duties. She had to hire people to help, but they were not very helpful -her son, Jonathan, took over the house when her husband was arrested. She had to be dependent on her children because she couldn't do it on her own. Jonathan had the right to move into his mother's house -Martha was taken aback by the fact that Sally, Jonathan's wife, was pregnant before marriage, though it was accepted in the time if Jonathan and Sally married. Midwives would ask who the father was during the peak of birth so the father would take care of the child. It causes some tension between Marthan and the two. They weren't nice to Martha -when she got older, and after they moved to their own property, she became less important to the community while younger women stepped up. -her biggest issue while living alone was chopping up wood

Interview with George Paris, Sr

-participated in the Civil Rights movement in Lowndes County -started off by asking where he born and when -He was born in Georgia, father was a sharecropper and a traveling priest, lived in the rural area -started working young -had goals. He wanted to be a country agent for the car His mother influenced him the most. She was a strong person who argued for equal pay in sharecropping. His father wasn't around much due to being a traveling priest -at a $H meeting, he stays off the bus home because he wants to go to school there. It would be months until school started. A Professor finds him and he ends up living with that family -He worked while going to school, sent money back to his mother -he goes to Georgia State Industrial college and then to a trade college for an African American -he worked in the morning and after classes, was a singer -He becomes a high school teacher and principal for a year then he moves to Alabama to become a federal government employee to help sharecroppers be more efficient -His boss gives him an extremely high quota without teaching him anything, the white secretary helps him by giving him the manual. -George had good relationships with both races. The secretary asks Geroge to pick up her daughter from the movies at midnight -Was in the military to teach literacy to both races. He doesn't get the right to vote though he thinks he should have -in order to be able to vote, he suggests to the Judge that he is in big trouble so the Judge would let him in. HE will help the judge with trouble, getting better pay for teachers, he says he will help the judge pass this when others in the community don't understand them. The judge couches for Geroge to get to be able to vote and says he is very smart so he won't have to be tested on the constitution -he is good at playing people. He asks someone to double-check their math because he doesn't know math, instead of accusing of stealing, which he was doing. This got the collector to give the money back to the African American -made sure to go back and get details about his family before diving into the story -when the subject started to swerve, Birkner would ask him to clarify things -Birkner would ask for the details George wasn't saying -George's mother would point out when the supervisor purposefully made a mistake in their earnings so he would pay her the correct amount -negative about tapes: you don't know when you are running out of the room, so you lose what the subject says -not everything you have to say has to be a question -he encouraged George to tell his stories, even if the story was off the narrative he was looking for he asked George to think about what Black Farmers and Whites thought about certain events

Margarida

-she has epilepsy and passes out multiple times during her husbands' death -was about 16 years old when her husband died -on the stand, she says she did nothing she left because of Raymon -she didn't make the stew he accused of poisoning her husband with -she brought things with her, when she visited her brothers while her husband was alive, because her husband wanted her to trade for things when she got to the other town -many other people, including her, ate the stew and did not die -the doctor they hired said he saw no evidence of poisoning -didn't go to his funeral because he was afraid of Raymon -the women in town stood up for her, even her sisters-in-law, by saying she had a good reputation and honor -lives a while longer, gets remarried, and had children with the second husband, despite never sleeping with her first husband

James West Davidson and Mark Hamilton Lytle

-some slave masters told their slaves that the men in the blue coats, the union soldiers, were foreigners and painted them in a bad light. "Had horns and a tail." Not many believed it -for some slaves, the bonds of loyalty or fear of alternatives led them to side with their masters. They hid their master's silver, persuaded the Yankees their masters were sympathizers or pretended they had a contagious illness in order to scare them away -"bottom rail top dis time" a former slave to his old owner, who he was guarding as a prisoner -to understand "freedpeople," historians must use personal experiences of these people to paint a picture: their POV -because they were the bottom of the socioeconomic scale, its more difficult for historians to recover their point of view. They were less likely to write things down -1970s- increased interest in the lives of ordinary people -learning the perspective of slaves os hard: some were literate while most were not -it is questionable to use accounts written by whites during this time because observing slavery was not the same as experiencing it. Master and slave relationship was not equal, meaning that they were hardly likely to revel their true feelings about their masters -we cannot assume that white northers who helped liberate slaves provided a more accurate account of freedpeople's attitudes. There was still racial prejudice. Many union soldiers looked at them with distaste or open hostility. Many Yankees believe they were fighting a war to save the Union, not free slaves -slaves most likely told the Union soldiers what they believed the Union soldiers wanted to hear -communication between the Union soldiers and the slaves was hard because of their different dialects and cultures -oral histories began before slaves were freed by Abolitionists -It wasn't until 1920 that scholars worked to overturn the belied that freedpeople were childish and did not understand the new responsibilities of their work on the plantations that many people left -The Federal Writers' Project during Roosevelt's administration began to interview people. There were no voice recorders, so they had to write down what was said. This led them to make up words so regional dialects and accents went away. Many freedpeople thought their interviewers were from welfare and would give them money if the response was what they wanted -the race of the interviewer mattered. They were more comfortable and open with black interviewers than white. Compared two interviews with the same interviewee but different interviewers. With the white women, she talked about how nice her masters were. With the African American male, she talked about the horrors of the experience

interview with Esther Jordan

-starts with simple questions -questions why people would do something -her step father paid money to shoot her and her family because they registered to vote -she never played to the segregationist -he would often repeat the details she said and then ask a question based off of it

Bomba

-surviver of the Holocaust, was at Treblinka -worked as a barber before, during, and after the war -He did not want to keep talking. Lanzmann said he had to because it needed to be recorded. Lanzmann apologized but kept pushing because the words were powerful and the story needed to be told -Lanzmann took him to a barber shop for the interview because he had to get Bomba's mental state in the same place as it was in Treblinka like he did with Simon -He felt dead being in Treblinka. He had to remove part of his humanity in order to get through the day -When the people from his home town came in, it was hard to know what their futures were without being able to tell them -HIs friend, a fellow barber who worked with him in Treblinka, had his wife and sister come to them in the gas chambers. He was not able to tell them what was going to happen -throughout his story, Bomba was not looking at Lanzmann or the camera, wanting to avoid it -Lanzmann is empathetic to Bomba's story, but this was the heart of the darkness of the Holocaust, which Lannzmann needed for history

A Midwife's Tale

-takes place on the Kennebec River in Maine. They weren't isolated, but they had to travel along the river because the town was not tightly plotted. The town was thriving, which is what attracts Ballard's husband to it -her husband was a tax collector, owned a sawmill, and a land surveyor. Named Ephraim -doctors and midwives had the same methods, but not the same title or statue. The doctors didn't look to the midwife for advice, but people in the town did -the community was pretty healthy: four births for every death, half of the death rate than major cities -the most unhealthy part of the year was July and August when the river was opened, letting germs travel across with people -Allegedly, Mrs. Foster (paster's wife) was raped by the Judge. At first, Martha tells her not to tell anyone because it would make her life harder. The judge gets acquitted, something Martha did not agree with. She boycotted Church for a while afterword. The punishment for rape was death, so it was not often prosecuted -Judge North and Martha's husband were drinking buddies, so they were in the same social circle

SHOAH Church scene

-the Poles originally look happy that Simon came back -anti-semitic comments made Simon uncomfortable (Birkner thinks he's numb to it because he has said everything during this period is numb in order to survive) -The poles had a fantasy that Jews came with gold, which isn't true -the woman jokes/laughs about the guard looking up at the sky saying Simon will be with his parents soon -"he looked ready for his coffin" - said the Jews were calling upon Mary, Jesus, Joseph and God, which are not all part of the Jewish religion -told a story where a Jewish Rabbi said it was their punishment for killing Christ and how they should go along with it -it seems like the crowd want to be on TV by trying to pull attention to themselves -Lanzmann leads them to contradictions to point out the faults -he is not trying to make you comfortable, he wants to make you understand -he nitpicks in order to get the information he wants, to get as much as they will tell him. Its more revealing in the followups

Robert Darnton

-the apprentices in a print shop in Paris in the 1730s -they are not treated nicely by the master and his wife -the cats eat with the Master by the apprentices don't, they don't get fresh food, they don't have job security -have to wake up early to let the journeymen in, but the cats keep them up at night by howling over their roof -one apprentices gets tired of not sleeping, climbs onto the roof above the master's room and makes howling sounds to keep them awake. A few days of doing this resulted in their master telling them to get rid of the cats. Mistress says to leave her favorite grey cat -they kill the mistress's cat, which is like raping her and calling her a slut -in this time, cats held negative and positive feelings. Cats symbolize wealth, the devil, witches, impact weddings -you injure a cat to stop them from casting a spell on you-during Carnival and Mardi Gras, they dress the cats up and hang them. Carried the bodies around the streets: easier than dogs or cows. -using cats in rituals and torturing animals were common during the early modern European ear -it would be easy to say this was the example for the French revolution, but he doesn't have enough evidence to say -a way to rebel against the masters without being in a position to demand change

Kevin Boyle

-the author comes out with new turf in Labor History for this article. This author suggests that not every working class person saw life the same wave -takes place in a Dodge Auto Factory in a Detroit Suburb in Michigan in December 1955 -Katherine Young (white, in her twenties) and James Major (African American) work together on the assembly line and were friends -the assembly line workers are celebrating Christmas with alcohol -Young and Major go help a fellow friend, Leona HUnt. Young says they should have a Christmas Kiss so Major kisses Hunt on the cheek -two white men yell at Hunt for allowing it to happen, make her cry, and pressure her into reporting Major -it was a big deal due to status anxiety: in the years before, the company began to hire more females and African Americans in the "white men's jobs," which threatened social order in the company. They also see their specialized jobs being taken over by machines -Major and Hunt were great at their jobs and were effective, which made some of the white men angry due to being outperformed -The white men tried to get Major and Hunt to stop hanging out; they went to African-American bars, hung out at their houses, there could have been feelings there despite Young being married -Major got fired, Young was suspended for 10 days -they appealed to the Union. The local union was very racist and wouldn't overturn the firing, and the national union wouldn't step in to overrule -Did the white men win? In the short term, yes. They got rid of Major and eventually Young. In the long term, we don't know. Blacks and women got more opportunities to work and the whites never go their status back.

Gary Nash

-the founding fathers still dominate the discussion of the Revolutionary War -can we capture the "life and soul" of the Revolution without paying close attention to the wartime experiences and agendas for change that engrossed the soldiers? -the colonists did not rise as a unified body to get rid of the British -The war would never have been won without those outside respectable society -many remained anonymous because they faded in and out of the picture -by talking about the people who helped win the war, it can show people today can feel like they can contribute to a better future too -Revolutionist ideas were handed down to the children both in the US and in the Native American tribes

Simon Shrebnik

-victim of the Holocaust, especially in Chelmno -was one of the only two survivors of Chelmno -As a child in captivity, the Nazis would row him in a boat down the river to sing -he was shot in the head, but it didn't hit him in the right spot for death -it was peaceful when he was interviewed on the river, as peaceful as it was when they were in captivity there. No one made loud sounds, birds were chirping -the Nazis kept him because he was quick and agile in the races the Nazis made them run in chains. He was their entertainment. They did have plans to kill him -he was more willing to talk and more open

Greil Marcus

-was a music critic for Rolling stones -Sam Phillips was not racist and worked with African-American musicians to help them develop their talents. People loved him -people are misquoting Phillips by saying he said the N word. Its correct because its vulgar and vulgar language is more real than non-vulgar -Murder of the African American was not played during one of the Rolling Sones songs -The speech given by Mario Savio has been misquoted and misrepresented, even though it was recorded -As historians, we cant let the popular understanding and the power override us. Follow the evidence, Say what the evidence tells them to say,. Our obligation is the truth

Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

-was a wife of a Professor at the University of New Hampshire -got a P.H.D because she was bored at home -finds Ballard's journal in the archives while looking for something else -was part of the opening movement in women studies - Ulrich explores Ballard because she was not insignificant to her family, her community or her neighbors despite not being significant enough for history -she took chunks of Martha's diary and types it into the book -the theme of the chapter comes from the diary section typed at the beginning of each chapter

George Robert Twelves Hewes

-was born in Boston around 1742 (no birth certificate in those days) - he apprenticed as a shoemaker -fairly uneducated, had a small amount of reading and writing skills, strict mother, short physique, rebelled against parents/authority -anchored in the lower class -1760s: fixed a shoe for John Hancock and was asked to his house on New Years. He was very timid, expecting to be treated as a lesser, but was treated with kindness. They were roleplaying the roles that society is telling them to fill. Hancock asks him back next with no intension of actually getting George to come -While on the street one day, he encounters a man named Malcolm that was hitting a child. George stepped in to stop him, Malcolm insulted George by pointing out his lower class status, and hit George in the head with his cane very hard. A mob tars and feathers Malcolm when George signed a warrant for his arrest. He wanted to go through the legal system but the mob didn't allow it. After this though, Malcolm treats him with respect and uses his full name -George, who is a nobody, finds himself in the middle of the events heading towards the Revolution -George goes to debtor prison because he wanted to get a nice outfit in order to court his wife, which he couldn't afford to pay back -The war was a revolutionary force to people who were in the lower class. They were part of a republic, like the upper class -he doesn't climb the social classes. He never buys a home: instead, he lives with his children, bouncing from house to house -However, after the war, he thinks of himself as an equal to the upperclass. Even coming up with a story of seeing Hancock dressed like he was at the Boston Tea Party throwing tea overboard, though Hancock was not there

Podchelbnik

-was the other Chelmno surviver, he wanted to die because he took the dead bodies of his family out of the graves. The Nazis refused to kill him because he was able to work. The cold weather preserved the bodies of his family -this interview required more pressing. He had to be probed to answer questions and it was tough for him. He seems emotionally fragile

Huey Long

-was very lower-class oriented (wouldn't take on a court case against the poor) and tried to equalize wealth -against big corporations, the old elite and the corporate elite -1928 was elected Governor of Louisiana, focused on education and infrastructure -his projects costed more than they should have -after his death, some of his colleagues were jailed for tax evasion and other charges -there was corruption before Long and after, but Long was the one who improved the lives of the poor -criticized people for having lots of suits but he had lots of suits too -"If I die, you are all going to prison" -had his blackmailers kidnapped -he was a Senator and the Governor was a yes man for him, which meant that he was running the state as well. He was killed trying to pass bills in Louisiana that were controversial by bribing and threatening people. If he wasn't there, and was in DC where he should have been, he would still be alive -Long capitalized on some people's negative feelings about Roosevelt and how slow he was getting things done for the poor. Created "Share the Wealth" campaign -wanted to get Roosevelt to lose the reelection to Hoover, Hoover would undo all the things Roosevelt did and people would want a new savior: Long -He used the media to help hype people up -he was arrogant: he was the only one who could fix the problems -egomaniac but was very smart -restless and reckless: he went after the big guys and wanted the next office after just getting into a new office -power hungry -dressed wildly to draw attention to himself -he did or said whatever he needed to in order to get what he wanted -compared to Mussolini and Caeser -Think about the facts of democracy and the forms of democracy: you can't run over people to get what you want, you have to work within the system

Excerpt from Alexievich

-women were only honored thrity years after WWII -men wore their medals, but women didn't -the first kill is horrifying: different than shooting a target -men could come back disfigured, but women wouldn't have a life -women snipers suprised Germans -it was a struggle going from war clothing to peacetime, "women" clothing