Kubrick's Lens Cap

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Category: History (Page 7 of 8)

The study of history involves examining past events, societies, and cultures to understand the development of human civilization over time. It seeks to reconstruct and interpret the past through the analysis of primary sources such as documents, artifacts, and oral traditions, as well as secondary sources like scholarly articles and books.

Historians aim to uncover the causes and effects of events, the lives of significant individuals, and the evolution of institutions and ideas. They analyze political, economic, social, and cultural developments to provide a comprehensive understanding of how and why changes occurred. This involves critical evaluation of sources to determine their reliability and bias, allowing historians to construct accurate and nuanced narratives.

History is divided into various branches, including political, which focuses on governance and power dynamics; social, which examines the experiences of everyday people; economic, which looks at the development of economies and trade; and cultural, which explores art, religion, and intellectual movements. Additionally, historiography, the study of how history is written and interpreted, is an essential component, as it reflects changing perspectives and methodologies over time.

The study of history is crucial for several reasons. It provides insights into present-day issues by contextualizing them within a broader temporal framework. Understanding history fosters a sense of identity and continuity, helping societies appreciate their heritage and learn from past successes and failures. It also encourages critical thinking and analytical skills, as historians must assess evidence, recognize multiple viewpoints, and construct coherent arguments.

Ultimately, history is about connecting the past with the present, offering lessons and perspectives that can inform future decisions and actions.

The Sleep of Reason

11th October 2018 / / 0 Comments

The Sleep of Reason by Jon Rosling holocaust book coverLast year I published my first book, THE SLEEP OF REASON: Modernisation, Intention and Nazi Race Policy, an addition to the mass of existing Holocaust literature. jon rosling

Admittedly the title is not one to leap off of the shelves at Waterstones and it’s more of a thought piece and academic text than coffee table fare as it looks at the development of racial policy in Nazi Germany after the National Socialists took power 1933.

Clearly something for niche historians and students of the Holocaust and the period generally.

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9/11

11th September 2011 / / 0 Comments

This tenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the US on 9/11 fills everyone who witnessed them with a sense of grim remembrance, from constant replays on television news and accounts of individual memories of the events on that day.

I can remember very clearly where I was tha 9/11. It was the first day of the new term at the school I was working at, which had started late because of delayed building work at the school over the summer.

The day was given over to prepping the classrooms and buildings before pupils came back on the 12th and I had gone out to a hardware shop nearby to buy some last minute things for the classsroom. I can recall quite distinctly looking through the shelves while another customer was telling one of the shop assistants what had happened in New York.

Having been to New York, having been to the top of the south tower in 1995, I had a particular fondness for the place – sleek, minimalist design, but somehow projecting an enormous and somewhat Freudian sense of power and wealth and might.

So to watch it destroyed by hijacked planes, tumbling to dust in 10 seconds, brought an emotional response as one who had lived and worked in New York, among New Yorkers. My wife and I had stood at the bottom of the north tower when we visited New Yok in October 1998.

Now, 9/11 2001 it was no more.

There is so much horror in that day – the hijackings, the crashes, the destruction of the WTC and part of the Pentagon, the bravery of those on Flight 93 and their deaths, the jumpers from the towers – it’s hard even now to take it in.

Today is a day for remembrance, remembering who were lost on 9/11 – and in the wars since – and remembering a slightly more innocent time.

Let’s hold on to the hope that sometime in the future we can find that innocence once again.

Rotherham Steelworker Ted Thompson

25th August 2011 / / 2 Comments
Rotherham Steel Making Image sourced by Jon Rosling

Steelmaking in Rotherham at it’s peak

Back in 2010, and as part of the Rotherham Steelos Songs of Steel project I had the great pleasure of working camera on an interview with Ted Thompson, a former Rotherham steelworker, who was then in his 1990s and living alone in Rotherham. jon rosling

It was one of the most fascinating interviews I’ve ever watched and I could’ve sat and listened to Ted recall his childhood and working life long into the night.

He recalled his school days with such incredible clarity, describing places in Rotherham that I could recognise (though only just recognise for the town – and the world – has moved on) and remember even his first day as a Rotherham steelworker in the early 1930s, still a boy and barely out of short trousers.

I found out last week that Ted passed away recently and I was touched by a genuine sadness, both at this elderly gentleman’s end and at the loss of memory and history that he takes with him.

The town where I lived, that has such a rich, varied and interesting past, and how that place used to be dies a little more as the generations blink out and fade into memory themselves.

RIP Mr Thompson. It was a pleasure to have met and talked with you. jon rosling

Silverwood Colliery – The Home Of Quality

10th December 2010 / / 0 Comments
Image of Silverwood Colliery, Rotherham 1980s

Silverwood Colliery during the 1980s

Clearing through some old videos recently I uncovered a corporate video made for Silverwood Colliery in the late 1980s.

Silverwood Colliery was a coal mine that began life at the start of the 20th Century and the community around it is where I lived, played as a child and grew into adulthood.

My grandfather was a deputy there, and a lot of my family on my mother’s side worked there too until the pit was closed as part of the Conservative government’s pit closure programme of the 1990s.

The land where Silverwood Colliery itself stood and the coal slag pile and slurry lake next to it have since been converted into a nature reserve and a large, modern housing estate sits on what was once farmland next to the colliery.

It’s interesting to see this footage and, once you get past the corporate, promotional voice-over, it’s equally interesting to consider what the place looks like now.

My family and personal history is wedded to the area – I remember watching the miners picketing outside the pit in the 1984 coal strike, and I spent a lot of time playing as a child in and around the woodlands where Silverwood Colliery was located.

The grassed coal piles were a favourite walking place too – the blackened hills of coal slag held a kind of strange mystery for me. They resembled the mountains of Mordor but the variety of wildlife there gave the landscape a strange kind of beauty. I have some photos of that land somewhere that I might dig out.

Meanwhile enjoy the video, cheesy as it is!

Update 28/5/2024 – Neil Bingham’s excellent Silverwood Colliery Heritage Group on Facebook has a much more detailed history about the pit and the people and community that form it’s history.

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