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Tuesday, March 31, 2009

History Your Evening Reading

Posted by Paul Constant on Tue, Mar 31, 2009 at 5:28 PM

cbf4/1238529917-pic01-humiston-children.jpg Slog tipper leek would like everyone to look over at the New York Times, where the always-great Errol Morris does a five-part investigation titled "Whose Father Was He?"

The soldier’s body was found near the center of Gettysburg with no identification — no regimental numbers on his cap, no corps badge on his jacket, no letters, no diary. Nothing save for an ambrotype (an early type of photograph popular in the late 1850s and 1860s) of three small children clutched in his hand. Within a few days the ambrotype came into the possession of Benjamin Schriver, a tavern keeper in the small town of Graeffenburg, about 13 miles west of Gettysburg. The details of how Schriver came into possession of the ambrotype have been lost to history. But the rest of the story survives, a story in which this photograph of three small children was used for both good and wicked purposes.

We're only on day two of the story, but it looks to be vintage Morris: It's about families, and images, and our relationships to images and families. It's also something ideally suited to blogs, with its heavy interrelation between written words and pictures. I hope more people start following Morris's lead and working on longer explorations like this. Part two is here. Many thanks to leek for sharing this with Slog.

Comments (4) RSS

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Is it preposterously tedious? Because pretty much everything he writes for the Times is just awful.

Posted by minderbender on March 31, 2009 at 6:04 PM

Well, part two is all interview if that makes you feel better.

Yay! Glad you're enjoying it, Paul.

Posted by leek on March 31, 2009 at 7:52 PM

Here's a short breakdown of evolutionary theory: Females hang out with the guy who gives them material shit (a house, cash money, and stuff to play with) and so the chick pretends to really, really like them, but then fuck the guy with the big cock so they can pass on the evil, "fuck hot chicks then dump 'em gene."
Guys are close, but a little different, they just go out and fuck every willing chick that'll take 'em, material possesions don't play as large of a role.

Analysis:

Humans = chimps (or perhaps some less evolved species)

Thus, I don't believe in evolution.
Why?
Simply because... it hasn't happened yet.
Human beings are pretty much just dumbfuck chimps that wear ties and/or fuck mr. big dick for the wrong reasons.

Just my observations...

Posted by Urgutha Forka on March 31, 2009 at 11:15 PM

This Amos Humiston story is fascinating. Why is the Civil War so addictively interesting?

Posted by rtw on April 1, 2009 at 7:47 AM