Odd Bits
From the Archives: You Can’t Vote Because…..
From sixth century Athens on, who has the vote and why has been a touchy and evolving subject in democracies. People who already have the vote have hesitated to extend it to others for two basic reasons. Those with the vote don’t think those without the vote have the capacity to make good choices. Those…
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We Have Winners!
I received the first e-mail asking me if I’d be interested in writing a companion book to the PBS series Mercy Street on July 3rd of last year. (And yes, I was ready to set off fireworks at the idea.) The eight months since then have been exciting, grueling, exciting, frustrating, exciting, humbling, and–oh yes–exciting.…
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Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy
Nursing wasn’t the only role that women played in the American Civil War. Women on both sides of the conflict organized soldier’s aid societies, effectively transforming homes, schools and churches into small-scale factories and shipping warehouses in which they made and collected food, clothing and medical supplies. Eighty years before Rosie the Riveter, they worked…
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