history museums pragmatic historian

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs – Reexamining Stereotypes Through Historical Details

Over the weekend I watched “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” on Netflix. This is the new Coen Brothers movie that they call an anthology because it contains six unrelated stories. Well, except they are related in that they are all westerns and feature death and lonely people. As I don’t know where I’m going to end up with this post, I’m giving you a SPOILER ALERT right now. If this is a movie you want…

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reading

Reading: 84K by Claire North

On a lark, I picked up a book at the library recently. I wasn’t really looking for fiction to read because I have a stack of nonfiction by the bed to get through and I’ve read quite a bit of fiction in the past year. But, after reading the cover and opening description of 84K by Claire North, I realized a dystopian novel was just what I needed. If you want a book that describes…

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history pragmatic historian

Where Historic Buildings Go to Die

A few weeks ago, my husband and I met up with friends for a social evening out. During the course of conversation, our friends told us about a visit they had paid to a site that had many historic buildings — not a historic site because all these buildings had been moved to the site from somewhere else. Because there were so many buildings, it became obvious they were not all being fully maintained. Our…

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