Whaling intelligence: news, facts and US-American exploration in the Pacific

2019 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 425-445
Author(s):  
FELIX LÜTTGE
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
New England ◽  
The United States ◽  
Geographical Knowledge ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Preparatory Phase ◽  
History Of

AbstractThis paper investigates the history of a discursive figure that one could call the intelligent whaler. I argue that this figure's success was made possible by the construal and public distribution of whaling intelligence in an important currency of science – facts – in the preparatory phase for the United States Exploring Expedition (1838–1842). The strongest case for the necessity of the enterprise was New England whalers who were said to cruise uncharted parts of the oceans and whose discoveries of uncharted islands were reported in the local press. The document that stood at the core of the lobbying for an expedition was a table that newspaperman and public lecturer Jeremiah Reynolds had compiled after interviewing whaling captains in the country's principal whaling ports. Presenting whalers’ experience in tabular and synoptic form, Reynolds's table helped forge the figure of the ‘intelligent whaler’, a mariner who had better geographical knowledge than other seafarers. By investigating the paper technologies that produced the ‘intelligent whaler’, this paper shows how Reynolds's translation of ‘whaling intelligence’ from news into facts marks the beginning of the intelligent whaler's long career in US-American debates about expansionism, exploration and science.

Mahjong

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annelise Heinz
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
American Culture ◽  
The United States ◽  
Jewish American ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Women's Culture ◽  
History Of ◽  
American Heritage ◽  
Cultural Origins ◽  
Definition Of

Mahjong: A Chinese Game and the Making of Modern American Culture illustrates how the spaces between tiles and the moments between games have fostered distinct social cultures in the United States. When this mass-produced game crossed the Pacific it created waves of popularity over the twentieth century. Mahjong narrates the history of this game to show how it has created a variety of meanings, among them American modernity, Chinese American heritage, and Jewish American women’s culture. As it traveled from China to the United States and caught on with Hollywood starlets, high society, middle-class housewives, and immigrants alike, mahjong became a quintessentially American pastime. This book also reveals the ways in which women leveraged a game for a variety of economic and cultural purposes, including entrepreneurship, self-expression, philanthropy, and ethnic community building. One result was the forging of friendships within mahjong groups that lasted decades. This study unfolds in two parts. The first half is focused on mahjong’s history as related to consumerism, with a close examination of its economic and cultural origins. The second half explores how mahjong interwove with the experiences of racial inclusion and exclusion in the evolving definition of what it means to be American. Mahjong players, promoters, entrepreneurs, and critics tell a broad story of American modernity. The apparent contradictions of the game—as both American and foreign, modern and supposedly ancient, domestic and disruptive of domesticity—reveal the tensions that lie at the heart of modern American culture.

The Pacific Ocean as Highway to Gold Mountain

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Sinn
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Pacific Ocean ◽  
Capital Flows ◽  
The United States ◽  
The West ◽  
New Era ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Pacific Ocean

This chapter takes a broad look at the Pacific Ocean in relation to Chinese migration. As trade, consumption and capital flows followed migrants, powerful networks were woven and sustained; in time, the networks fanned across the Pacific from British Columbia along the West Coast of the United States to New Zealand and Australia. The overlapping personal, family, financial and commercial interests of Chinese in California and those in Hong Kong, which provide the focus of this study, energized the connections and kept the Pacific busy and dynamic while shaping the development of regions far beyond its shores. The ocean turned into a highway for Chinese seeking Gold Mountain, marking a new era in the history of South China, California, and the Pacific Ocean itself.

Wars of Modern Babylon

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pesach Malovany ◽  
Ya'akov Amidror ◽  
Amnon Lipkin-Shahak ◽  
Kevin M. Woods
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Middle East ◽  
The United States ◽  
Military Intelligence ◽  
The Core ◽  
Saddam Hussein ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Way

This book describes the history of the Iraqi Army from its establishment in 1921 until its collapse in 2003 in the war against the Coalition Forces, the core of which was a highly intensive 24-year period under the leadership of Saddam Hussein. It analyzes the development and activities of this army, and focuses on the major wars in which it participated during Saddam’s regime: the prolonged war against Iran (1980-1988) and the two wars against the Coalition Forces led by the United States (1991 and 2003), as well as the wars against Israel and the Kurds in earlier periods. The book is based mostly on Iraqi sources—Newspapers and other media means, books and documents, and presents all this mostly from the Iraqi perspective. Its major innovation lies in its presenting this topic to the reader—including all the elements of the construction of the Iraqi fighting force, its war strategies, its functioning on all levels (strategic, operative and tactical), its forces and branches, its command and many other subjects—in a comprehensive, detailed manner,. My experience in dealing with military issues in the Middle East during my long service with the Israeli Military Intelligence helped me very much in dealing with this huge Army, and to understand its concepts, its historical roots and the way it was conducting its war, The Wars of Modern Babylon.

The Debs Way

2019 ◽  
pp. 35-40
Author(s):  
Leo Huberman
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
New York ◽  
New York City ◽  
York City ◽  
The United States ◽  
Core Beliefs ◽  
Basic Principles ◽  
The Core ◽  
History Of

This reprise of "The Debs Way"—the text of an address Huberman delivered at the Debs Centennial Meeting held at the Fraternal Clubhouse in New York City on November 28, 1955—not only reminds us of the importance of Eugene Debs to the history of socialism in the United States, but also brings out some of the core beliefs of Huberman's own approach to socialism. Today's conditions are of course vastly different from when Huberman wrote this, more than sixty years ago. There is now a resurgence of the left in the United States, but the basic principles that Huberman derived from Debs remain relevant.

“A Perfect Republic”: The Mosaic Constitution in Revolutionary New England, 1775–1788

2009 ◽  
Vol 82 (2) ◽  
pp. 235-263 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eran Shalev
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
New England ◽  
Intellectual History ◽  
The United States ◽  
Declaration Of Independence ◽  
Federal Constitution ◽  
Biblical History ◽  
History Of

Between the United States' declaration of independence and the country's attempt to construct a federal Constitution, a group of New England ministers proclaimed Israel's biblical history an exemplum for their republican and federal aspirations. Tracing this unique interpretive discourse, the essay underscores the importance of political Hebraism to the intellectual history of the early United States.

History of POW Treatment in the United States

2017 ◽  
pp. 31-56
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Grimm Arsenault
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Korean War ◽  
The United States ◽  
Revolutionary War ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
The Core ◽  
Geneva Conventions ◽  
The Korean War ◽  
History Of ◽  
Domestic Law

This chapter details the history of U.S. POW treatment from the Revolutionary War through the Korean War to demonstrate the consistent importance bestowed upon the use of humane methods. Particular attention is paid to the application of the Geneva Conventions in U.S. policy, military doctrine, and domestic law, as these international legal statutes have come to represent the core of international humanitarian law. Chapter 2 shows that while the United States struggled at times to adapt to new and unforeseen scenarios, it always worked to address these ambiguities from the perspective of reinforcing, rather than challenging, the norm of humane treatment.

Introduction

2020 ◽  
pp. 5-9
Author(s):  
Francis J. Bremer
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
New England ◽  
The United States ◽  
Lay Leadership ◽  
Cultural Institutions ◽  
Standard Interpretation ◽  
History Of ◽  
Insight Into

This book makes a series of arguments that challenge the standard interpretation of the Pilgrim story and the influence of Plymouth on the colonization of New England and the history of the United States. Those who are commonly referred to as Pilgrims are presented as members of the broader English puritan movement. Lay leadership such as that of William Brewster was central to the forming and conduct of congregational churches. These believers recognized that “further light” might always provide further insight into God’s designs. And Plymouth’s role in shaping the religious and cultural institutions of Massachusetts were more significant than previously realized.

The Eagle has Landed: Groping for a Korean Role in the Pacific War

2014 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-33
Author(s):  
Mark E. Caprio
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
The United States ◽  
Pacific War ◽  
World War ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Southern Korea ◽  
History Of ◽  
Military Support ◽  
First Americans

The first Americans to arrive in Korea following Japan’s surrender at the end of World War II brought with them a quartet of Korean soldiers that U.S. officials had recruited for the Eagle Project, the most ambitious American effort to use Koreans in the Pacific War that punctuated a long wartime effort to enlist Allied diplomatic and military support for overseas Koreans. In response, U.S. officials had insisted that Korean exiles in the United States unify their efforts. This condition referenced squabbles among Korean groups in general, with the most transparent being those between Syngman Rhee and Haan Kilsoo. While Korean combatants on the Asian mainland managed to gain some U.S. support for their cause, recognition of their potential came too late in the war for them to help liberate their country. Ultimately, the United States turned to the Japanese and Japanese-trained Koreans to assist in this occupation. Reviewing the history of both Korean lobbying and U.S. response to it provides the opportunity to ask whether better handling of the Korean issue during World War II could have provided U.S. occupation forces with better circumstances to prepare southern Korea for a swift, and unified, independence.

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