I have also used Dr. Brands' laws with my students. I find that it gives them another dimension to think about how history moves forward. It also enables students to connect with thematic exploration of the past. I found these laws several years ago and it has transformed how I have students look at the past.
Excellent guidelines for exploring the past. I've often thought that some rule of history must be: Fashion rules. So many "movements" and "tipping points" seem to be examples of "monkey see, monkey do."
Jake Peterson commented on April 9 in response to your April 7 “Support your list cal sheriff” that he had “Brands’ List of 9 Laws of History” that he handed out to his students. When was the Tenth Law added? Which one is the addition? And what was the inspiration, realization or reaction that gave rise to its canonization?
Thanks for your information and insights. As you may have been able to perceive, I have been a fan of Dr. Brands for years. Only because he is younger and arrived on The Forty Acres later than I, I never had the chance to take one of his courses. I keep promising myself that I will stroll up the street one day and sit in a class or two.
These things just occur to me at odd moments. Unlike the Ten Commandments, mine aren't etched in stone.
I have also used Dr. Brands' laws with my students. I find that it gives them another dimension to think about how history moves forward. It also enables students to connect with thematic exploration of the past. I found these laws several years ago and it has transformed how I have students look at the past.
Excellent guidelines for exploring the past. I've often thought that some rule of history must be: Fashion rules. So many "movements" and "tipping points" seem to be examples of "monkey see, monkey do."
Errata: “Support your local sheriff.” Autocomplete got me again.
Jake Peterson commented on April 9 in response to your April 7 “Support your list cal sheriff” that he had “Brands’ List of 9 Laws of History” that he handed out to his students. When was the Tenth Law added? Which one is the addition? And what was the inspiration, realization or reaction that gave rise to its canonization?
Jim: Bill (Brands) had his Laws of History posted years ago on his now-defunct personal website. I remember seeing them, but it wasn't until around 2019 that I was reminded of them again after he tweeted his First Law (https://twitter.com/hwbrands/status/1183516788534992898?s=20). After a quick Google search, I was about to find the full list that someone posted a couple years earlier (https://jeffwills.blog/2017/09/03/brandss-laws-of-history/). I print off & hand out the original list to my students every year, and have been making periodic changes as Bill updates the list (https://open.substack.com/pub/hwbrands/p/brandss-4th-law-nothing-is-inevitable?r=kgnhx&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web). God limited Himself to Ten Commandments; Brands keeps his list at 10 by adding new laws and eliminating old laws (5th Law: Happy stays home (Immigrant nations like the U.S. are inherently restless)) as he sees fits
Jake-
Thanks for your information and insights. As you may have been able to perceive, I have been a fan of Dr. Brands for years. Only because he is younger and arrived on The Forty Acres later than I, I never had the chance to take one of his courses. I keep promising myself that I will stroll up the street one day and sit in a class or two.
Jim