This is where I continue to fulfill the dork quotient of this blog
A friggin' course on pirates at Trinity College. I'm afraid the link will go kaput shortly, so here's the article:
Avast, Students! Here Ye Can Add Keelhauling to Your Curriculum
By THOMAS BARTLETT -->Why doesn't every college have a course on pirates?That's what Thomas M. Truxes wants to know. For one thing, there is a wealth of pirate-related material for students to explore, including firsthand accounts of raids. Pirates also loom large in the popular imagination, serving as fodder for numerous novels, movies, and comic strips, not to mention a Disney ride and "Talk Like a Pirate Day," created by a couple of guys with way too much time on their hands. (It's September 19, by the way. Mark your calendars.)But what's most compelling about the subject for Mr. Truxes, a visiting history lecturer at Trinity College, in Connecticut, is how it leads to discussions on a wide range of important issues, such as terrorism. Those who don't believe pirates were terrorists don't know their history, Mr. Truxes contends."It was a huge problem," he says. "The reason these guys were able to keep going for so long is that no one nation had the incentive or the power to take charge and deal with them."During the heyday of piracy, which stretched from the 16th to the early 18th century, some countries tolerated pirates for the same reason some countries today tolerate terrorism: It was to their economic advantage to do so.The course, "Pirates and Buccaneers: Seaborne Terrorism in the Early Modern Period," also looks at the culture aboard pirate ships. For instance, some scholars believe that pirate ships served as havens for homosexual men. Others argue that the connection between piracy and homosexuality has been exaggerated.The demand for the course, offered for the first time this fall, has been strong. Some students had to be turned away."I guess I didn't realize it was such an unusual topic," says Mr. Truxes, who studies maritime commerce. "It's just something I find interesting."***Reading list:Bandits at Sea: A Pirates Reader, edited by C.R. Pennell (New York University Press, 2001); Captain Kidd and the War Against the Pirates, by Robert C. Ritchie (Harvard University Press, 1986); A General History of Pyrates, by Daniel Defoe (University of South Carolina Press, 1972); Pillaging the Empire: Piracy in the Americas, 1500-1750, by Kris E. Lane (M.E. Sharpe, 1998).***Assignments:Students will write a one-page response to the reading for each class. Each student also will lead one class discussion during the seminar. Along with quizzes and a final exam, students will be graded on a final research paper, which should be 10 to 12 pages long and can be on any pirate-related topic, such as the effect of international law on seaborne bandits.
By THOMAS BARTLETT -->Why doesn't every college have a course on pirates?That's what Thomas M. Truxes wants to know. For one thing, there is a wealth of pirate-related material for students to explore, including firsthand accounts of raids. Pirates also loom large in the popular imagination, serving as fodder for numerous novels, movies, and comic strips, not to mention a Disney ride and "Talk Like a Pirate Day," created by a couple of guys with way too much time on their hands. (It's September 19, by the way. Mark your calendars.)But what's most compelling about the subject for Mr. Truxes, a visiting history lecturer at Trinity College, in Connecticut, is how it leads to discussions on a wide range of important issues, such as terrorism. Those who don't believe pirates were terrorists don't know their history, Mr. Truxes contends."It was a huge problem," he says. "The reason these guys were able to keep going for so long is that no one nation had the incentive or the power to take charge and deal with them."During the heyday of piracy, which stretched from the 16th to the early 18th century, some countries tolerated pirates for the same reason some countries today tolerate terrorism: It was to their economic advantage to do so.The course, "Pirates and Buccaneers: Seaborne Terrorism in the Early Modern Period," also looks at the culture aboard pirate ships. For instance, some scholars believe that pirate ships served as havens for homosexual men. Others argue that the connection between piracy and homosexuality has been exaggerated.The demand for the course, offered for the first time this fall, has been strong. Some students had to be turned away."I guess I didn't realize it was such an unusual topic," says Mr. Truxes, who studies maritime commerce. "It's just something I find interesting."***Reading list:Bandits at Sea: A Pirates Reader, edited by C.R. Pennell (New York University Press, 2001); Captain Kidd and the War Against the Pirates, by Robert C. Ritchie (Harvard University Press, 1986); A General History of Pyrates, by Daniel Defoe (University of South Carolina Press, 1972); Pillaging the Empire: Piracy in the Americas, 1500-1750, by Kris E. Lane (M.E. Sharpe, 1998).***Assignments:Students will write a one-page response to the reading for each class. Each student also will lead one class discussion during the seminar. Along with quizzes and a final exam, students will be graded on a final research paper, which should be 10 to 12 pages long and can be on any pirate-related topic, such as the effect of international law on seaborne bandits.
As for pushing you into your thinking zone, I think this succeeds much better than my previous post. Also, here's a primer on keelhauling.
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