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Saturday, April 29, 2017

Cowles - Origin of the Violet - Keeping the Public in Public Domain

I call my dog my "cross trainer" as every other day, if at all possible, I try to take him out for a 45 minute to an hour hike, with some days double that if time and energy permits.  (He also becomes a "cross" trainer if he doesn't get enough exercise.)  It's a perfect time to observe nature and think about things like stories.

Hiking the hills and valleys of a nearby state park right now made me wonder what Pourquois story might exist about what I was seeing and even tasting.  Pourquois tales are stories about Why or How something came to be.  When I mention tasting, it's related to

and enjoying the taste of wild plants like the leaves of wild violets which are sweeter than any lettuce.  No, I didn't have a bunch of them, just a leaf or two doesn't hurt those beautiful bits of scattered springtime color.  Euell Gibbons started Americans appreciating the edible bounty of nature without our even planting it.

Here's an Iroquois story to pay for that bite of springtime.
Photo: James Steakley / Wikimedia
A sad end to a story that seems to just pop up out of nowhere even as the wild violet does along the trail.

Earlier on this blog I have what little information could be found about Julia Darrow Cowles,who gave no source for that Iroquois tale, but at least she identified it as coming from the Iroquois.  Many early editors of Native American anthologies from many of those nations didn't identify the tradition.  Her Indian Nature Myths at least gives us that much documentation.

Logo of the Haudenosaunee Confederation
The name itself of Iroquois some say came from the French, while others believe it came from their Algonquin enemies here in this Great Lakes area and means "rattlesnakes."  They call themselves the Haudenosaunee, meaning "people of the long house."  I only use it because it is the more common description for the confederation, but the hotlink on the logo and previous sentence take you to the official website of a people who can easily lay claim to being the oldest living participatory democracy on earth.  A Wikipedia article debates their contribution to the creation of the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights, but the U.S. Congress in 1988 passed a resolution recognizing the influence of the Iroquois League.

Similarly it was difficult to find the source where Julia Darrow Cowles found her tale.  I searched well-regarded Iroquois books pre-dating her title. Books I have and online come from the half-Seneca folklorist, Arthur C. Parker, also Harriet Maxwell Converse and Mabel Powers, each of whom were adopted were adopted into the Seneca nation within the Confederation.  Folklorist Jeremiah Curtin was another early recorder, again from the Seneca tradition.  The U.S. Bureau of American Ethnology publications from these individuals, when online are small type and not easily browsed when a title uses an Iroquois/Haudenosaunee word.  It's not in my own books by Parker, Converse, and Powers, and the only books I own by Curtin are his Irish collections, another area of folklore he loved.

I also checked Legends of the Longhouse by J.J. Cornplanter since an Iroquois Reprints of a 1938 book, but Cornplanter is apparently a popular Iroquois name.  Hathi Trust Digital Library has the 1902 Legends of the Iroquois told by "the Cornplanter" with "authoritative notes and studies by William W. Canfield" and it's there on page 81!  I think it does a better job of starting and ending the story.  Canfield described the Cornplanter as a Seneca chief, giving two transliterations of his name meaning the Cornplanter, who told the stories shortly after the American Revolution.  Canfield explains further about the authority of the stories and how he proceeded to document them.

The ending in Legends of the Longhouse says more about the two lovers and the girl's choice to leave her people, but closes with: From this spot sprang the violets; and the winds and birds carried the seeds of the little flowers over all the world, into all countries where men dare and maidens love, so that the Indians of all ages might know that the Great Spirit would always raise a monument to true love and bravery.

Powers, whose book, Stories the Iroquois Tell Their Children, available for free through both Project Gutenberg and Archive.orgArchive.org, tells not only about her sources, but how she became named Yeh Sen Noh Wehs or Daughter of the Senecas.  She is the only one specifically saying she collected from all the Iroquois.  She tells us a story was ended traditionally with "Na ho" meaning "It is the end" -- and for today it is.
*************
Here's my closing for days when I have a story in Keeping the Public in Public Domain. 
***************** 

This is part of a series of postings of stories under the category, "Keeping the Public in Public Domain."  The idea behind Public Domain was to preserve our cultural heritage after the authors and their immediate heirs were compensated.  I feel strongly current copyright law delays this intent on works of the 20th century.  My own library of folklore includes so many books within the Public Domain I decided to share stories from them.  I hope you enjoy discovering new stories.  
At the same time, my own involvement in storytelling regularly creates projects requiring research as part of my sharing stories with an audience.  Whenever that research needs to be shown here, the publishing of Public Domain stories will not occur that week.  This is a return to my regular posting of a research project here.  (Don't worry, this isn't dry research, my research is always geared towards future storytelling to an audience.)  Response has convinced me that "Keeping the Public in Public Domain" should continue along with my other postings as often as I can manage it. 
Other Public Domain story resources I recommend -
  • There are many online resources for Public Domain stories, maybe none for folklore is as ambitious as fellow storyteller, Yoel Perez's database, Yashpeh, the International Folktales Collection.  I have long recommended it and continue to do so.  He has loaded Stith Thompson's Motif Index into his server as a database so you can search the whole 6 volumes for whatever word or expression you like by pressing one key. http://folkmasa.org/motiv/motif.htm
  • You may have noticed I'm no longer certain Dr. Perez has the largest database, although his offering the Motif Index certainly qualifies for those of us seeking specific types of stories.  There's another site, FairyTalez claiming to be the largest, with "over 2000 fairy tales, folktales, and fables" and they are "fully optimized for phones, tablets, and PCs", free and presented without ads.
Between those two sites, there is much for story-lovers, but as they say in infomercials, "Wait, there's more!"
You can see why I recommend these to you. Have fun discovering even more stories!
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Saturday, April 22, 2017

Van Dyke - Handful of Clay - Keeping the Public in Public Domain

I'm trying to regain flexibility and strength in my dominant hand and wrist after breaking it for the second year in a row!  That includes therapy.  Hand therapy falls under the category of "occupational" therapy.  It's certainly true for me as I once again will be teaching American Sign Language, to say nothing of the pain typing for two of my fingers.  I remember the stab of pain as I signed "bad" -- OUCH! it was.  On the wall is a sign telling me April is National Occupational Therapy Month.
found on Pinterest.com by OT Month booster, Jardim Secreto Love

O.k. I'm not about to bake a cake for this, but went looking for a Public Domain story about hands or sign language and today's story, by serendipitous searching is most appropriate.  How?  Wait and see.

Back on December 24, 2014 I said: By the way, Henry Van Dyke wrote a lovely story of the Fourth Wise Man.  It's too long (50 pages) for me to post in my Keeping the Public in Public Domain, but I recommend it heartily.  The novella, The Story of the Other Wise Man, can be found at Project Gutenberg.  I first heard it told as an entire program by an Indiana storyteller who has gone to tell stories in the hereafter.  I've forgotten his name, but definitely not the story.

Because of that storyteller's program, when I found The Blue Flower, which contained the story, I bought it and after that two other Van Dyke books.  Authors talk about missing the day when publishing was a gentlemen's business.  Scribner is an old firm started in 1846.  It's now part of a conglomeration of major publishers, but look at how lovely this embossed cover is.  The contents are just as lovingly handled, as are the other books from Scribner.

The book not only has "The Story of the Other Wise Man", but ends with another Christmas story that was also quite popular, "The First Christmas-Tree."  Almost all but the title story, which Van Dyke says is from the German poet and philosopher, Novalis, are too long for a single post here, but the story I've chosen for today. It is definitely not a Christmas tale. I'll say more in a bit, but will say it, too, has been very popular both back in the early 20th century and on the internet.  As I read it I thought I might know where it was heading, but . . .
 
 
This photo came from Father Julian's Blog -- brief history of the Easter Lily
Definitely a story to think about as you claim your Easter lily, or garden, or enjoy Earth Day, which is today and also fits today's story.  Some pots still are clay, a substance that can be recycled although once that clay is fired into pottery it gets more difficult.  Try these ideas to recycle broken pottery.  Often the starts for plants come in recycled plastic and those, too, can be recycled, frequently at gardening centers.  Here's a link to an article called "How to Recycle Anything" dating back to 2013.  I notice it wasn't covering things like the larger decorative resin pots that sometimes look like clay.  Whether it be resin lawn furniture or pots, it's a bit more challenging as types of plastic don't mix well in the recycling process.  It's a bit more difficult, but try online searching using terms like recycle broken resin and other words describing what needs recycling.  For a general explanation and ideas (beyond even its title as the 5th way includes 9 more ways!) look at "5 Ways to Recycle Plastic."  At the article's end there are other articles listed for still more recycling.

But I'm not completely ready to leave "A Handful of Clay."  Looking further, I'm not the only one to think highly of this story.  While preparing this I found two other bloggers who were similarly taken with the story when they, too, dug it up after all this time.  (Alright, I couldn't resist the pun, but both Lee Enry Erickson and Sue Bertolini-Fox couldn't resist the story once they read it.)  Back in the early 20th century the story was popular with many school reader anthologies and even Anna M. Lütkenhaus for New York City Public Schools included it in Plays for School Children (1915), with ideas you may want to use in presenting it.  (That hotlink is a free Google eBook.)  Additionally Tesolman Reading Center, which uses public domain short stories in its goal of "walking you from being a good reader to a good writer"offers study questions related to this story.  The Baldwin Project is an online homeschooling and teaching resource serving as a "Gateway to the Classics."   Their site gives The Blue Flower 's entire text including this story.  You can also find it on YouTube, but it's just the text given in what I find are annoying chunks along with a narration that sounds like the Kurzweil Reader machine text to speech reader software for Dyslexia, English Language Learners, and the Blind and Vision Impaired.  (If you want to hear it, I'd be more inclined to suggest trying The Blue Flower by Henry Van Dyke on LibriVox.)

As I mentioned earlier, The Blue Flower contains some gems, but they're all too long to reprint here unless I break them up and take several posts.  I have another book by Van Dyke that isn't yet online and is specifically his short stories.  I have a plan to give at least one rather witty "parable" from it in June along with information on the author.  He puzzled me a bit and . . . well, as you probably can guess it led to a bit more research.
********
Here's my closing for days when I have a story in Keeping the Public in Public Domain. 
***************** 

This is part of a series of postings of stories under the category, "Keeping the Public in Public Domain."  The idea behind Public Domain was to preserve our cultural heritage after the authors and their immediate heirs were compensated.  I feel strongly current copyright law delays this intent on works of the 20th century.  My own library of folklore includes so many books within the Public Domain I decided to share stories from them.  I hope you enjoy discovering new stories.  
At the same time, my own involvement in storytelling regularly creates projects requiring research as part of my sharing stories with an audience.  Whenever that research needs to be shown here, the publishing of Public Domain stories will not occur that week.  This is a return to my regular posting of a research project here.  (Don't worry, this isn't dry research, my research is always geared towards future storytelling to an audience.)  Response has convinced me that "Keeping the Public in Public Domain" should continue along with my other postings as often as I can manage it. 
Other Public Domain story resources I recommend -
  • There are many online resources for Public Domain stories, maybe none for folklore is as ambitious as fellow storyteller, Yoel Perez's database, Yashpeh, the International Folktales Collection.  I have long recommended it and continue to do so.  He has loaded Stith Thompson's Motif Index into his server as a database so you can search the whole 6 volumes for whatever word or expression you like by pressing one key. http://folkmasa.org/motiv/motif.htm
  • You may have noticed I'm no longer certain Dr. Perez has the largest database, although his offering the Motif Index certainly qualifies for those of us seeking specific types of stories.  There's another site, FairyTalez claiming to be the largest, with "over 2000 fairy tales, folktales, and fables" and they are "fully optimized for phones, tablets, and PCs", free and presented without ads.
Between those two sites, there is much for story-lovers, but as they say in infomercials, "Wait, there's more!"
You can see why I recommend these to you. Have fun discovering even more stories!
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Saturday, April 15, 2017

Wilde - The Selfish Giant, part 2 - Keeping the Public in Public Domain

The greater part of "The Selfish Giant" concludes today.  At the end I will give ideas for using the story.  We stopped with the question: What did he see?  (Besides the text we will see what was seen by a variety of illustrators.  Brace yourself they form a major stop to the story, but fit the crisis in the story.)
(This critical point in the story produced not just one, but work by these FIVE illustrators.)
1910 by Walter Crane
from The Silent Readers, Seventh Reader - Lewis and Rowland, illustrated by Frederick Richardson
from Story Hour Readings - Fifth Year by E.C. Hartwell, Anonymous Artist?
from Happy Holidays by Frances G. Wickes, illustrated by Gertrude Kay
 and
from the My Book House set edited by Olive Beupre Miller, Anonymous Artist?

Enlarging the picture finds the artist may be "Martin"

That's the story as Wilde wrote it.  I find it interesting that My Book House ended the story without the revelation of who the "little boy" was and the eventual death of the giant.  Their story ends two and a half pages earlier, ending with "And when the people were going to market at twelve o'clock, the found the Giant playing with the children in the most beautiful garden they had ever seen."  This picture (with a clue to the anonymous artist) accompanies that ending. 

I'm positive Wilde would hate that sanitized ending as it clearly eliminated the very purpose of his writing.  It wasn't just about being selfish.  This leaves me feeling rather like the giant knocking down the wall.  It's interesting other anthology illustrators, with less opportunity to illustrate scenes than a picture book illustrator, don't show the giant's action changing everything.  In their defense, they may have been told what pictures were wanted.  Picture books of the story are a modern opportunity to look at the story.  Last week I dared to give one illustration from Once Upon a Blog's posting of the Belarusian picture book version by Wladimir Dowgialo.  This downloaded two-page spread sums up my reaction to changing this story. 
The Selfish Giant (in Belarusian picture book version) by Wladimir Dowgialo
The Selfish Giant is an old favorite story for me, but this time I found myself realizing I had seen it in my own life.  The giant chased the children away from his property.  My own mother would see the neighborhood children playing in the street in front of our home, including the street light and our driveway and chase them off.  As a child I always wondered why she did this and what harm she thought it caused?  It's worth the audience of the Selfish Giant thinking -- without using the judgemental label of "selfish" -- if they have ever seen anybody react like the giant or if they had ever reacted similarly.  Why?  It's also worth thinking if any incidents in history might have been a similar action.  What was the result?  How might it have gone differently?

from Drama Notebook
Last week I included this comment: As "Gypsy Thornton or InkGypsy" put it when writing about The Selfish Giant in her Once Upon a Blog: This story seems to be one of those 'illustrators's dream' assignments as I've rarely seen a sub-par set of illustrations for this fairy tale. And how could it not be? Giants, children, seasons, castles, trees, a little visit from a not-quite-human visitor and a village populated with interesting characters.. there's so much to work with.

What illustrations might an audience provide?  Music?  Dance?  It would, of course, be worthwhile seeing the many illustrated books of this story.  Here's another book worth checking, a 10 minute play script and it's one of many dramatized versions.

Maybe you have wondered about this classic story and what age may enjoy it.  Many have used this story in teaching.  One of my illustration sources, Story Hour Readings Fifth Year by E.C. Hartwell, dates back to 1921 -- when reading levels were different, but there is no true answer as to what age can handle the story.  It's interesting that edHelper lists their activities are for high school and Wilde, himself said the story was to be read (I'd add "or told") to children because he didn't simplify it.  It works well with adults, too, and is even recommended in Around the World in English, (which opens with a video, followed by comprehension questions, vocabulary, and a quiz on the many irregular past forms used in the story), the blog for students and teachers of English as a foreign language.  I even found a reference to The Selfish Giant story in Hindi.

स्वार्थी दैत्य : The Selfish Giant


Redefining English Classroom gets creative in what it asks students, but most like ExcellUp use "closed" questions, as does Fun Trivia, EduRev, there's even a YouTube video of "important questions and answers", also Proprofs quizmaker uses 29 fill-in-the-blanks to take the provided verbs and have the student use it for practice in "irregular past forms."    There are also several teacher's guide and workbook pdfs (also http://mptbc.nic.in/books/class11/enggt11/ch5.pdf; and http://www.imaginative-inquiry.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/The-Selfish-Giant.pdf are a few more, but there are certainly others.) Teachers with a paid subscription to edHelper.com can obtain activities, worksheets, and lesson plans, with similar ideas from the British subscription company PrimaryLeap.

Carolyn Sherwin Bailey, besides writing the Newbery Medal winning Miss Hickory, put together  many storytelling anthologies and her For the Story Teller includes instruction for beginning tellers along with a few stories, with The Selfish Giant in her section on "The Instinct Story."  I love the way I often feel like her ideas and story selections match my own even if a century ago.  Before this story she mentions this:

Personally I prefer letting any story stand on its own without analysis of "meaning", but this is clearly a story useful for "character education" or teaching values.  At the risk of what I call "tearing the wings off butterflies", here are two of what I am sure are many resources for that type of evaluation: eNotes.com and Uisio.com.

The story has clearly captured the interest of  many.  There are a variety of filmed versions, especially animated movies.  I'll leave you to hunt for those (instead of Easter eggs?) as that goes beyond my storytelling mission.  Yes, yes, I know the term "storyteller" and "storytelling" gets used by the movie industry, too, but for the sake of this blog and my own focus I prefer to restrict storytelling to oral telling, but allowing for it often originating in print.

Here's my closing for days when I have a story in Keeping the Public in Public Domain. 
***************** 

This is part of a series of postings of stories under the category, "Keeping the Public in Public Domain."  The idea behind Public Domain was to preserve our cultural heritage after the authors and their immediate heirs were compensated.  I feel strongly current copyright law delays this intent on works of the 20th century.  My own library of folklore includes so many books within the Public Domain I decided to share stories from them.  I hope you enjoy discovering new stories.  
At the same time, my own involvement in storytelling regularly creates projects requiring research as part of my sharing stories with an audience.  Whenever that research needs to be shown here, the publishing of Public Domain stories will not occur that week.  This is a return to my regular posting of a research project here.  (Don't worry, this isn't dry research, my research is always geared towards future storytelling to an audience.)  Response has convinced me that "Keeping the Public in Public Domain" should continue along with my other postings as often as I can manage it. 
Other Public Domain story resources I recommend -
  • There are many online resources for Public Domain stories, maybe none for folklore is as ambitious as fellow storyteller, Yoel Perez's database, Yashpeh, the International Folktales Collection.  I have long recommended it and continue to do so.  He has loaded Stith Thompson's Motif Index into his server as a database so you can search the whole 6 volumes for whatever word or expression you like by pressing one key. http://folkmasa.org/motiv/motif.htm
  • You may have noticed I'm no longer certain Dr. Perez has the largest database, although his offering the Motif Index certainly qualifies for those of us seeking specific types of stories.  There's another site, FairyTalez claiming to be the largest, with "over 2000 fairy tales, folktales, and fables" and they are "fully optimized for phones, tablets, and PCs", free and presented without ads.
Between those two sites, there is much for story-lovers, but as they say in infomercials, "Wait, there's more!"
You can see why I recommend these to you. Have fun discovering even more stories!


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Saturday, April 8, 2017

Wilde - The Selfish Giant - Keeping the Public in Public Domain

One of several illustrated editions, this by S.Saelig Gallagher
Winter still tries to cling to parts of the United States, at times including Michigan.  I keep telling myself Lent is a Middle English word for "springtime.  The Merriam-Webster dictionary says its first known use was in the 13th century and it's "akin to Old High German lenzin spring."  This all fits perfectly with a tale of the seasons from Oscar Wilde often used as an Easter story.  Easter's quickly approaching and the story divides well with a good split between before and after, so this week I'll only give the first half.  It doesn't have to be limited to Easter.  I've used it as a movie in a summer series, for example.

Next week I will add to the story's conclusion some ways this beloved story may be used in either teaching or other programs.

While Wilde said the story was a fairy tale to read to children, this is only because he didn't write for their reading level.  It has many levels to it as, like all Wilde's writing, it is done so well.  Definitely adults can enjoy it, too.

As "Gypsy Thornton or InkGypsy" put it when writing about The Selfish Giant in her Once Upon a Blog: This story seems to be one of those 'illustrators's dream' assignments as I've rarely seen a sub-par set of illustrations for this fairy tale. And how could it not be? Giants, children, seasons, castles, trees, a little visit from a not-quite-human visitor and a village populated with interesting characters.. there's so much to work with.

But let's have other comments wait and begin.
from the My Book House set edited by Olive Beupre Miller, Anonymous Artist?

from the My Book House set edited by Olive Beupre Miller, Anonymous Artist?

from Story Hour Readings - Fifth Year by E.C. Hartwell, Anonymous Artist?
from the My Book House set edited by Olive Beupre Miller, Anonymous Artist?

What indeed?  Like the Giant "I hope there will be a change in the weather."

As a storyteller I prepared this segment while about to head into a late wintry storm coming across the state, but was told the day after I'm back home we should reach 70 degrees!  At the risk of being as Selfish as a Giant, I'll hold off on the rest of the story until next week, but I'll suggest looking at this picture by Wladimir Dowgialo from Belarus. 
Once Upon a Blog about The Selfish Giant illustrated by Wladimir Dowgialo
The book is in Belarusian and so I trust both the "InkGypsy" and I are on safe grounds -- whether snow-covered or not.  Her blog gives you even more opportunity to see this work, so I recommend clicking the hotlink in the caption above.

Next week's story conclusion will include a variety of resources for using this story.

Until then here's my closing for days when I have a story in Keeping the Public in Public Domain. 
***************** 

This is part of a series of postings of stories under the category, "Keeping the Public in Public Domain."  The idea behind Public Domain was to preserve our cultural heritage after the authors and their immediate heirs were compensated.  I feel strongly current copyright law delays this intent on works of the 20th century.  My own library of folklore includes so many books within the Public Domain I decided to share stories from them.  I hope you enjoy discovering new stories.  
At the same time, my own involvement in storytelling regularly creates projects requiring research as part of my sharing stories with an audience.  Whenever that research needs to be shown here, the publishing of Public Domain stories will not occur that week.  This is a return to my regular posting of a research project here.  (Don't worry, this isn't dry research, my research is always geared towards future storytelling to an audience.)  Response has convinced me that "Keeping the Public in Public Domain" should continue along with my other postings as often as I can manage it. 
Other Public Domain story resources I recommend -
  • There are many online resources for Public Domain stories, maybe none for folklore is as ambitious as fellow storyteller, Yoel Perez's database, Yashpeh, the International Folktales Collection.  I have long recommended it and continue to do so.  He has loaded Stith Thompson's Motif Index into his server as a database so you can search the whole 6 volumes for whatever word or expression you like by pressing one key. http://folkmasa.org/motiv/motif.htm
  • You may have noticed I'm no longer certain Dr. Perez has the largest database, although his offering the Motif Index certainly qualifies for those of us seeking specific types of stories.  There's another site, FairyTalez claiming to be the largest, with "over 2000 fairy tales, folktales, and fables" and they are "fully optimized for phones, tablets, and PCs", free and presented without ads.
Between those two sites, there is much for story-lovers, but as they say in infomercials, "Wait, there's more!"
You can see why I recommend these to you. Have fun discovering even more stories!


Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , ,

Saturday, April 1, 2017

This Changed EVERYTHING


This coming week, on April 6, the centennial observation of the U.S. entering World War I begins.  War always changes thing, but this was a major change of more than the many lives lost or national boundaries changed -- although that was certainly major change on a global scale, including the Russian Revolution and creation of the individual countries forming the Middle East.

March is Women's History Month, but it could easily have been April because more than ever before women joined the work force, even serving the war effort abroad.  President Wilson dragged his feet on both entering the war and on giving women the vote, but he eventually had to support each: the war when submarines sank the passenger ship, Lusitania, and then American ships; the vote because of women participating in the war effort.  That recognition finally came with the 19th Amendment by 1920. Women suffragettes existed before the war and they weren't limited to the U.S., but a more liberal time opened in Europe and here, in the formerly rural America, people wondered musically about the change the soldiers brought back in the song "How Ya Gonna Keep 'Em Down on the Farm After They've Seen Pa-ree?"

Even gaining the vote didn't mean women remained a major part of the work force, but with fewer men, more women were now the family breadwinners even if they didn't gain equal pay.  Again World War II's "Rosie the Riveters" would add to the accumulation of working women, even though many went home for yet another decade before joining the chorus of "equal pay for equal work."

It might be considered trivial, but the war also shortened hair, raised hemlines and even brought women in trousers, abandoning previously common floor-length skirts. 

Diego Rivera mural at the Detroit Institute of Arts - Detroit Industry South Wall  Self-made photograph by User:Cactus.man, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3205291
Technology changed, with the rise of the Industrial Age shifting the population to places like here in the Detroit area where Henry Ford's auto plants moved us from local crafts to factories.  Those factories moved into high production to support the war.  The shortage of factory workers especially shifted the African American population from the rural south to the north. After the war all rural areas joined that migration increasing the nation's urbanization and racial tension. Whether cars, planes, movies, or radios, it's as if the pace of life suddenly sped up.  Some hoped to sober the country up with Prohibition only to set the stage for organized crime.  Machinery, 8 hour days, unionization coupled with strikes, and inflation all were part of the change.  Even the financing of the war with Liberty Bonds and Victory Bonds introduced people to investment until the bubble burst with the Stock Market Crash initiating the Great Depression.

Officially the war killed 10 to 13 million people, with almost a third being civilians -- primarily in Europe.   The wounded returning were probably at least twice that number.  Because the U.S. entered later and the war wasn't fought on U.S. soil, our numbers were less.  While the "Spanish" Influenza struck North America, too, the war conditions easily spread this killer of young adults.  Returning soldiers also seemed to carry back what was almost another disease: cynicism and disillusionment in addition to the wounds and trauma of war.


Because U.S. losses were less, this war never received the same level of attention of as World War II.  The U.S. economy soared into the Roaring Twenties, although inflation was a part of that.  The country became recognized as a world leader both militarily and industrially.  This contrasted with the U.S. participation in the "War to end all wars" and afterwards a general determination to avoid involvement in problems beyond its borders.  In contrast European economies were hit with massive debt, especially Germany, who had to pay the major share of reparations, and that created conditions leading to World War II.

I strongly recommend the U.S. World War I Centennial Commission website, including the Michigan section, and especially the video section there by Dennis Skupinski.  He's been an excellent resource and friend.

For now I'm busy telling the story of World War I from the viewpoint of the "Hello Girls" who needed to fight 60 years until they finally received official veteran's status, but even then granted only to the few women still alive. 
I believe strongly in the importance of history as seen by the "average" person.
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