Articles written by Stephen Shea - Page 2

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About me - Stephen Shea

Not exactly a workaholic, I still manage to get a lot of weird things done. Like two MAs in History. Like learning Zulu and Afrikaans. Like playing piano for four years. Not particularly useful for me now, but awfully energetic pursuits at the time.

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Arts & Humanities > Middle Eastern History The legacy of Hammurabi to Ancient Mesopotamia and the world: 9 of 11
Just about 38 centuries ago, Hammurabi of Babylon ordered the inscription of the earliest surviving set of written laws. The immediate legacy of his Code of Laws was a more secure and orderly existence for his subjects. The greater legacy was the perhaps unintended concept of laws that survived, and therefore transcended, ru... More..
Politics, News & Issues > Politics in Africa What should be done about the Zimbabwean president?: 19 of 22
President Mugabe once stuck out his neck to save his people. He has ridden his own revolutionary coattails as a President-for-Life ever since, and his people now need to be saved from him. Nearby examples of Mugabe's contemporaries in African nationalist movements should be enough to convince him that he will be remembered a... More..
Arts & Humanities > Ancient History The importance of river valleys to ancient civilizations: 13 of 13
Four of the world's ancient civilizations emerged along large rivers in dry climates, around 6000-4000 BCE, and it was not by chance. The rivers played a key role in the emergence of ancient China, the Indus Valley civilization, Mesopotamia, and ancient Egypt. Broadly speaking, the rivers not only made the civilizations poss... More..
Arts & Humanities > Language Learning Tips Learning a language through vocabulary in context: 8 of 8
If you stand in front of a classroom full of people who don't speak English and say, "stand up," they won't get it. If you gesture while saying it, they will. The context of your gesture gives the unfamiliar sound meaning. One of the ways to tap into the brain's hard-wired ability to learn language, even as adults, is throug... More..
Arts & Humanities > Middle Ages Comparing Europe and Japan's medieval periods: 3 of 3
Some people look at the Medieval periods of Japan and Europe and argue that the similarities were inevitable. They might see the similarities as evidence in support of a particular theory they hold dear - economic, philosophical, biological. But such comparisons ignore the real differences in what caused the Medieval periods... More..