In his influential 1961 book What Is History? the British historian E.H. Carr put forth several bold arguments about history as a field of scholarly inquiry. It was a provocative book in its time; I read it as an undergraduate but not because it was on any reading list. One of its premises is that there is no such thing as truly objective history, because the historian is always to one extent or another a captive of his or her own subjective reality. That doesn't mean that history is whatever we want it to be, but that we approach the task of gathering and assembling the facts, telling a story, and interpreting what that narrative means with humility about our own bounded place in time and space. A famous line in the book is the title ... read more

What does it mean to be a tourist? Of course, there is not one definition that summarizes the concept with any finality. I recall watching a documentary about the James Bond film phenomenon where the narrator explained that the first films from the 1960s tapped into an emerging phenomenon of middle class Americans traveling overseas in larger numbers. A curiosity about other places and increased earnings created a new breed of traveler. The movies that showcased exotic locations that Americans might visit whetted their appetite for such adventure (seeing Sean Connery as Bond didn't hurt either!). Yet even today most Americans do not have a passport. It seems to me that it is possible to be a consumer as a tourist in much the same way as one can consume other sorts of products. To be ... read more

For several years in a row various organizations have determined that Vienna is apparently the most livable city in the world based on factors such as greenery, infrastructure, social security net, and safety. It is also a city where in surveys almost 40% of the population is either the child of an immigrant or an immigrant. In less than one day at various stops in cafes and shops we have encountered waiters and salespeople who hail variously from Montenegro, Serbia, Spain, and Poland. The reason I can report this fact is because my father has no compunction in asking people where they hail from and then, when possible, speaking to them in any combination of either German, Polish, or Spanish before going to English (and in an English whose accent is from I don't know what ... read more

It was not until 1873 that the three cities of Buda, Pest and Obuda were united to create the international hub that is known as Budapest. Elena, our guide, told us that even today native inhabitants of either side of the river would never dream of deserting the one side for the other. This morning we embarked on a whirlwind tour of Buda and Pest with a small group and a guide. We heard about the history of the city from its early mythic pre-Christian origins until today. We drove on Andrassy Avenue, also known as Budapest's Champs Elysees, built up in anticipation of the 1896 exposition celebrating 1000 years since the founding of Hungary (yes, 1896), viewed the walls outside of the Buda part of the city that had been constructed in the Middle Ages, ... read more

This morning the weather unexpectedly turned grey and cool, but that change did not deter me from taking my father on an excursion to the local Wednesday open air market not far from our hotel. We headed up la rue Gay Lussac in the direction of Place Monge. Our first surprise was seeing a Chabad House on the corner. Who would have expected that only a block away from our hotel we'd find them? On second thought, however, perhaps it was not all that unusual because as we walked via the non-tourist streets to our destination I realized that we were in the heart of the neighborhood where many of the higher education centers that are still located in the center of the city are situated: the famous Ecole Normale Superieur being the most prestigious of ... read more