Tag: history

Breaking News (to Me): Lafayette Was Not Handsome

~ David Tollen ~ 2 Comments

I’m working on a post about the French and American revolutions, and I’ve come across some distressing news about the great Lafayette, hero of both.

Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette, was a French aristocrat who rode in on a white horse and offered his sword to George Washington in 1777, risking his life to bring justice and democracy to a foreign people. He was a cavalier general in a colonial blue uniform, complete with silver wig and golden epaulettes, raising his jeweled saber as he led a rag-tag band of colonials into the smoke and thunder of redcoat musket-fire. Continue reading “Breaking News (to Me): Lafayette Was Not Handsome” →

Were We Just Bystanders in Dog Domestication?

~ David Tollen ~ 7 Comments

This post has been updated. See, Who Thought Up Dog Domestication, People or Dogs?

Scientists used to think prehistoric hunter-gatherers created the dog by adopting wolf pups and breeding the friendliest of them, for centuries or longer. A more recent theory, however, suggests that humans served as little more than bystanders in dog domestication. The transformation from wolves was already complete, the theory goes, before the first dog-owners adopted their pets. Continue reading “Were We Just Bystanders in Dog Domestication?” →