Elvis wore a halo. Otis Redding did, too. You knew you were playing with a star when you played with them.
The world, of course, doesn't come divided into disciplines. The world just is.
In sum, U. S. history is no more violent and oppressive than the history of England, Russia, Indonesia, or Burundi - but neither is it exceptionally less violent.
History can be a weapon, and it can be used against you.
Very few college professors want high school graduates in their history class who are simply "gung ho" and "rah-rah" with regard to everything the United States has ever done, have never thought critically in their life, don't know the meaning of the word "historiography" and have never heard of it. They think that history is something you're supposed to memorize and that's about it. That's not what high school, or what college history teachers want.
I don't think teachers read the textbooks. And I don't think adoption committees read the textbooks before they adopt them. I think they look at them.
Nobody would ever want to read a textbook about the Civil War and then interrupt that for two pages about water rights in the west.
Death is not a stalker, always looking for us. Death is a scorekeeper tallying up how much we love life and how much we are willing to work for it. We die when we stop living.
To plant trees is to give body and life to one's dreams of a better world.
As an artist, it's a great opportunity to play a character like this [Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland]. And then, as a person, I had never been to the African continent. So, I knew, personally, it would reshape me.
Of all the creatures in the world that really frighten me - the hyena in Africa, the great white shark - leopard seals are near the top of the list. They're killers. If my team spots one, they'll pull me out of the water.