The independent state of Israel was proclaimed in Tel Aviv as British rule in Palestine came to an end on this day in 1948.  Immediately, all of its Arab neighbors declared war and vowed to destroy the nation altogether.  Arab troops greatly outnumbered the entire Jewish population, but of the 85,000 Jews in Palestine, 30,000 took up arms to defend their fledgling nation.  When overt hostilities ceased, the Arabs managed only to retain possession of the old quarter of Jerusalem and the West Bank territories and Israel had a nation again—after 1,878 years of exile.

President Theodore Roosevelt authorized the start of construction on the Panama Canal on this day in 1904.  The fifty mile canal crossed the Isthmus of Panama and enabled ships to travel from the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans without having to undertake the long voyage around South America.  The construction–which continued for just over a decade–involved many innovative engineering and medical advances, employed tens of thousands of workers, and cost an estimated $350 million.

by Dr. George Grant

Princeton Seminary has begun digitally archiving their massive theological library–including the complete works of Abraham Kuyper.  The free library is now available online.  Amazingly, only about one-sixteenth of the Kuyper canon has ever been translated into English–so, here is a great opportunity for some Masters and Doctoral projects or theses. Kudos to my bibliophile friend, Ben House, for this heads-up find.

by Dr. George Grant

1. G.K. Chesterton–start with the “Ballad of the White Horse” and “Lepanto” but don’t miss his short, humorous verse and his Christmas poems.
2. Hilaire Belloc–almost all of his poetry is worth reading, but especially his traveling verses.
3. Sir Walter Scott–nothing beats his great epics like “The Lady of the Lake.”
4. Arthur Quiller-Couch–again, almost everything from Q is worth careful reading, but especially his local sea town tales and his verse parodies.
5. Alfred Noyes–you’ll especially want to read his epics like “The Highwayman.”
6. Q’s edition of the “Oxford Book of English Verse” must not be missed (but make sure it’s Q’s and not one of the wretched modern updates).
7. And of course, Francis Palgrave’s “Golden Treasury” is a classic collection.
8. Louis Untermeyer’s wonderful anthology, “This Singing World,” was my favorite for years and years.
9. “The Collected Poetry” of T.S. Eliot is not to be missed.
10. All of J.R.R. Tolkien’s poetry is not available in a single volume, but whenever you can find collected anthologies, grab them–works like “Tom Bombadil” and “The Lays of Beleriand” are stunningly beautiful.
11. The various collections of verse from C.S. Lewis are also delightful–but, be sure to get an edition with some of his longer, more complex Medieval reflections.

by Dr. George Grant

On this day in 1923, the legalization of an infanticide procedure called “abortion” first occurred in the United States when Governor John Love signed a Colorado bill into law.

The Patron Saint of England, Lybia, Lebanon, and Greece, George was a Syrian Christian soldier who quickly rose through the ranks of the Roman the army into the Imperial Guard by virtue of his valor and vision.  However, he had the temerity to confront the Emperor Dioclesian concerning his harsh, unjust, and bloodthirsty decrees.  For his candor and courage, George was immediately imprisoned and was soon after beheaded.

The legend of George is centered around his slaying of the dragon that had demanded the children of the town of Sylene in Libya.  George wounded the dragon and led him back into the town where he proclaimed that he would kill the dragon if the people of the city would hear and heed the Gospel, convert to Christianity, and be baptized.  Starting with the king, some 15,000 citizens were thereafter baptized.

“Gossip, even when committed in the name of justice, is still gossip–only now, it is gossip aggravated by self-righteousness.” Maurice Baring

First settled on this day in 1796, Cleveland remained a sleepy little village at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River on the shores of Lake Erie for nearly two decades.  But the nearby exploits of naval commander Oliver Perry during the War of 1812 highlighted its strategicposition.  The completion of the Ohio and Erie Canal in 1832 and the arrival of the railroad in 1851 cement edits importance—accessible to both the coal and oil fields of Pennsylvania andthe iron ore mines of Minnesota.

Following the War between the States, it became a center of politicaland economic power—giving the nation five presidents during the next fifty years including Rutherford B. Hayes, James Garfield, William McKinley, William H. Taft, and Warren G. Harding as well as several of the greatest industrial monopolists including Marcus A. Hannah and John D. Rockefeller.

The city boasted many notablefirsts—the nation’s first African American newspaper, The Aliened-American was published here in 1853; the Arcade, builtin 1890 and located in the heart of downtown, was the first indoor shopping mall in the nation; the Negro Welfare Association, the forerunner of the Urban League, was established here in 1917; NACA, the forerunner of NASA, was established here in 1940; the first black mayor of a major American city was elected here in 1967.

By the end of the twentieth century, Cleveland had very nearly died.  Once the fifth largest city in the nation, today it does not even rank in the top twenty.  Though once a hub for transportation, a model of industrialization, and a progressive leader in social and cultural reform, by the second half of the twentieth century, it had begun a precipitous decline.  In some ways it became emblematic of what became known as America’s “Rust Belt.”  It’s once busy factories had become decrepit, its vibrant communities had become depressed, its wonderful location had become spoiled by polluted air and water,and its massive modern infrastructure had become obsolescent. It became an embarrassing blight.  The proud metropolis was derisively referred to by critics as the “Mistake on the Lake.”  Population declined by nearly half.

Nevertheless, its rich heritage—it has had been estimated that there are some eighty different ethnic groups inthe city speaking more than sixty different languages, representing nearlyevery race, tongue, and tribe on the planet—and progressive leadership have brought some serious steps toward renewal to the city. By the time of its bicentennial, the city was once again hoping to reassert its strategic significance.