The theory behind the genetic basis of the culture of honor has to do with the types of people who immmigrated to the different regions of the U.S. The North was populated by people of agricultural heritage and the South by people of herding heritage. Those with the agricultural heritage were used to relying on the law in order to settle disputes over land rights but, since herds are difficult to track, herding people found it important to enforce one’s own justice in the form of payback.

Sapolsky, in his book Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst, says that these genetic factors are just that, factors, and without the proper environmental triggers these traits would never present themselves. For example, if a newborn with a strong genetic disposition towards a culture of honor were to grow up in the Northern United States they may never display these tendencies. Throughout Behave, Sapolsky is able to provide a clear description of how there are may be many factors which affect any persons displayed behavior.

Francisco Goya created a series of plates known as The Disasters of War between 1810 and 1820. The etchings, done on copper plates, depict the horrors of war: the violence of individual conflict, the punishment/murder of civilians, and the atrocitites committed agaisnt women. Goya sketched his drafts at the battle sites and later made the plates in his studio. The fact that these images were made permanent on metal plates testifies to how important it he felt it was to preserve the memories of war.

Molly Crabapple, on the Between the Covers Podcast, talks about the impression seeing these plates made on her. When the interiew took place she had just completed her co-written book Brothers of the Gun: A Memoir of the Syrian War. Together with the host, she talks about the merits of being able to draw in the age of photography. Cameras can be banned but an artist can depict the scene during (and after) the fact with just a piece of paper and a pencil. Crabapple brings up a good point when talking about her experiences covering the war in Syria: drawing is a universal skill and the sketchpad is one way to break down the barriers between cultures.

The incident occurred in Cincinnati in 1884. A young man named William Berner was brought to trial for the murder of his boss, a prominent stable owner. Seven witnesses testified against Berner but, instead of being found guilty of murder, he was found guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter. Two days later an angry mob stormed the jail to lynch Berner where they found out he had been moved to another prison for his safety. Over the next few days the courthouse was destroyed in what would be known as the Cincinnati Courthoue Riots, some of the most desctructive riots in American history.

The reason Berner was able to get off was because of Republican lawyer Thomas C. Campbell. He was able to rig the jury to returned a verdict of manslaughter. Taft worked as a junior prosecutor during the disbarment of Campbell and found the collection of evidence against his fellow Cincinnati lawyer to be exhilarating. Doris Goodwin, in The Bully Pulpit, uses this example of Taft’s work as a direct comparison to future President Teddy Roosevelt’s work to rid the New York State Legislature of "party" politics. She contends that both men, early in their careers, found their voices in working to undo the influence held by old-guard statesmen over local politics, particularly within the courts.

Called the Tall Poppy Syndrome, it's presence in Australian culture makes sure that no Australian deems themselves above any of the others. The term refers to multiple lessons from ancient sages who would cut off the tallest plants in a cluster in order to level the field. Followers of the concept understand that some of them will have more money, or more power, but that doesn’t change the fact they are all Australians and therefore none of them have reason to assume they are of a higher status.

Called the First National Service School, it held camps 2-3 weeks long in order to train women in various aspects of military life. One of it’s graduates was Grace Lockwood. She went on to marry Archie Roosevelt, one of Theodore Roosevelt’s four sons.

This is amazing for two reasons. One, Chevy Chase is right near where I live and work and two, women weren’t even given the right to vote until 1920. Their sense of civic duty was astounding!

Wilson's Fourteen Points laid out the principles he deemed necessary for peace to end WWI. For his efforts, in 1919, he was the third American awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

A Marconi station was an early radio station named after the nobel laureate Guglielmo Marconi. He won the prize for physics for his work in wireless communication that led to the creation of the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company of America. The station used to transmit President Wilson's statement was located in New Jersey and had been confiscated by the Navy for use during World War 1.

In 1916 A German U-boat, U-53, surfaced outside of Newport, Rhode Island. The ship was intercepted by an American submarine and, after the Germans requested permission to enter the harbor, followed them into the port. The German commander was taken ashore and for the next three hours he proceeded to give tours of his superior ship to Navy officials, their wives, and members of the press.

U-53 left the port before the deadline imposed by the United States and the next day was responsible for the sinking of 5 ships off the northeast American coast.

Called Rio Roosevelt, the river flows through the heart of Brazil. It feeds into the Madeira River which in turn feeds into the Amazon.

After his presidency, Roosevelt took what was supposed to be a speaking trip to South America. He soon found himself on an expedition to discern whether or not the ominous sounding “River of Doubt” fed into the much larger Madeira river further north. The Brazilan explorer Rondon and Roosevelt led the expedition together and it turned out to be a disaster, with most of the men barely making it out alive. If it wasn’t for rubber-tappers in the depths of the jungle helping the group Roosevelt wouldn’t have survived the ordeal. The “River of Doubt” needed a new name after it was confirmed that it fed into the Madeira and Rondon made sure Brazil’s guest of honor receveid credit for the discovery.

The Aymara people of Bolivia are unique in their belief about the spatial conceptualization of time. In their language, the word for front is understood to mean the past and the word for back is a understood to mean the future. Even their gestures indicate this belief, with speakers of the language gesturing further ahead of their body when talking about points further in the past. It makes sense if you think about it since everyone can see what lies ahead of them and they can also look back at history while they can’t see behind them and also can’t see the future.

Reminds me of the quote from Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll and popularized by the psychologist Carl Jung regarding synchronicity: “It’s a poor sort of memory that only works backwards.”

Let me just say I can’t find the quote anywhere so I can’t give credit where credit is due. I have found it applies to my writing lately and it goes something like this:

When working with clay, the sculptor starts small and makes the shape bigger. With stone, the sculptor starts large and takes pieces away.

A good way to understand this is to think about scuplting a human mouth. With clay, the first thing to do would be to make a small hole and slowly expand the space until the mouth is formed. With stone, the mouth is made by carving out a large section then whittling away until only the mouth is left.

This concept has been in my mind as I write my third book and the words are pouring out. During my second pass I will have to distill all this material down to the essential. Writing my first two books was the opposite. With each I started with a shorter draft and had to expand the world by adding more details during the rewrite. I’m curious to see how the quality of this third book stacks up to the first two!

If anyone knows where this quote comes from please let me know so I can attribute it to the source.