The Black Death: Bubonic Plague
In the early 1330s an outbreak of the deadly bubonic plague occurred in China. Plague mainly affects rodents but fleas can transmit the disease to people. Once people are infected they infect others very [...]
Excerpts from Letters Written by Dr. Joseph S. Werlin, Univ. of Chicago, 1928
In 1928, my father, Dr. Joseph Werlin, studied in Berlin and Moscow. He was obtaining data for his doctoral thesis, Russian Social Democracy, 1898-1905. He investigated the foundations of the Russian socialist experiment, and was [...]
Courteous Behavior by the Average Berlin Citizen
Berlin, Monday, February 20, 1928 Excerpts from the Diary of Dr. Joseph S. Werlin The following written comments derive from the diary of my father, written when he was conducting research for his PhD in [...]
The Cuban Missile Crisis in Retrospect
When John Kennedy in 1961 succeeded General Eisenhower, he assumed office as a cold warrior. JFK had barely defeated Richard Nixon. One of his most successful thrusts against Nixon was the “so-called” missile gap. JFK [...]
Lourdes, the most famous Modern Shrine of Our Lady
In 1858,the Lady of Lourdes made a promise to Bernadette Castesterot “I do not promise to make you happy in this world, but in the next”. Several years ago, a good friend of mine, a [...]
Dubrovnik: A Wonderful Surprise
One of the many delights in taking a cruise is finding a wonderful city that one might by pass in the ordinary course of travel. Eloise and I truly fell in love with Dubrovnik, Croatia. [...]
Joseph Werlin Faculty Award at University of Houston
I wish I could sing the words to the musical Oklahoma, “oh what a beautiful morning, oh what a wonderful day.” Both of my parents would have been immensely pleased to see all of [...]
Joseph S. Werlin
1900–1964 The Joseph S. Werlin Scholar in Latin American/Hispanic Research Endowment in Sociology honors Professor Joseph Werlin (1900-1964), a founding faculty member of the Department of Sociology at the University of Houston from [...]
Problems of the Middle Class
Mort Zuckerman, the owner and Editor-in- Chief of U.S. News wrote an editorial in his magazine about the increasing problems confronting the American middle class. Mr. Zuckerman’s concerns raise similar themes by Lou Dobbs, War [...]
Trip to France, July 1-11, 2003
Our family enjoyed a lovely vacation in France, starting in Provence, the French Riviera, and then traveling on one of Europe’s fastest trains to Paris, where we spent six days. Currently, the United States and [...]
Jim Crow Laws
Having been raised in a segregated city, Houston, I have as an adult been fascinated about the widespread employment of segregation both in the North and South subsequent to the Civil War. That is, until [...]
The Mississippi Burning Trial (U.S. vs. Price et al.)
It was an old- fashioned lynching, carried out with the help of county officials that came to symbolize hardcore resistance to integration. Dead were three civil rights workers, Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman, and James Chaney. [...]
Casey Stengel (1890-1975), U.S. Baseball Player and Manager
Casey Stengel was the manager of the Yankees from 1945 to 1960. Stengel led the team to seven World Championships. But he was more famous for his verbosity than for his managerial skills. He [...]
Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens) 1835-1910, U.S. Humorist, Writer, and Lecturer
I think all of us had to read Huckleberry Finn (1884) and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) in school. Both during his lifetime and subsequently Mark Twain won a worldwide audience for his stories [...]
Spindletop: The Dawn of a New Age
Spindletop was the greatest oil well ever seen. It is estimated that the well at its peak flowed between 80,000 and 100,000 barrels per day. This gushed marked the beginning of a new age for [...]
Battle of Vicksburg: The Other July 4th Battle
On July 4, 1863 the Union achieved two dramatic victories that sealed the fate of the Confederacy. These decisive defeats of the South at Gettysburg and Vicksburg led to a third strike against the rebellious [...]
Woodrow Wilson Scholarship: My Intellectual Interests
Within recent decades, scientific and technological achievements have immensely altered Western civilization. Based on current trends, one can predict that the wheel of progress shall continue to churn, never to be halted in the mire [...]
Vacation in Europe, May 8-May 21, 2001
Eloise and I are going to try to highlight our wonderful trip to Hamburg, Berlin, Prague, and Budapest. Our intention is to record our thoughts more in an ad hoc fashion rather than from a [...]