Daily Links 11-13-13

In this morning's edition of links: remembering Veteran's Day, lessons about marriage from Pride and Prejudice, a new documentary on the Robertsons of Duck Dynasty fame, what real manhood is all about, and more.

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Monday was Veteran's Day here in the United States. Unfortunately, Americans don't do as good a job as the British do in remembering the day. Called Armistice Day in the United Kingdom (in honor of when World War I ended), the British have a number of wonderful traditions including a two minute silent ceremony conducted at 11:00 a.m.

Workers at Lloyds of London pause for a moment of silence on Armistice Day

In addition, a small village held a funeral at 11:00 a.m. for a World War I veteran who had died alone a month earlier.

We should never forget those who sacrificed so we can enjoy freedom.

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Karen Swallow Prior argues that everything she needed to know about marriage she learned from Pride and Prejudice:

When I teach Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, I take great pains to un-sully it from students’ film-adaptation-induced misconceptions that it’s a “romantic” novel. As a satirist, even if a gentle one, Austen offers rather unromantic corrections to vices and foibles, many of which range far beyond the surface themes of love and marriage. Indeed, like most early novels, Austen’s contend with the seismic social shifts birthed by modernity, particularly the rise of the individual. In Pride and Prejudice, as in Austen’s other works, the private angst surrounding the choice of a marriage partner really reflects the larger, public anxieties swirling around a disintegrating class structure, a new social mobility, and increasing personal autonomy.

Nevertheless, the truth is that I still learned everything I needed to know about marriage from Pride and Prejudice

Read the whole thing. (Hat tip: Acculturated)

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You know the Robertsons from their hit show Duck Dynasty. But do you know the whole story. On November 21, I Am Second will premiere a full length film on America's most famous family. You can see the trailer here.

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Stephen Mansfield on what real manhood is all about:


A review of his new book will be coming soon. Stay tuned.

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A delightfully bookish collection of wedding cakes.