Sixth (and last) in a series on changing cities

In March 31, 1755, the curtain rose for the first time at Lisbon’s Casa da Opera, said to surpass “in magnitude and decorations all that modern times can boast,” with spectators gaping at “the richness of the house and all the gilded decorations.” Its stage was 180 feet long, twice the length of a modern NBA basketball court. King José had assembled “the greatest singers then existing”: Domenico Luciani, Giuseppi Morelli, Gaetano Majorano, and more. 

Editor’s note: Marvin Olasky continues his monthly biographical series on key individuals from late 19th and early 20th century American history. In February and March, we looked at the life of John D. Rockefeller. In April, we presented Part 1 on the life of Grover Cleveland. Here’s the concluding second part.

A century ago, on May 4, 1919, thousands of Chinese students gathered in front of Beijing’s Tiananmen, the “Gate of Heavenly Peace,” to protest Western imperialism. They urged China to strengthen and modernize by embracing “Mr. Science” and “Mr. Democracy.” 

Editor’s note: Marvin Olasky continues his monthly biographical series on key individuals from late 19th and early 20th century American history. In February and March, we looked at the life of John D. Rockefeller. This month we present Part 1 on the life of Grover Cleveland.

Last month, I wrote about the rise of John D. Rockefeller. In this concluding essay about his life we’ll see how he tried to move “from success to significance,” as the title of one popular business book puts it. That’s partly a misnomer, because Rockefeller’s success was significant in improving the lives of millions who used his oil in their lamps and eventually in their cars. But with great profits came great responsibility to use money discerningly—and tycoons seem to fail at that more than succeed.

Materialist historians see economic conditions as the main instigators of innovation, but the Bible emphasizes the significance of individuals. Judges, for example, is mostly a series of capsule biographies, not a chart of how many plows the Israelites had.

About 20 Pearl Harbor survivors are expected to attend ceremonies Friday in Hawaii to remember the thousands of men killed in the Japanese attack 77 years ago. But for the first time, no one who survived the bombing of the USS Arizona will be present. The Arizona lost 1,177 sailors and Marines in the attack, the greatest number of any ship. All five of the remaining Arizona survivors are in their 90s, and none could make the trip to Hawaii this year, mostly for health reasons.