Huckleberry Finn Handout: Turning Point
  History's Nine Hidden Turning Points

A US News & World Report cover story reported nine Hidden Turning Points in World History…

The Nine Hidden Turning Points in World History:

1. The Mission of the Apostle Paul (1st century, A.D.), which profoundly defined and expanded Christianity worldwide.

2. The Great Black Death Plague of Europe (starting in 1347).

3. The numerous unheralded discoveries of America (including the Phoenicians, c. 600 B.C., and the Norsemen, c. 1000 A.D.), prior to Columbus in 1492.

4. The Japanese total rejection of firearms for over 250 years, in favor of the traditional samurai weapons (swords, etc.) from c. 1600 to c. 1850.

5. Napoleon’s conquest of Europe (c. 1806).

6. Mark Twain’s Great American Novel, Huckleberry Finn (1885), which paved the way for many of the great authors that followed him (e.g. Jack London, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Hemingway, etc.).

7. America’s misplaced support (starting in 1927) of China’s Generalissimo and Madame Chiang Kai-shek, directly contributing to US involvement in both the Korean and Vietnam wars.

8. The introduction of “The Pill” as a reliable form of birth control (1960).

9. Dr. W. Edwards Deming (1900-1993), the American Einstein of Business, guides the Japanese post-war quality miracle and economic rebirth, starting in 1950.