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Week of January 7, 2013


Joyce Appleby Backing Petition to Disarm the Filibuster

Nearly one hundred historians have signed. If you would like to sign the petition, email Joyce Appleby at appleby@history.ucla.edu.

Richard Nixon at 100: The Man Who Matters
Stanley Kutler

Nixon endures as the commanding figure of American political life since the end of World War II.


Up Front: AHA 2013

Highlights from the 2013 Annual Meeting of the AHA
David Austin Walsh
Dispatches: Day 1
Dispatches: Day 2
Dispatches: Days 3 & 4

AHA Roundup: The Rest of the Web

A (reasonably) comprehensive collection of articles and blogs on the 2013 AHA Annual Meeting, plus picks of the best blogs.

Survival Guide for the 2013 AHA Annual Meeting
David Austin Walsh

For those attending, both in the flesh and in spirit.


AHA Videos

VIDEO: The Death and Life of Great American Newspapers

Newspapers aren't dead yet, but they're struggling. What are some of the alternatives to the venerable daily newspaper?

A Conversation with John Sayles

Featuring the acclaimed filmmaker, William Cronon, Peter Galison, and Vanessa R. Schwartz

Open Societies at War: A Comparative History, 1939-45
David Hackett Fischer

George C. Marshall Lecture in Military History

Storytelling
William Cronon

The outgoing president's keynote address.

Taking a Longer View: The 2012 Election in Historical Context

Featuring Jim Grossman, Laura Kalman, Sean Wilentz, William Inboden, and Mary Frances Berry.


Blogs

"Fix the Debt": Sheer Hypocrisy or a Myth Worth Debating?
Ira Chernus's MythicAmerica
We haven't had a serious debate on whether the government should help the rich get richer since the 1790s.

Why Some Americans Want Big Guns
Steve Hochstadt

Paranoia strikes deep.

The New Age of Austerity
Iwan Morgan

Perhaps it's time to revisit some ideas from the Second New Deal.

Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation as an Exercise in Muscular Moderation
Gil Troy

His genius lay in his judgment.


News at Home

Disarm the Filibuster
Joyce Appleby

It's undemocratic and, more importantly, unconstitutional.

Has a Tipping Point Finally Been Reached for Gun Control?
Sheldon M. Stern

The NRA sounds as ridiculous today as the AMA did in the 1960s opposing "communist" Medicare.


News Abroad

“So Many People Died”
Nick Turse

The American system of suffering, 1965-2014.


Historians & History

When Assessing Zinn, Listen to the Voices of Teachers and Students
Robert Cohen

Yes, A People's History is provocative, but that's the point: to serve as a contrast to standard textbooks.

Did George McGovern Misremember His Past as a Bomber Pilot?
Robert Huddleston

The senator's famed anecdote from The Wild Blue could not have happened.

Red Menace
Gerald Sorin

The heavy hand of politics and the historical novels of Howard Fast.


Culture Watch

The Law of Slavery Lies at Heart of Both "Lincoln" and "Django"
Gregory L. Kaster
The "peculiar institution" was deeply embedded in every local, state, and national law right up to the Constitution.


Books

Review of Joseph McCartin's Collision Course
Ron Briley

As organized labor fights for its life in the Midwest, it's worth considering why Reagan beat PATCO in 1981.

Review of Dennis Drabelle's The Great American Railroad War
Luther Spoehr

A stimulating appetizer when it comes to railroad history.