Features Features articles brought to you by History News Network. Fri, 19 Apr 2024 19:11:50 +0000 Fri, 19 Apr 2024 19:11:50 +0000 Zend_Feed_Writer 2 (http://framework.zend.com) https://hnn.us/article/category/15 HNN Introduces Classroom Activity Kits As part of a new initiative to merge the worlds of education and journalism, HNN is introducing a series of Classroom Activity Kits.

These kits, all crafted by undergraduate students at George Washington University, are designed to illustrate the relationship between current events and history. Each kit consists of a complete 45-60 minute lesson plan which requires little-to-no preparation on part of the instructor. These lessons are designed for high school and college students, but they can be altered to suit other education levels.

During these lessons, students will be use news articles as a tool for understanding a specific history. In doing so, students will engage in critical thinking, group-work, text analysis, research and more. This first batch of activity kits covers the history of U.S. immigration, climate change, sports activism, and the U.S. prison system.

Aside from the educational benefits to students, these kits are also a great resource for educators. All you need to do is click one of the download links below and boom! – you have a fully formed unique activity.

HNN’s Classroom Activity Kits will be a continued effort to bring news into the classroom.

Click on each link below to learn more and download the activity kit. 

Classroom Activity Kit: The History of Climate Change

What do farmers from the 1950s, anti-smoking campaigns and climate change have in common? Download this Classroom Activity Kit to find out.

Classroom Activity Kit: The History of U.S. Immigration

This Classroom Activity Kit teaches students about U.S. immigration history while also highlighting their personal histories.

Classroom Activity Kit: The History of Sports Activism

Discussing athletes from Jackie Robinson to Colin Kaepernick, this Activity Kit teaches students about the history of political activism in sports.

Classroom Activity Kit: The History of Private Prisons in the U.S.

Download this Classroom Activity Kit to teach students about the history of the American prison system.

Classroom Activity Kit: The History of Climate Change and Activism

Download this Classroom Activity Kit to help students understand climate change activism in its historical context.
]]> Fri, 19 Apr 2024 19:11:50 +0000 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/174366 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/174366 0 Historians Caught on Tape

]]> Fri, 19 Apr 2024 19:11:50 +0000 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/169295 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/169295 0 History Doyens This page features profiles of living historians over 65 years of age, who have had a profound impact on the study of history, and is meant to honor their life long dedication to the discipline. They have made vast contributions to history through their numerous groundbreaking publications, and in the university lecture halls which has resonated and influenced students of history and the general public; changing the way we all look at history. Their scholarship represents the historiographical canon in their representative fields; simply put they are legends in the historical profession.

● Eric Foner

● John Hope Franklin, 1915-2009

● William Hardy McNeill

● Paul Samuel Boyer

● Sir Martin Gilbert

● Kenneth M. Stampp

● Linda Gordon

● Anne Firor Scott

● Stephan Thernstrom

● Joyce Oldham Appleby

● Harold M. Hyman

● Walter T.K. Nugent

● Winthrop D. Jordan

● David Brion Davis

● Alonzo L. Hamby

● Bernard A. Weisberger

● Edmund S. Morgan

● Gordon S. Wood

● Bernard Bailyn

● Robert Remini

 

 

]]> Fri, 19 Apr 2024 19:11:50 +0000 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/169253 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/169253 0 Top Young Historians

This page features profiles of interesting historians who are making their mark on the profession. All historians are nominated and undergo a review process before they are chosen. Each historian on this list has made outstanding contributions to the discipline in their area of research through their commitment and achievement in scholarship and teaching. They are also highly regarded outside academia for their expertise, and many are consulted by the popular media.

The profiles were done by Bonnie Goodman, the former Features editor of HNN. 

Click HERE for a list of HNN's Top Young Historians.

]]> Fri, 19 Apr 2024 19:11:50 +0000 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/160386 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/160386 0 Questions People Are Googling How Many Presidents Have Lied About Their Medical History? 

Is America a Christian Nation?

What Are the Origins of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae?

Who Was St. Valentine?

Why Do Jews Celebrate Hanukkah?

Is It Legal to Buy Automatic Weapons?

Why Did the Neo-Nazis in Charlottesville Chant “Blood and Soil”? 

What’s the Great American Eclipse?

When was the Department of Justice established?

Who was the Logan Act named for and what did he do?

Which president held the first news conference?

Why Was the Minimum Wage First Established?

Why do we vote on Tuesdays?

What is fascism?

Who was the Red Baron? 

What was the Free State of Jones?

How Accurate Is the New Movie About the Free State of Jones?

Why did California adopt the recall and referendum? 

Who are the Masons?

What Is Juneteenth?

What were the deadliest mass killings in American history by a lone gunman?

Why Does the Democratic Party Have Superdelegates?

How Many Contested Conventions Have There Been?

Who Are the Gypsies?

Why is the Republican symbol an elephant? Why is the Democratic symbol a donkey?

What's a lame duck?

Why Didn't Anyone Kill Hitler?

Who invented originalism?

Have Americans Usually Supported Their Wars? 

Has the U.S. Ever Started a War?

Have Sunnis and Shiites in Iraq Always Been at Each Other's Throats? 

Did Hitler Really Have Only One Testicle?

What Is the Military-Industrial Complex?

Who Chooses the Theme for Black History Month?

Why Did Winston Churchill Lose in 1945?

What Did Jane Fonda Really Do Over in Hanoi? 

Why Do We Hear About the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions? Where Are the Other 99?

Does the Presidential Candidate with the Most Money Usually Become the Party Nominee?

How Have Past U.S. Presidents Broken Bad News in Times of War?  

Why Did President Ford Ban Assassinations?  

What President Took the Longest Vacation? (And Other Fun Facts)

Was Spain to Blame for Blowing Up the "Maine"?  

Who Dreamed Up the Gas Tax?  

How Do Historians Evaluate the Administration of Richard Nixon?  

How Many Times Has Congress Tried to Limit Presidential Power in Foreign Affairs?  

Was Joseph Kennedy Really an Anti-Semite?

Who Killed Emmett Till? 

How Long Have Women Been in the Military? 

When Was the Debt Ceiling Created? 

How Historically Accurate is "Lincoln"? 

What’s in a Coat-of-Arms?

Who Invented the Martini? 

Did the Mormons Really Fight a War Against the Federal Government?       

]]> Fri, 19 Apr 2024 19:11:50 +0000 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/153171 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/153171 0 What People Are Talking About What Historians Are Saying  –  Their Tweets and Retweets About Issues in the News

Browsing  –  News from Around the Internet

Hot Topics  –  From HNN's Archives

This Week

General

Historians & History

Holidays/Commemorations

News at Home

News Abroad
]]> Fri, 19 Apr 2024 19:11:50 +0000 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/153153 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/153153 0 Science Relevant to History Credit: Wiki Commons/HNN staff.

Click HERE for our most recent articles.

HNN Blogs

  • (R)evolutionary Biology By David P. Barash
  • Stone Age Brain By Rick Shenkman 

    • Memory

  • Study of Memory in Psychology
  • Quirks of Memory Everyone Should Know
  • How Memory Speaks  By Jerome Groopman
  • How Not to be the Next Brian Williams By Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons
  • How Memory Works: Interview with Psychologist Daniel L. Schacter By Robin Lindley
  • The Surprising Reason We Have a Memory By Michio Kaku

    • Big History

  • The Big History Project:  "It is a course that covers history from the big bang through to the present in an interdisciplinary way." (Funded by Bill Gates)
  • Cosmos:  A Spacetime Odyssey 
  • What happens when historian Yuval Noah Harari and psychology's Daniel Kahneman meet up?  Find out.
  • Historian David Christian Says the World Needs a New Origins Story Based on Science

    • Statistical Approaches to History

  • Can Math Be Used to Better Understand History? By Peter Turchin
  • Biologists say there’s a way to turn history scientific By Peter Turchin
  • The mathematics of history TED Talk with Jean-Baptiste Michel

    • Big Data

  • Historians at Columbia University are using big data to draw historical conclusions 
  • The 100 most important figures from history
  • Computer scientists say they figured out how to rank historical figures
  • Historians still needed! (Where Big Data goes wrong)

    • Behavioral Economics

  • The Myth of the Rational Voter By Susan J. Matt

    • Evolutionary Approaches to History

  • The Evolutionary Origins of Politics:  An Interview with Avi Tuschman
  • The Key to the Success of Homo Sapiens By Yuval Noah Harari
  • Yuval Noah Harari interviewed about his history of Sapiens (that’s us and others in the Homo genus)
  • The Evolutionary and Social History of Crying By Michael Trimble

    • History and Neuroscience

  • On Our Evolving Knowledge of the Brain and Nervous System:  An Interview with Dr. Mitchell Glickstein By Robin Lindley
  • History Gets Into Bed with Psychology, and It’s a Happy Match By Carol Tavris
  • Historians Aren't Intellectually Equipped to Understand Science By Edward Shorter
  • History Meets Neuroscience By Daniel Lord Smail
  • What Can Historians Learn from Neuroscience? By Christopher U.M. Smith
  • Phineas Gage, Neuroscience’s Most Famous Patient

    • Neurohistory:  Background

  • What Is Neurohistory? (UCLA)
  • Clio's Psyche and the Psychohistory Forum
  • “Are Political Orientations Genetically Transmitted?” (2005) By John Alford, Carolyn Funk, and John R. Hibbing
  • Foreward to Man Is By Nature a Political Animal By James Druckman

    • Neuro-Social Science Based Analysis & Commentary

  • This Research Suggests Why Historians Have to Begin Acknowledging that Biology Is a Key Factor in a Person’s Politics By John R. Hibbing, Kevin B. Smith, and John R. Alford 
  • New Study: The world's a lot more violent than reported By Rick Shenkman
  • What’s the Matter with Kansas?  Nothing By Jason Weeden and Robert Kurzban
  • Rethinking One of Psychology's Most Infamous Experiments:  Stanley Milgram's electric shock experiments
  • Why Nations Fight By E.O. Wilson
  • Hindsight is not such a wonderful thing after all say scientists 
  • The Science (and History) of Disgust: Interview with Psychologist Rachel Herz on Understanding Human Repulsion By Robin Lindley
  • How Does Obama's Personality Stack Up Against FDR's? By Andrew M. Obritsch: 
  • Mitt Romney’s Leadership Style Andrew M. Obritsch: 
  • What Really Killed William Henry Harrison?
  • The Psychology of Hate: How We Deny Human Beings Their Humanity

    • Climate Change

  • Climate Change:  HNN Index
  • The Anthropocene began with species exchange between Old and New Worlds 
  • It's Too Soon to Call This the Anthropocene By Vaclav Smil

    • Science and Race

  • Looking to Science for Answers About Race By Michael Yudell
  • Proposed 1920s Orphanage Study Just one Example in History of Scientific Racism  By Michael Yudell
  • HNN Index of Articles on Nicholas Wade's Book, A Troublesome Inheritance

    • Books

    "What goes on in a person's brain a second before the behavior happens? Then he pulls out to a slightly larger field of vision, a little earlier in time: What sight, sound, or smell triggers the nervous system to produce that behavior? And then, what hormones act hours to days earlier to change how responsive that individual is to the stimuli which trigger the nervous system? By now, he has increased our field of vision so that we are thinking about neurobiology and the sensory world of our environment and endocrinology in trying to explain what happened."

    "In the international bestseller, Thinking, Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman, the renowned psychologist and winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, takes us on a groundbreaking tour of the mind and explains the two systems that drive the way we think. System 1 is fast, intuitive, and emotional; System 2 is slower, more deliberative, and more logical. The impact of overconfidence on corporate strategies, the difficulties of predicting what will make us happy in the future, the profound effect of cognitive biases on everything from playing the stock market to planning our next vacation―each of these can be understood only by knowing how the two systems shape our judgments and decisions."

    "Buried in many people and operating largely outside the realm of conscious thought are forces inclining us toward liberal or conservative political convictions. Our biology predisposes us to see and understand the world in different ways, not always reason and the careful consideration of facts. These predispositions are in turn responsible for a significant portion of the political and ideological conflict that marks human history."

    "Why do so many millions of ordinary voters believe Barack Obama is a Muslim and that he was born in Kenya? Why do millions still believe WMD were found in Iraq after the war? Why did a majority believe that Saddam was behind 9-11 on the eve of the Iraq War? These are some of the important questions answered in bestselling historian Rick Shenkman's Political Animals: How Our Stone-Age Brain Gets in the Way of Smart Politics."

    "In Man Is by Nature a Political Animal, Peter K. Hatemi and Rose McDermott bring together a diverse group of contributors to examine the ways in which evolutionary theory and biological research are increasingly informing analyses of political behavior."

    "In Political Psychology: Neuroscience, Genetics, and Politics, scholar George Marcus provides a cutting-edge introduction that discusses the field's origins, evolution, and possibilities.... [T]his ... volume includes a ... account of the ideas that underpin political psychology-- [from] Ancient Greece ... to today-- highlighting the deep intellectual roots and continuous vitality of the field." 

    "Our political Nature is the first book to reveal the hidden roots of our most deeply held moral values. It shows how political orientations across space and time arise from three clusters of measurable personality traits. These clusters entail opposing attitudes toward tribalism, inequality, and differing perceptions of human nature. Together, these traits are by far the most powerful cause of left-right voting, even leading people to regularly vote against their economic interests." 

    "One hundred thousand years ago, at least six different species of humans inhabited Earth. Yet today there is only one—homo sapiens. What happened to the others? And what may happen to us? Most books about the history of humanity pursue either a historical or a biological approach, but Dr. Yuval Noah Harari breaks the mold with this highly original book that begins about 70,000 years ago with the appearance of modern cognition. From examining the role evolving humans have played in the global ecosystem to charting the rise of empires, Sapiens integrates history and science to reconsider accepted narratives, connect past developments with contemporary concerns, and examine specific events within the context of larger ideas." 

    "In The Secret Life of Pronouns, social psychologist and language expert James W. Pennebaker uses his groundbreaking research in computational linguistics-in essence, counting the frequency of words we use-to show that our language carries secrets about our feelings, our self-concept, and our social intelligence. Our most forgettable words, such as pronouns and prepositions, can be the most revealing: their patterns are as distinctive as fingerprints."

    Of interest to historians: His research can help us understand when a leader is planning on war and under stress. The research also helps us understand who presidents really are ... social or withdrawn, secure or uncomfortable in their own skin.

    "Where did we come from? What are we? Where are we going? In a generational work of clarity and passion, one of our greatest living scientists directly addresses these three fundamental questions of religion, philosophy, and science while “overturning the famous theory that evolution naturally encourages creatures to put family first” (Discover magazine). Refashioning the story of human evolution in a work that is certain to generate headlines, Wilson draws on his remarkable knowledge of biology and social behavior to show that group selection, not kin selection, is the primary driving force of human evolution. He proves that history makes no sense without prehistory, and prehistory makes no sense without biology. Demonstrating that the sources of morality, religion, and the creative arts are fundamentally biological in nature, Wilson presents us with the clearest explanation ever produced as to the origin of the human condition and why it resulted in our domination of the Earth’s biosphere"

    Videos

    Paul Zak explains why our brain likes stories.

    Peter Hatemi explains how biology is changing our views on politics. 

    ]]>     Fri, 19 Apr 2024 19:11:50 +0000 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/146894 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/146894 0     Teacher's Lounge Index

    General Resources

    Teaching the Constitution

    Teaching History

    Teaching World History 

    Teaching the Middle East 

    Teaching 9-11

    Teaching Presidential Elections

    ]]>     Fri, 19 Apr 2024 19:11:50 +0000 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/143735 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/143735 0     AHA & OAH Conferences

    This page provides an index to our coverage of the annual meetings of the AHA and OAH.

    American Historical Association (AHA)

    Organization of American Historians (OAH)

    ]]>     Fri, 19 Apr 2024 19:11:50 +0000 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/4608 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/4608 0     Features Index

    ]]>     Fri, 19 Apr 2024 19:11:50 +0000 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/6976 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/6976 0     Interviews with Historians

    ]]>     Fri, 19 Apr 2024 19:11:50 +0000 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/1281 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/1281 0     Historians on the Hot Seat
    Related Links 2002: Year of the Scandal
    Plagiarism
    Books About History Scandals

    Historian

    Affiliation

    Alleged Offense

    Outcome

    Stephen AmbroseIndependent scholar, deceasedAccused in 2002 of plagiarizing passages from a dozen books published from 1970s to 1990s; accused of sloppy scholarship. In 2010 it was revealed that Ambrose exaggerated his relationship with President Eisenhower. Conceded he borrowed passages from others without using quote marks, but usually included footnotes; admitted he sometimes made mistakes and promised to correct them, though his critics claimed he rarely did.
    Herbert Aptheker Accused by his daughter Bettina, a historian, of having sexually abused her as a child. The charge was made in a memoir published several years after his death.
    Michael BellesilesEmory University Accused in Feb. 2002 of fraudulently manipulating data and facts related to guns in his 2001 book Arming America. Resigned Nov. 20, 2002 from Emory following the release of a report that found him guilty of misrepresenting data and unprofessional conduct. In Dec. 2002 Columbia University rescinded the Bancroft Prize for the book.
    Richard BertholdUniversity of New MexicoOn Sept. 11, 2001 told a class: "Anybody who blows up the Pentagon gets my vote."Reprimanded by the administration in 2002. Took early retirement after fall 2002 because of harassment from his department. .
    Conrad BlackIndependent Scholar Defrauded his company in 2000, 2002.Indicted in Nov. 2005
    Paul BuhleBrown University Accused in June 2002 of manufacturing evidence in the Encyclopedia of the American Left. Declines to answer critics on accusation.
    Dino CinelCUNYAccused in 1991 of sexual abuse and pornography.Defrocked and Fired.
    Donald CucciolettaUniversite du Quebec & State University of New York at Plattsburgh Accused of plagiarism in 2002, the article that was plagiarized was published in 2001. Universite du Quebec refused to allow him to continue as a part-time lecturer. Removed as interim director of Plattsburgh's new Institute on Quebec Studies
    Philip FonerDeceased; author of more than forty books on the history of American labor. On May 23, 2003 Melvyn Dubofsky accused Foner of plagiarizing his dissertation and other unpublished dissertations on the H-Net discussion network. 
    Nicholas De GenovaColumbia University At a teach-in at Columbia University in March 2003 told 3,000 students and faculty members that he hoped Iraq would defeat the United States. He also wished for"a million Mogadishus."Rep. J.D. Hayworth, R-Ariz., urged his U.S. House colleagues to demand De Genova's removal. There have been many calls for his removal, but he still is teaching at Columbia.
    Joseph EllisMount Holyoke College In a 2000 interview with the Boston Globe, Ellis claimed to have served in Vietnam and been involved with the civil rights movement, a story that he told frequently to his classes but were in fact fabricated. Suspended from Mount Holyoke without pay for a year.
    Orlando FigesBirkbeck College, University of LondonAccused in 2010 of writing anonymous critical reviews of colleagues' books on Amazon. Claimed that his wife was the author of the reviews, but said that he was unaware of her actions. Later admitted that he was the author of the reviews.
    David Garrow

    Emory University

    		Gloria Mann, the Law School's director of operations, accused Garrow of battery in September 2002. Suspended from Emory for 6 months starting from October 15, 2002.
    Doris Kearns GoodwinIndependent scholar; Harvard University overseer In January 2002 Goodwin was accused of plagiarism in The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys, she also"lied about whether it was plagiarism (and, incidentally, paid hush money to one of the people she plagiarized)." Admitted copying passages, but insisted it was unintentional; dropped by PBS'"The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer" as media historian; Goodwin was"pulled out of the Pulitzer panel";"her membership on various boards questioned, her speaking invitations withdrawn"; remained as NBC media historian.
    Leonard F. Guttridge  Accused in January 2004 of co-authoring a history of the Lincoln assassination that allegedly relies on phony documents.Guttridge"wrote a lengthy piece taking his critics to task for their unwillingness to countenance a fresh thesis that undermines the"perpetuated story of the Lincoln murder case.""
    KC JohnsonBrooklyn CollegeAccused in November 2002 by Brooklyn College president Christoph M. Kimmich of "uncollegiality"; denied tenure. After a student protest and a petition signed by 23 prominent historians, Mr. Johnson was given a one-year extension on his contract. Subsequently, the board of trustees decided to award him tenure over the objections of the chairman of the history department.
    Peter KirsteinSaint Xavier UniversityReplied to a cadet's October 2002 letter with an email condemning the Air Force Academy's"aggressive baby killing tactics of collateral damage."Suspended in November 2002 from teaching and officially reprimanded. In Sepember 2003, as a result of the Kirstein controversy, the local chapter of AAUP affiliated with St. Xavier University issued stringent new guidelines to protect faculty speech.
    Stanley I. Kutler University of Wisconsin Accused in the NYT of deliberately publishing flawed Watergate tape transcripts in his book, Abuse of Power. A subsequent investigation by the NYT ombudsman concluded that the Times blew the story "out of proportion." Kutler admitted the transcripts may be flawed. He disputed that the flaws were deliberate. There was no evidence that they were.
    Ann LaneUniversity of Virginia In 1971 her dissertation was discovered to include borrowed passages after she received her degree; Lane borrowed thousands of words from other scholars in her dissertation; most prominently journal articles by Seth Scheiner and Emma Lou Thornbrough.Her quest for tenure at Rutgers University where she was teaching at the time, was derailed. HNN published a story about her case in 2002.
    Bryan Le BeauUniversity of Missouri, Kansas City"Le Beau's Commencement Address at the University of Missouri, Kansas City, in December 2003 substantially plagiarized from Cornel West's Commencement Address at Wesleyan University on 30 May 1993. "Le Beau acknowledges the similarities between the two texts, but denies ever having seen a copy of West's speech. He rightly claims that the standards for public speech are not the same as in scholarly research."
    David McCulloughIndependent scholar; PBS(1) Accused in July 2001 of misattributing a quote to Thomas Jefferson about John Adams, where Jefferson calls Adams"a colossus of independence." (2) Accused in 2003 of failing to correctly attribute a memo he misquoted, and failing to properly list army casualty numbers relating to Hiroshima in his Truman book.(1) Acknowledged his error and corrected his text. (2) Admited he misread a document;"it has never been corrected in Truman, which is still available in bookstores"; the inaccuracies are widely quoted as fact, because it has never been corrected.
    Jacques PlussFairleigh Dickinson Dismissed from the university following several unexplained absences. At the same time it was revealed that he claimed to be a Neo-Nazi. After his dismissal Pluss said he was giving up academia to help advance the cause of the White Aryan Race. In January 2006, 10 months after his dismissal, Pluss explained in an article on HNN that he had orchestrated his own firing. He explained that he is not a Neo-Nazi. He pretended to be one in order to infiltrate the National Socialist Movement in connection with research for a book. In 2007, HNN reported that Pluss subsequently admitted he was a Nazi.
    S. Walter PoulshockRutgers UniversityAccused in 1966 of fabricating hundreds of quotations and statements, including correspondence, in the text and footnotes of his dissertation (1962) and later his book; The Two Parties and the Tariff in the 1880s (1965). Poulshock admitted the sources were fabricated but, the thesis was correct. He resigned from Rutgers University. The University of Pennsylvania did not rescind his 1962 doctorate. Syracuse University Press sent urgent notices to return book copies immediately.
    Louis RobertsSUNY, Albany Accused in December 2000 of plagiarizing"more than 50 pages (even footnotes are taken verbatim) from two old sources." Stepped down in February 2002 from his position as chairman of the classics department at SUNY, Albany.
    R. Fred RuhlmanUniversity of Tennessee at ChattanoogaAccused in 2006 of plagiarizing passages from a historian's book about Andersonville. Ruhlman received his Ph.D. from a distance-learning school in England and was named an adjunct at UT. University of Tennessee Press withdraws Ruhlman's book.
    Marc Susser State Department Office of the Historian Accused of mismanaging the Office, putting in jeopardy the future publication of FRUS series As of March 2009 Susser remains in charge of the Office.
    Don Heinrich TolzmannUniversity of CincinnatiAccused in 2003 of plagiarizing much of the first half of a book by Theodore Huebener, The Germans in AmericaFound guilty of plagiarism by an internal investigating committee in summer 2006. Tolzmann vowed to resist calls for his removal.
    Benson TongGallaudet UniversityIn 2002 Judy Tzu-Chun Wu accused Tong of plagiarizing her dissertation in a chapter he wrote on Margaret Chung. Tong condensed the dissertation and copied many passages verbatim. AHA investigation concluded he was guilty, but the results were not publicized to the academic community; he left his job at Wichita State University in 2003, a year after his bid for tenure was turned down, he then got a job at Gallaudet, where his plagiarism was unknown.
    Brian VanDeMarkUnited States Naval Academy Accused of plagiarism on May 31, 2003 by NYT." According to the Times more than 30 passages in VanDeMark's new book, Pandora's Keepers (Little Brown), are "identical, or nearly identical" to those found in four other books written by Richard Rhodes, William Lanouette, Greg Herken, and Robert Norris." On June 3, 2003 Little, Brown withdrew VanDeMark's book. He lost tenure, his pay was cut, he was reduced in rank from Associate Professor to entry-level Assistant Professor, and was put on probation for three after which he could reapply for tenure.In April 2013 Mr. VanDeMark asked that we take down this page, noting that an article by Yale University historian Daniel Kevles in theNew York Review of Books exonerated him in 2003 from the charge of plagiarism.  In the article, VanDeMark noted, that Kevles wrote that " 'something like half' of the allegations were reasonable paraphrases and the remaining ones were 'not important.' " We agreed to draw attention to Kevles's piece.
    Matthew Moten West Point Accused of sexually harrassing women in his chain of command. Reprimanded and removed.
    Hugo Schwyzer Pasadena City College Accused by a former student of having sex with her in his office while she was an enrolled student. Schwyzer, who taught a class on porn, admitted to sexual relations with the student and said he suffers from multiple addictions.
    Matthew Whitaker Arizona State University Accused for a second time of plagiarism Cleared after the first accusation.

    ]]>     Fri, 19 Apr 2024 19:11:50 +0000 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/1081 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/1081 0     Historians as Activists Up Front

    Groups

    Activities

    Following is a continuously updated list of activities by historians involved in political action in causes related to history education, history budgets, or social and political change.

  • Feminist historians for a new New Deal

  • Historians sponsor petition to protest John Yoo's legal opinions on torture

  • Historians asked to write Congress in support of funds for National History Day

  • NCH asks historians to back $177 million for NEH

  • Historians file brief in SCOTUS in support of DC gun law

  • Historians file anti-discrimination brief at Supreme Court citing history of Reconstruction

  • Academics for Ron Paul

  • Historians are taking an active role in the campaign of 2008

  • Historians for Obama

  • Petititon for historians and other academics killed in Iraq

  • Urgent appeal for Uighur historian and anthropologist, China

  • AHA considers resolutions against the Iraq War, free speech zones, and INMex

  • Historians to ask the AHA to condemn Iraq War practices in violation of"open inquiry"

  • Historians join the protest against the ABC 9-11 docudrama

  • Historians call on congress to save NARA's funding

  • History Coalition Weighs in on Net Neutrality

  • NCH ACTION ALERT! -- HELP SAVE THE NHPRC!

  • Urgent Action requested for Guatemalan Forensic Anthropologists

  • Historians protest denial of visa to Georgetown University PhD Waskar Ari from Bolivia

  • American Historical Association expresses concern about denial of visa to Georgetown University PhD Waskar Ari from Bolivia

  • Protesting Death Threats to Team Investigating Mass Graves in Guatemala

  • Historians Vow to Oppose the Conservative Campaign to Pressure Universities to Hire Conservatives

  • Historians Denounce Use of Torture by the US

  • Historians Protest imprisonment of a historical novelist by Turkmenistan: The English Section of International PEN and the Network for Education and Academic Rights (NEAR) is drawing attention once again to the case of writer Rakhim Esenov (78 years old) in connection with his historical novel, The Crowned Wanderer, set during the period of the Mogul Empire.

  • Grand Ayatollah Yasub al-Din Rastgari: detained in Iran for publishing a book on Islamic history: The Writers in Prison Committee of International PEN reported yesterday that Grand Ayatollah Yasub al-Din Rastgari (born [1927]), a leading Shi'a religious leader and scholar, is detained for publishing a book on Islamic history which is allegedly critical of the policies of some historic characters and "denigrates the sanctity" of some Wahhabi sect personalities. The Network of Concerned Historians is protesting the detention.

  • Historians Against the War ... What We Are Doing to Try to Stop the War in Iraq: Historians Against War (HAW) is enthusiastically mobilizing for the September 24 march for peace in Washington, D.C. We encourage other historians to attend the protest and to sponsor activities on your campuses in the period leading up to the demonstration as well as after it.

  • Katrina/Gerda Lerner Letter: "A small group of Madison folks met over the weekend to see if we could contribute some proposals for long-range solutions for the people caught in the New Orleans horror. The attached statement is the result of our thinking. We have made appointments to see our Congress people and would like to present them with as many signatures as possible to the statement, when we see them."

  • Historians Rally for a Turkish Writer on Trial for Comments About Armenian Genocide: The Writers in Prison Committee of International PEN reported yesterday that author Orhan Pamuk will be brought before an Istanbul court on 16 December 2005 and that he faces up to three years' imprisonment for expressing an opinion about the Armenian genocide of 1915 and the Kurdish insurrection of 1984-2000.

  • History Action Alert/NHPRC Funding: Late yesterday the House Appropriations Committee voted to restore funding for the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) -- $5.5 million for grants and $2 million for administration related costs, for a total of $7.5 million. This is far better than what was proposed in the presidents's budget, which had zeroed out all funding for both NHPRC grants and administrative support. The History Coalition is asking historians and librarians to contact their senators to request that the funding recommended by the House be increased to $8 million for competitive grants and $2 million for administration and staffing in the National Archives budget.

  • French Historians Protest: More than 1,000 historians, writers and intellectuals have signed a petition demanding the repeal of a new law requiring school history teachers to stress the"positive aspects" of French colonialism."In retaining only the positive aspects of colonialism this law imposes an official lie on massacres that at times went as far as genocide on the slave trade, and on the racism that France has inherited," says the petition, which has also been signed by one of France's best-loved humourists, Guy Bedos, and a leading film director, Patrice Chéreau. The law of February 23 2005, as it is known, was intended to recognise the contribution of the"harkis", the 200,000 or so Algerians who fought alongside France's colonial troops in their country's war of independence, from 1954-62, before being abandoned to a dreadful fate when the French withdrew - about 130,000 were executed as traitors. But an unnoticed amendment, apparently tabled by MPs with close ties to France's community of former Algerian settlers, added a new clause to the bill. It reads:"School courses should recognise in particular the positive role of the French presence overseas, notably in north Africa." Opponents are angry in part because, in the words of one eminent historian, Pierre Vidal-Naquet:"It is not up to the state to say how history should be taught."

  • Historians Sign Petition For History Education: Pulitzer Prize winners Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., David McCullough and Gordon Wood are among the historians and scholars who have signed a petition condemning the"inadequate time given to history instruction" and calling on Congress to amend the"No Child Left Behind" act."Given the emphasis on reading in the `No Child Left Behind' legislation, we recommend the adoption of guidelines to ensure that the texts used to teach reading include a substantial proportion of biographies and other works of history," reads the petition, also endorsed by such leading historians as Bernard Bailyn, Eric Foner and David Kennedy. In addition, the petition calls for more money for teacher training so that schools can offer"intensive preparation in the content of history." (4-19-05)

  • OAH Committee on Academic Freedom: At its March 2004 convention, the OAH established an ad hoc Committee on Academic Freedom. The mandate of the committee was to “investigate reports of repressive measures having an impact on historians’ teaching, research, employment, and freedom of expression.” Its mission was not to adjudicate disputes but make its findings known to the membership of the OAH and to report periodically to the Executive Board. Five major areas of concern have emerged in reports that have been brought to the committee’s attention to date. (See also: David Beito, Robert"KC" Johnson, and Ralph E. Luker: Why We Are Dissatisfied with the OAH's Report on Repression.)

  • Nixon Papers: Sixteen historians who were scheduled to speak at a now-cancelled conference at the Nixon Library and Birthplace in Yorba Linda, California, today asked Congress to suspend plans for the transfer of the Nixon tapes and files from the National Archives in College Park, Maryland to the Yorba Linda facility. The historians informed the members of the U.S. Senate and House committees on appropriations, governmental affairs, and government reform, that"The unprofessional behavior of the Nixon Library leadership calls into question that institution's fitness to join the Presidential Library system. The Nixon Library evidently feels free to toss aside, at its own convenience, its commitments to Whittier College and to the conference participants. A similarly cavalier attitude toward the commitments that the Library has made to the National Archives and to the Congress, in order to gain public funding for the transfer, would seriously jeopardize public access to and long-term preservation of invaluable historical records."

  • Ward Churchill: Historians Against the War (HAW) deplores the current effort by the Governor of Colorado and some members of the University of Colorado's Board of Regents to dismiss Prof. Ward Churchill, apparently for an essay that Prof. Churchill wrote regarding the attacks of September 11, 2001. HAW defends Prof. Churchill's right as a citizen and a member of his university community to speak his mind on issues of public concern without endangering his employment. HAW believes that the very notion that the opinions expressed in a faculty member's works might constitute grounds for dismissal constitutes a form of McCarthyism. We ask the Chancellor and Regents to immediately shut down this"investigation." And we urge our members to contact the following officials, to politely, but firmly express their views on this matter.

  • Coalitions Against Budget Cuts 2006 Anticipating the challenges advanced in the Bush budget, representatives of the Council of State Historical Records Coordinators, the National Association of Government Archives and Records Administrators, and the Society of American Archivists, met last week and agreed to form a joint task force to focus on advocacy. In addition, the National Coalition for History, together with the National Humanities Alliance, and the Federation of State Humanities Councils will shortly launch the"Humanities Advocacy Network" -- a new legislative action tool that will enable users to take direct action and communicate with governmental officials. You can preview the new website by visiting: http://www.humanitiesadvocacy.org. The network is designed to serve as the central location for advocacy where those who care about supporting our nation's investment in education, research, preservation and public programs in the humanities can get information and undertake action.

  • Crisis in History"We, the undersigned, many of us members of the National Council for History Education (the sole nation-wide membership organization devoted to the improvement of the teaching of history in our schools), submit this statement on the CRISIS IN HISTORY in order to urge the Congress of the United States to expand on the Teaching American History initiative and Senate Bill 2721, the American History Achievement Act."

  • Budget Cuts The National Coalition for History issued this action alert on Sept. 13: The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee marked up the FY 2005 Transportation/Treasury spending bill late last week with a level of $3 million for the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC). This represents a $7 million ($300%) cut over the current fiscal year's budget. The Senate action follows the President's recommendation of $3 million, as well as that of the House Appropriations Committee (which also supported the President's request for severely reduced funding).

  • Budget Cuts From the Organization of American Historians ... The future of the National Historical Publications and Records Commission is in jeopardy and we need your help to restore funding to this important historical federal agency. We are sending this email to OAH members in the states whose U.S. senators sit on the Senate Transportation, Treasury, and General Government Subcommittee which has appropriations jurisdiction over the NHPRC. After reading the following message from National Coalition for History Director Bruce Craig, please contact your senator and request his/her support for funding the NHPRC at $8 million.

  • Japanese Internment Historians critical of Michelle Malkin's new book, In Defense of Internment, have formed a committee to protest the media attention being paid to her and her book. The Historians' Committee for Fairness, an organization of scholars and professional researchers, charges that her book represent a blatant violation of professional standards of objectivity and fairness. Malkin is not a historian, and she states that she relied almost exclusively on research conducted or collected by others.

  • Iraq After two weeks of fighting in Najaf, Iraq, Patrimoine sans Frontières solemnly appeals to all of the parties involved to respect the heritage of this Holy site for Shia Muslims. Patrimoine sans Frontières appeals also to the international community to mobilise against this situation which in effect is taking a cultural and sacred site hostage. This site is one of the jewels of Iraqi cultural heritage and its importance for the history of humanity makes it part of the common heritage of all mankind.

  • Iraq in Crisis IraqCrisis: A moderated list at the University of Chicago for communicating substantive information on cultural property damaged, destroyed or lost from Libraries and Museums in Iraq during and after the war in April 2003, and on the worldwide response to the crisis.

  • Saving Antiquities The SAFE online resource that highlights issues related to cultural heritage and its vulnerability to looting and the illicit antiquities trade. To commemorate the anniversary of the ransacking of the National Museum of Iraq in Baghdad, SAFE has relaunched its website (formerly www.safenow.net) with an article about the continued destruction of archaeological sites in Iraq.

  • Budget for the NHPRC The National Coalition for History (NCH) issues an action alert. Based on the funding levels passed by the House Committee on Appropriations for the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) on 22 July 2004, funding for the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) in FY 2005 will be dramatically cut unless history/archive supporters act.

  • Copyright The National Coalition for History (NCH) has joined with over thirty other scholarly and non-profit organizations -- including JSTOR, the American Council of Learned Societies, the American Historical Association, the American Sociological Association, the Association of American University Presses, Duke University Press, the Organization of American Historians, and Oxford University Press -- in support of the National Geographic in its legal battle relating to digital preservation and access.

  • NEH Budget The Coalition for History is asking historians to write to Congress in support of an amendment to increase funding for the National Endowment for the Humanities.

  • Allen Weinstein Controversy continues to mount over the Bush administration's nomination of Allen Weinstein to succeed John Carlin as Archivist of the United States.

  • Gay Marriage The executive board of the Organization of American Historians has approved a resolution opposing"a federal constitutional amendment limiting marriage to heterosexual couples." The resolution was sponsored by Ellen Herman, a historian at University of Oregon. Over 100 members of the OAH signed a statement in support of the resolution.

  • HAW At the annual meeting of the OAH, the executive board approved a resolution sponsored by Historians Against the War (HAW) to investigate alleged instances of repression involving historians. Eric Foner and James Horton signed a HAW petition denouncing the"doctrine of pre-emptive war."

  • National Park Historians rallying to save Minute Man National Historical Park.

  • Middle East Studies Juan Cole: A Big Brother Plan to Monitor Middle East Studies (March 6, 2004)

  • HAW AHA Business Meeting unanimously approves resolution sponsored by Historians Against the War (HAW) affirming the rights of free speech. (January 2004)

  • GESO Over opposition of Yale history department chairman, the AHA Business Meeting approves a resolution critical of Yale's campaign to stop the formation of a union for graduate students; first amendment rights emphasized.

  • Historic Site A British businessman intends leading 5,000 archers to a second battle of Agincourt in an attempt to defeat plans for a windfarm at the historic site in France.

  • Enola Gay Historians organizing to protest the new Enola Gay exhibit at the Smithsonian.

  • HAW Historians Against the War rallying in Washington DC to oppose the continued occupation of Iraq.

  • Charles Pickering Historians' Petition Against the Nomination of Charles Pickering, Sr.

  • Saving the Archives Historians rallying to restore funding for Electronic Records Archive, wchich was zeroed out by the Bush administration.

  • Charles Pickering Historians oppose the nomination of Judge Charles Pickering, Sr.; their petition receives national attention.

  • HAW Radical intellectuals drawn from more than half a dozen groups, including Historians Against the War, issue a call for a meeting in October 2003.

  • Revisionism Prominent historians protest President Bush's disparagement of revisionism.

  • HAW Historians Against the War call for an international force to take over the occupation of Iraq.

  • Ludlow Massacre Historians trying to raise money to restore the desecrated monument to the victims of the Ludlow Massacre.

  • Radicals Radical Academics prepare draft misssion statement.

  • HAW Historians Against the War: Following the end of the Iraq war, HAW decides to focus on opposing imperialism.

  • Funding The Coalition for History urges historians to rally behind the Bush administration's request to fund the"We the People" initiative.

  • Iraq Museum The Baghdad Museum Project: Helping restore the National Museum of Iraq

  • Cuba Anti-War, Social Justice and Human Rights Advocates Oppose Repression in Cuba Campaign for Peace and Democracy

  • Iraq Help Iraqi libraries rebuild by contributing copies of documents. Keith Watenpaugh

  • HAW Historians Against the War Van Gosse

  • HAW Petition to Congress: A Vote Needs to Be Taken on War with Iraq Joyce Appleby

  • HAW Historians' Petition on War with Iraq: Breaking News Joyce Appleby

    • ]]>     Fri, 19 Apr 2024 19:11:50 +0000 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/1422 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/1422 0     Great History Websites

    SAFE Tours

    http://www.savingantiquities.org/g-whatwedosafetours.htm

    Guided by journalists, art historians, archaeologists and museum specialists, SAFE tours provide an “insider's look” at museum collections. These tours are conducted in intimate groups, with up to six people at a time. We also customize tours to suit participants' specific interests. Tours last about an hour-and-a-half.

    SAFE Tours are $30 per person, plus group admission to the museums. All SAFE members enjoy 20% off for all tours, Donors receive one complimentary SAFE Tour per year.

    The Lost Museum

    http://www.lostmuseum.cuny.edu/#

    In 1841 the showman Phineas Taylor Barnum opened his American Museum in NewYork City. Dominating lower Broadway at Park Row, in no time Barnum'sAmerican Museum became the"most visited place in America."

    For more than twenty years, for six days a week, fifteen hours a day, city slickers and country folk alike flocked to the five-story building to marvel at and mock its myriad of changing attractions.A cornucopia of exhibitions offered visitors, in no particular order, information and entertainment, scientific knowledge and trumped-up fantasy, moral lessons and cruel voyeurism, the sacred and the profane.

    Shortly after twelve noon on Thursday, July 13, 1865, in one of the most spectacular fires in New York's history, Barnum's American Museum was destroyed.

    Dreaming of Freedom: The Intellectual Journey of Dr. John Hope Franklin

    http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/franklin/dreaming_freedom/

    As Duke University celebrates the 90th birthday of Dr. John Hope Franklin, Perkins library is proud to host an online and physical exhibit celebrating Dr. Franklin’s intellectual and professional journey. The exhibit includes photographs, correspondence, and other materials included in the papers of John Hope Franklin, which will be open to the public beginning February 2005. The exhibit highlights Dr. Franklin’s passage from Rentiesville, Oklahoma, to Fisk University, and through the halls of academia and public service.

    Historical Atlas of the Twentieth Century

    http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/20centry.htm

    Librarian Matthew White is behind this website, which features an astonishing array of demographic and political data in the form of a series of detailed and colorful maps.

    HNN's Jonathan Dresner reports that the site has"some interesting alternate histories, as well, including the 'what if all the separtists won?' map, the 'what if Australia had been colonized by Muslims like Indonesia?' map, and the '20c Middle Earth' map (including the Hobbits' Autonomous Socialist Republic of the Shire)."

    Experience Acceleration Support Environment

    http://www.easehistory.org/

    Welcome to EASE History, an Experience Acceleration Support Environment that supports historical understanding and brainstorming.

    EASE History Campaign Ads is an interactive learning environment where presidential campaign ads are entry points to learn about campaign issues and their historical context, as well as the persuasive techniques and strategies that are part of political campaigns.

    More generally, the environment can be used to learn about history, from a beginner or a more advanced perspective, using video clips of historical events.

    Myths Textbooks Pass Along

    Rate Your Textbook (From the homepage of Ray Raphael)

    Real people, not paper heroes, make history. That’s why people’s history is so important — but the process of myth-making, masquerading as history, has kept common people from assuming center stage.

    How do you know your text is telling the truth?

    I have examined a wide assortment of recent and widely used textbooks at the elementary, middle school, and secondary levels. Many were featured at the annual convention for the National Council for the Social Studies in November, 2002. The rest are currently approved for use in California, which has among the strictest selection criteria in the nation.

    Click on the title of a textbook, and you will see a page-by-page breakdown of the “founding myths” it perpetuates. If your text is not featured here, and you would like to see it critiqued, please contact me. If you send me a copy, I will critique it, post the results on this webpage, and return your book.

    Gulf of Tonkin

    National Security Archive: The Gulf of Tonkin Incident, 40 Years Later ... Flawed Intelligence and the Decision for War in Vietnam

    Forty years ago, President Johnson and top U.S. officials chose to believe that North Vietnam had just attacked U.S. destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin, even though the highly classified signals intercepts they cited to each other actually described a naval clash two days earlier (a battle prompted by covert U.S. attacks on North Vietnam), according to the declassified intercepts, Johnson White House tapes, and related documents posted today by the National Security Archive at George Washington University.

    Compiled by Archive senior fellow and Vietnam expert John Prados, today's 40th anniversary electronic briefing book includes Dr. Prados's detailed analysis of the intercepts - only declassified in 2003 - together with audio files and transcripts of the key Tonkin Gulf conversations between President Johnson and Defense Secretary Robert McNamara. The latter are excerpted from Dr. Prados's book, The White House Tapes (New York: The New Press, 2003). The posting also contains photographs and charts from the Tonkin Gulf incident courtesy of the U.S. Naval Historical Center, a detailed documentary chronology compiled by the State Department's Office of the Historian for the Foreign Relations of the United States series, a CIA Special National Intelligence Estimate on possible North Vietnamese responses to U.S. actions from May 1964 (just declassified in June 2004), and links to previous and upcoming Archive publications on Vietnam.

    Sullivan/Clinton Campaign, 1779-2004

    www.sullivanclinton.com

    This year, NY State is commemorating the 225th Anniversary of the Sullivan-Clinton Campaign, one of the most significant and off-the-radar events in US history. Amidst the American Revolution, George Washington ordered 6200 men of the Army not merely to overrun, but to destroy" the lands of the Iroquois Six Nations. They did, and the Iroquois have never been the same. It was the largest operation ever before undertaken against the native peoples of North America, and the second largest such expedition in US history. The website changes weekly and closely ties hard-hitting period and contemporary texts and images, including photos, flash movies, and coming soon, an interactive map (in multiple scenes) of the Sullivan-Clinton Campaign. It also has an artists page where world-class artists like Ousmane Sow and Peter Jemison have contributed their images. These are devoted to a world freed of the Sullivan-Clinton legacy.

    Kansas History Online

    www.kansashistoryonline.org/ksh/

    Just in time for the sesquicentennial of Kansas Territory and the bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark expedition ... a dynamic new Web site focused on Kansas history. Called KansasHistoryOnline, and accessible at www.kansashistoryonline.org, the project was conceived and developed by many of the same people who created This Week In KU History, which went live in November 2002 and is located at www.kuhistory.com. As with This Week In KU History, KansasHistoryOnline combines scholarly methodology with magazine-style journalism to provide site visitors with highly readable content that reflects academic standards. KansasHistoryOnline is a project of the Hall Center for the Humanities and the Kansas State Historical Society.

    THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS, 1962: THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY

    http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/nsa/cuba_mis_cri/index.htm

    George Washington University's National Security Archive, in partnership with Brown University's Watson Institute for International Affairs, generated worldwide headlines by gathering U.S., Russian and Cuban veterans of the 1962 Cuban missile crisis for two days of discussions in Havana on October 11-12, 2002, followed by a tour of the last surviving remnants of the missile emplacements on the island. Cuban President Fidel Castro hosted the 40th anniversary conference and participated fully in both days' deliberations. The conference featured extraordinary discussions and new revelations from archival documents from 10 countries -- including memoranda of conversation between Cuban and Soviet leaders, detailed information on Cuban-Soviet military ties, recently declassified U.S. intelligence analyses, and new information about nuclear dangers arising from the crisis that have been unknown until now.

    ATOMIC SECRETS: This Letter Will Constitute Your Authority ... The Eisenhower 10

    http://conelrad.com/atomicsecrets/secrets.php?secrets05

    "You may recall that in late May, I wrote advising of the existence of classified letters from President Eisenhower to ten private citizens throughout the country giving them authority over various parts of the economy and total society in the event of a declaration of a national emergency..."— Excerpt from August 19, 1961 memorandum to National Security Advisor McGeorge Bundy from Presidential Assistant Frederick G. Dutton

    It is something of a tradition in Washington for staffers from a Presidential administration exiting office to leave a few surprises for the incoming administration of the opposing party. In 2001, for example, Democratic White House office workers removed the letter"W" from computer keyboards in an effort to annoy President-elect Bush's people.

    Of course, the"W" prank sounds pretty innocuous when compared to the ten letters President Eisenhower issued to (mostly) private citizens in 1958 and 1959 granting them unprecedented power in the event of a"national emergency" (read: A-Bomb attack). What no doubt caught the eye of Mr. Dutton (as quoted above) is the fact that these extraordinary missives had no expiration dates on them. One can only imagine President Kennedy's reaction to this news in light of the fact that he was also dealing with other surprises left for him by those irrepressible Dulles brothers.

    REACTING TO THE PAST: AN INTRODUCTION AN]]> Fri, 19 Apr 2024 19:11:50 +0000 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/27020 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/27020 0 Plagiarism

    Wikipedia Image

    Click HERE for our latest articles.  

    Definitions & Background

    Individuals Accused of Plagiarism

    Doris Kearns Goodwin

    Stephen Ambrose

    Brian VanDeMark

    Others

    What Should Be Done About Plagiarism

    ]]>     Fri, 19 Apr 2024 19:11:50 +0000 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/3781 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/3781 0     Quotes About History Historical sense and poetic sense should not, in the end, be contradictory, for if poetry is the little myth we make, history is the big myth we live, and in our living, constantly remake. Robert Penn WarrenHistory does not repeat itself. The historians repeat one another. Max BeerbohmTo know the truth of history is to realize its ultimate myth and its inevitable ambiguity. Roy P. Basler[A] ny fool can make history, but it takes a genius to write it. Oscar WildeDo not applaud me. It is not I who speaks to you, but history which speaks through my mouth. Fustel de CoulangesHistory must be written of, by and for the survivors. AnonymousHistory consists of a series of accumulated imaginative inventions. VoltaireThe history of states and nations has provided some income for historiographers and book dealers, but I know no other purpose it may have served. BorneClio, the muse of history, is as thoroughly infected with lies as a street whore with syphilis. SchopenhauerHistory, history! We fools, what do we know or care. William Carlos WilliamsHistory is now strictly organized, powerfully disciplined, but it possesses only a modest educational value and even less conscious social purpose. J. H. Plumb[History] may be called, more generally still, the Message, verbal or written, which all Mankind delivers to everyman. Thomas CarlyleHistory is a science, no more and no less. J. B. BuryThe past is always a rebuke to the present. Robert Penn WarrenA country without a memory is a country of madmen. George SantayanaHistory is interim reports issued periodically. AnonymousImagination plays too important a role in the writing of history, and what is imagination but the projection of the author's personality. Pieter GeylHistory is philosophy teaching by example and also by warning. Lord BolingbrokeHistory teaches everything including the future. LamartineIf you would understand anything, observe its beginning and its development. AristotleWith the historian it is an article of faith that knowledge of the past is a key to understanding the present. Kenneth StamppHistory is something that happens to other people. AnonymousAny time gone by was better. Jorge ManriqueThere is no history of mankind, there is only an indefinite number of histories of all kinds of aspects of human life. Karl PopperThe deepest, the only theme of human history, compared to which all others are of subordinate importance, is the conflict of skepticism with faith. GoetheHistory is not melodrama, even if it usually reads like that. Robert Penn WarrenWho does not know that the first law of historical writing is the truth. CiceroHistory has become more important than ever because of the to unprecedented ability of the historical sciences to take in man's life on earth as a whole. Alfred KazinThe certainty of history seems to be in direct inverse ratio to what we know about it. AnonymousGod alone knows the future, but only an historian can alter the .past. Ambrose BierceHistory is ultimately more important than its singers. Michael HarringtonWhoever wishes to foresee the future must consult the past; for human events ever resemble those of preceding times. This arises from the fact that they are produced by men who ever have been, and ever shall be, animated by the same passions, and thus they necessarily have the same results. MachiavelliWriting intellectual history is like trying to nail jelly to the wall. William HesseltineHistory is the memory of things said and done. Carl L. BeckerHistory is life; he who has not lived, or has lived only enough to write a doctoral dissertation, is too inexperienced with life to write good history. Louis GottschalkHistory cannot give us a program for the future, but it can give us a fuller understanding of ourselves, and of our common humanity, so that we can better face the future. Robert Penn WarrenThere will always be a connection between the way men Late the past and the way in which they contemplate the present. BuckleHistory is the enactment of ritual on a permanent and universal stage; and its perpetual commemoration. Norman O. BrownThe historian must not try to know what is truth, if he values his honesty; for if he cares for his truths, he is certain to falsify his facts. Henry AdamsHistory is always written wrong, and so always needs to be rewritten. George SantayanaWhat else can history teach us? Only the vanity of believing we can impose our theories on history. Any philosophy which asserts that human experience repeats itself is ineffectual. Jacques EllulHistory is not the accumulation of events of every kind which happened in the past. It is the science of human societies. Fustel de CoulangesHistory is filled with the sound of silken slippers going downstairs and wooden shoes coming up. VoltaireHistory has to be rewritten because history is the selection of those threads of causes or antecedents that we are interested in. O. W. Holmes, Jr.The researches of many eminent antiquarians have already thrown much darkness on the subject; and it is possible, if they continue their labors, that we shall soon know nothing at all. Artemus WardNothing capable of being memorized is history. R. G. CollingwoodA society in stable equilibrium is-by definition-one that ha~ no history and wants no historians. Henry AdamsIt should be known that history is a discipline that has a great number of approaches. Ibn Khalduin of TunisWhen a historian enters into metaphysics he has gone to a far country from whose bourne he will never return a historian. Shailer MathewsA man rising in the world is not concerned with history; he is too busy making it. But a citizen with a fixed place in the community wants to acquire a glorious past just as he acquires antique furniture. By that past he is reassured of his present importance; in it he finds strength to face the dangers that lie in front of him. Malcolm CowleyWe investigate the past not to deduce practical political lessons, but to find out what really happened. T. F. ToutThat generations of historians have resorted to what might be called "proof by haphazard quotation" does not make the procedure valid or reliable; it only makes it traditional. Lee BensonThe past does not influence me; I influence it. Willem De KooningVery deep, very deep is the well of the past. Should we not call it bottomless? Thomas MannNothing falsifies history more than logic. GuizotHistory is a great deal closer to poetry than is generally realised: in truth, I think, it is in essence the same. A. L. RowseI said there was but one solitary thing about the past worth remembering, and that was the fact that it is past-can't be restored. Mark TwainHistory is a myth that men agree to believe. NapoleonTo converse with historians is to keep good company; many of them were excellent men, and those who were not, have taken care to appear such in their writings. Lord BolingbrokeHistory is the distillation of rumour. Thomas CarlyleIt is the essence of the poor that they do not appear in history. AnonymousAs history stands, it is a sort of Chinese play, without end andl without lesson. With these impressions I wrote the last line of my History, asking for a round century before going further. Henry AdamsThis I regard as history's highest function, to let no worthy action be uncommemorated, and to hold out the reprobation of posterity as a terror to evil words and deeds. TacitusI don't believe the truth will ever be known, and I have a great contempt for history. Gen. George MeadeHistory is the essence of innumerable biographies. Thomas CarlyleIf the past has been an obstacle and a burden, knowledge of the past is the safest and the surest emancipation. Lord ActonHistory is the invention of historians. Attributed to Napoleon"History" is a Greek word which means, literally, just "investigation." Arnold ToynbeeHistory will die if not irritated. The only service I can do to my profession is to serve as a flea. Henry AdamsMyth, memory, history-these are three alternative ways to capture and account for an elusive past, each with its own persuasive claim. Warren I. SusmanInertia is the first law of history, as it is of physics. Morris R. CohenThe past does not repeat itself, but it rhymes. Mark Twain[History is] little else than a long succession of useless cruelties. VoltaireMan in a word has no nature; what he has. ..is history. Jose Ortega y GassetIn mass societies, myth takes the place of history. William BosenbrookHistory is a great dust heap. Thomas Carlyle[History is] little more than the register of the crimes, follies and misfortunes of mankind. Edward GibbonHistory is not a science; it is a method. Charles SeignobosAll modern wars start in the history classroom. AnonymousHistory is the self-consciousness of humanity. DroysonIt is very hard to remember that events now long in the past were once in the future. MaitlandHistory is still in large measure poetry to me. Jakob BurckhardtHisthry is a post-mortem examination. It tellsye what a counthry died iv. But I'd like to know what it lived iv. Mr. Dooley (Finley Peter Dunne)History remembers only the brilliant failures and the brilliant successes. Randolph S. BourneHistory will absolve me. Fidel CastroHistory in our kind of society is not a luxury but a necessity. Patrick HazardIn its amplest meaning History includes every trace and vestige of everything that man has done or thought since first he appeared on the earth. James Harvey RobinsonHistory without politics descends to mere Literature. Sir John Robert Seely[History is] the most difficult of all the sciences. Fustel de CoulangesIn schoolbooks and in literature we can separate ecclesiastical and political history; in the life of mankind they are intertwined. Leopold von RankeHistory has a way of censoring contemporary values. AnonymousAnyone who is going to make anything out of history will, sooner or later, have to do most of the work himself. He will have to read, and consider, and reconsider, and then read some more. Geoffrey BarracloughWe learn from history that we never learn anything from history. HegelWhile the mediocre European is obsessed with history, the mediocre American is ignorant of it. AnonymousThe voice of history is often little more than the organ of hatred or flattery. Edward GibbonHistory is reading all that you can as fast as you can and - remembering as much as you can. Lynn Berleffi DarrHistory may defeat the Christ but it nevertheless points to him as the law of life. Reinhold NiebuhrHistory is not narration' as Thierry thought, nor analysis as Guizot thought, it is resurrection. MicheletEveryone falsifies history even if it is only his own personal history. Sometimes the falsification is deliberate, sometimes unconscious; put always the past is altered to suit the needs of the present. The best we can say of any account is not that it is the real truth at last, but that this is how the story appears now. Joseph FreemanHe who has money, lives long: he who has authority, can do no wrong: he who has might, establishes right. Such is history! Ecce historia! Gottfried BennHistorians are to be read with moderation and kindness, and it is to be remembered that they can not be in all circumstances like Lynceus. Quoted by Cotton MatherHistorians, it is said, fall into one of three categories: Those who lie. Those who are mistaken. Those who do not know. AnonymousThe course of History reflects a continual contest between limited, orderly processes of development and historical accident. H. Cord MeyerIf history teaches anything about the causes of revolution-and history does not teach much but still teaches considerably more than social-science theories-it is that a disintegration of political systems precedes revolutions, that the telling symptom of disintegration is & progressive erosion of governmental authority, and that this erosion is caused by the government's inability to function properly, from which spring the citizens' doubts about its legitimacy. Hannah ArendtI often think it odd that it [history] should be so dull, for a great deal of it must be invention. Catherine MorlandIn a word, we may gather out of History a policy no less wise than I eternal; by the comparison and application of other mens fore-passed miseries with our own like errours and ill-deservings. Sir Walter Raleigh[Some historians hold that history] is just one damned thing after another. Arnold ToynbeeYears should not be devoted to the acquisition of dead languages or .to the study of history which, for the most part, is a detailed account of things that never occurred. It is useless to fill the individual with dates of great battles, with the births and deaths of kings. They should be taught the philosophy of history, the growth of nations, of philosophies, theories, and, above all, of the sciences. Robert G. IngersollHistory is not a work of philosophy, it is a painting; it is necessary to combine narration with the representation of the subject, that is, it is necessary simultaneously to design and to paint; it is necessary to give to men the language and the sentiments of their times, not to regard the past in the light of our own opinion. Chateaubriand[History is] a useless heap of facts. Lord ChesterfieldThe supreme purpose of history is a better world. Herbert HooverA page of history is worth a volume of logic. O. W. HolmesI am far too much in doubt about the present, far too perturbed .about the future, to be otherwise than profoundly reverential about the past. Augustine BirrellHappy people have no history. Leo TolstoyPurely historical thought is nihilistic; it wholeheartedly accepts the evil of history. Albert CamusYou must always know the past, for there is no real Was, there is only Is. William FaulknerThere is properly no history, only biography. Ralph Waldo Emerson[History is] not factual at all, but a series of accepted judgments. Geoffrey BarracloughHistory itself touches only a small part of a nation's life. Most of the activities and sufferings of the people ... have been and will remain without written record. E. L. Wood wordWhatever is old corrupts, and the past turns to snakes. Ralph W. EmersonTo look back upon history is inevitably to distort it. Norman PearsonThe literature of the past is a bore. O. W. HolmesLife is not simple, and therefore history, which is past life, is not simple. David ShannonSkepticism is history's bedfellow. Edgar SaltusThe moralist must praise heroism and condemn cruelty; but the moralist does not explain events. Georges LefebvreThe writing of history reflects the interests, predilections, and even prejudices of a given generation. John Hope FranklinHistory would be an impossible area of human reflection if there were no recurrent attributes of human nature. Willson H. CoatesThe doctrine of the absolute uniqueness of events in history seems nonsense. Crane BrintonBut history is neither watchmaking nor cabinet construction. It is an endeavor toward better understanding. Marc BlochI know "histhry isn't thrue, Hinnessey, because it ain't like what I see ivery day in Halstead Street. Mr. Dooley (Finley Peter Dunne)The historian amputates reality. Gaetano Salvemini"History" is the name we as human beings give to the horizon of consciousness within which we live. Harvey CoxI want to be as though new-born, knowing nothing, absolutely nothing about Europe. Paul KleeThe first law of history is to dread uttering a falsehood; the next is not to fear stating the truth; lastly, the historian's writings should be open to no suspicion of partiality or animosity. Leo XIIIMankind are so much the same, in all times and places, that history informs us of nothing new or strange in this particular. Its chief use is only to discover the constant and universal principles of human nature. David HumeA complete assemblage of the smallest facts of human history will tell in the end. J. B. BuryIt is not man's evolution but his attainment that is the greatest lesson of the past and the highest theme of history. George Macaulay TrevelyanHistory has now been for the first time systematically considered, and has been found, like other phenomena, subject to invariable laws. August ComteIn the last resort, sheer insight is the greatest asset of all. Herbert ButterfieldIf history is a collection of events which come to life for us because of what some actors did, some recorders recorded, and some previewers decided to retell, a clinician attempting to interpret an historical event must first of all get the facts straight. Erik EriksonHistory, by appraising. ..[the students] of the past, will enable them to judge of the future. Thomas JeffersonThe case against the notion of historical objectivity is like the case against international law, or international morality; that it does not exist. Sir Isaiah BerlinWe cannot escape history and neither can we escape a desire to understand it. AnonymousHistory is the most aristocratic of all literary pursuits, because it obliges the historian to be rich as well as educated. Henry AdamsHistory is not only a particular branch of knowledge, but a particular mode and method of knowledge in other branches. Lord ActonKnowledge Qf history frees us to be contemporary. Lynn Write, Jr.History should rescue past lost causes from oblivion. AnonymousOnce historians wrote to instruct men in right examples and warn " against evil ones. Now wiser in their generation they write to instruct other historians in true methodology and to warn against false ones. Unsigned article in the Times Literary Supplement, April 7, 1966History is the narrative of great actions with praise or blame. Quoted by Cotton MatherHope is the other side of history. Marcia CavellI believe that history is capable of anything. There exists no folly that men have not tried out. C. G. JungThe chief practical use of history is to deliver us from plausible historical analogies. James BryceIt is proverbial, of course, that man never learns from history, and, as a rule, in respect to a problem of the present, it can teach us simply nothing. The new must be made through untrodden regions, without suppositions, and often, unfortunately, without piety also. C. G. JungNo opinion can be trusted; even the facts may be nothing but a printer's error. W. C. WilliamsHistory is the shank of the social sciences. C. Wright MillsNo historian should be trusted implicitly. G. Kitson ClarkThe past is never dead; it's not even past. Gavin Stevens (William Faulkner)History is the narrative of great actions with praise or blame. Quoted by Cotton MatherHope is the other side of history. Marcia CavellI believe that history is capable of anything. There exists no folly that men have not tried out. C. G. JungThe chief practical use of history is to deliver us from plausible historical analogies. James BryceIt is proverbial, of course, that man never learns from history, and, as a rule, in respect to a problem of the present, it can teach us simply nothing. The new must be made through untrodden regions, without suppositions, and often, unfortunately, without piety also. C. G. JungNo opinion can be trusted; even the facts may be nothing but a printer's error. W. C. WilliamsHistory is the shank of the social sciences. C. Wright MillsNo historian should be trusted implicitly. G. Kitson ClarkThe historian ought to be the humblest of men; he is faced a dozen times a day with the evidence of his own ignorance; he is perpetually confronted with his own humiliating inability to interpret his material correctly; he is, in a sense that no other writer is, in bondage to that material. C. V. Wedgwood...on the breast of that huge Mississippi of falsehood called history. Matthew ArnoldHalf the job in teaching history is in getting the students interested in the questions the Professor deems important. Sidney E. MeadHistory is only a catalogue of the forgotten. Henry AdamsWithout passion there might be no errors, but without passion there would certainly be no history. C. V. Wedgwood[History is] a graveyard of aristocracies. Vilfredo Pareto[History is] the doubtful story of successive events. BosanquetIf History teaches any lesson at all, it is that there are no historical lessons. Lucien FebvreHistory, to be above evasion or dispute, must stand on documents, not on opinions. Lord ActonHistory thus becomes largely a study of character. Insight into temperament is hardly less important than the probing of "original materials." Charles F. Adams, Jr.At a certain point one ceases to defend a certain view of history; one must defend history itself. E. P. ThompsonWithout the imaginative insight which goes with creative literature, history cannot be intelligibly written. C. V. WedgwoodIt is clear that history differs from the other disciplines in having an approach and not an area of its own. Leonard Krieger[History is a] costly and superfluous luxury of the understanding. NietzscheThe history of the world is none other than the progress of the , consciousness of freedom. HegelHistory, in a democratic age, tends to become a series of popular apologies, and is inclined to assume that the people can do no wrong. A. F. PollardThe passion for tidiness is the historian's occupational disease. Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.History consists, for the greater part, of the miseries brought upon the world by pride, ambition, avarice, revenge, lust, sedition, hypocrisy, ungoverned zeal, and all the train of disorderly appetite. Edmund BurkeHistory is a nightmare from which I am trying to awaken. Stephen Daedalus (James Joyce)History is that which has happened and that which goes on happening in time. But also it is the stratified record upon which we set our feet, the ground beneath us; and the deeper the roots of our being go down into the layers that lie below and beyond the ... confines of our ego, yet at the same time feed and condition it, ... the heavier is our life with thought and the weightier is the soul of our flesh. Thomas MannWe have had to learn that history is neither a God nor a redeemer. Reinhold NiebuhrSince historical reconstruction is a rational process, only justified and indeed possible if it involves the human reason, what we call history is the mess we call life reduced to some order. pattern and possibly purpose. G. R. EltonI thought it necessary to study history, even to study it deeply, in order to obtain a clear meaning of our immediate time. Paul ValeryBetween history and the eternal I have chosen history because I like certainties. Of it, at least, I am certain, and how can I deny this force crushing me. Albert CamusHistory ... may be regarded as an artificial extension and : broadening of our memories and may be used to overcome the natural bewilderment of all unfamiliar situations. James Harvey RobinsonNothing is easier to teach than historical method, but, when learned, it has little use. Henry AdamsTo develop and perfect and arm conscience is the great achievement of history. Lord ActonWe can be almost certain of being wrong about the future, if we are wrong about the past. C. K. ChestertonHappy is the country that has no history. AnonymousHistory: an accdunt mostly false, of events unimportant, which are brought about by rulers mostly knaves, and soldiers mostly fools. Ambrose BierceHistory is the most dangerous product evolved from the chemistry of the intellect. ...History will justify anything. It teaches precisely nothing, for it contains everything and furnishes examples of everything. Paul ValeryWhat man is, only his history tells. Wilhelm DiltheyIn history, a great volume is unrolled for our instruction, drawing the materials of future wisdom from the past errors and infirmities of mankind. Edmund BurkeAlso, what mountains of dead ashes, wreck and burnt bones, does assiduous pedantry dig up from the past time and name it History. Thomas CarlyleThe past is a foreign country; they do things differently there. L. P. HartleyThe history of thought, and therefore all history, is the re-enactment of past thought in the historian's own mind. R. G. CollingwoodPolitics are vulgar when they are not liberalised by history, and history fades into mere literature when it loses sight of its relation to practical politics. Sir John SeeleyIn a certain sense all men are historians. Thomas CarlyleThat which is past and gone is irrevocable. Wise men have enough to do with the present and things to come. Francis BaconThe things that we know about the past may be divided into those which probably never happened, or those which do not much matter. Dean IngeAfter the collection of facts, the search for causes. Hippolyte TaineUniversal history, the history of what man has accomplished in this world, is at bottom the History of the Great Men who have worked here. Thomas CarlyleHistory is, in its essentials, the science of change. It knows and it teaches that it is impossible to find two events that are ever exactly alike, because the conditions from which they spring are never identical. Marc Bloch[History was] a damn dim candle over a damn dark abyss. W. Stull HoltHistory is the recital of facts represented as true. Fable, on the other hand, is the recital of facts represented as fiction. The history of man's ideas is nothing more than the chronicle of human error. VoltairePour faire de l'histoire, il faut savoir compter. Georges LefebvreProblems cannot all be solved, for, as they are solved, new aspects are continually revealed: the historian opens the way, he does not close it. Sir Maurice PowickeWriting history is a perpetual exercise in judgment. Cushing StroutWhat distinguishes the historian from the collector of historical facts is generalization. E. H. CarrHistory furnishes to politics all the arguments that it needs, for the chosen cause. Romain RollandHistory is and should be a science. Fustel de CoulangesVoltaire to the contrary, history is a bag of tricks which the dead have played upon historians. Lynn White, Jr.History repeats itself because no one was listening the first time. AnonymousHistory within itself cannot be transcended. ... In history itself there are only relative victories. Ernst TroeltschSince God himself cannot change the past, he is obliged to tolerate the existence of historians. Attributed to Samuel ButlerThe value of history. ..is that it teaches us what man has done and thus what man is. R. G. CollingwoodHistory is a means of access to ourselves. Lynn White, Jr.People are trapped in history, and history is trapped in them. James BaldwinI, indeed, following the true law of history, have never set down any fact that I have not learned from trustworthy speakers or writers. William of MalmesburyOne must overcome history by dogma. Cardinal ManningWe study history in order to intervene in the course of history. Adolf von HarnackContemporary history is the least valuable of all kinds. The relative importance of events and persons cannot be fairly estimated till time has tested them and shown which is great and which is small. S. O. McConnellOne ceases to be lonely only in recollection; perhaps that is why people read history. John Andrew RiceHistory, as the study of the past, makes the coherence of what happened comprehensible by reducing events to a dramatic pattern and seeming them in a simple form. Johan HuizingaIn analysing history do not be too profound, for often the causes are quite superficial. Ralph Waldo EmersonNot all that is presented to us as history has really happened; and what really happened did not actually happen the way it is presented to us; moreover, what really happened is only a small part of all that happened. Everything in history remains uncertain, the largest events as well as the smallest occurrence. GoetheHistory is full of delightful reversals, where the opposite of what one predicts comes true. Edmund CarpenterHistory does not usually make real sense until long afterward. Bruce CattonThe historian must have some conception of how men who are not historians behave. An English critic on Edward GibbonPoetry, therefore, is a more philosophical and a higher theory than . history; for poetry tends to express the universal, history the particular. AristotleHistory: a collection of epitaphs. Elbert HubbardEvery work of history constructs contexts and designs, forms in which past reality can be comprehended. History creates comprehensibility primarily by arranging facts meaningfully and only in a very limited sense by establishing strict causal connections. Johan HuizingaLet the science and research of the historian find the fact and let his imagination and art make clear its significance. George TrevelyanIn history there are no real beginnings. Warren Sylvester SmithHistory is not history unless it is the truth. Abraham LincolnThe past in the hands of historians is not what it was. Lynn White, Jr.My own conclusion is that history is simply social development along the lines of weakest resistance, and that in most cases the line of weakest resistance is found as unconsciously by society as by water. Henry AdamsEvery work of history constructs contexts and designs, forms in which past reality can be comprehended. History creates comprehensibility primarily by arranging facts meaningfully and only in a very limited sense by establishing strict causal connections. Johan HuizingaLet the science and research of the historian find the fact and let his imagination and art make clear its significance. George TrevelyanIn history there are no real beginnings. Warren Sylvester SmithHistory is not history unless it is the truth. Abraham LincolnThe past in the hands of historians is not what it was. Lynn White, Jr.My own conclusion is that history is simply social development along the lines of weakest resistance, and that in most cases the line of weakest resistance is found as unconsciously by society as by water. Henry AdamsHistorian, discover the truth and publish it. Inscription over the grave of Oklahoma historian Angie Debo.[History is] an accumulative science, gradually gathering truth through the steady and plodding efforts of countless practitioners turning out countless monographs. Gordon WoodEvery work of history constructs contexts and designs forms in which past reality can be comprehended. History creates comprehensibility primarily by arranging facts meaningfully and only in a very limited sense by establishing strict causal corrections. Johan HuizingaHistory does not belong to us; we belong to it. Hans-Georg GadamerHistory is only a value of relation. Henry AdamsWe have lost our grip on historical truth. Joyce Appleby, Lynn Hunt, and Margaret Jacob in Telling the Truth About HistoryNothing endures but change. HeraclitusThe only thing new in the world is the history you don't know. Harry S TrumanI ain't no historian but I happen to savvy this incident. Charles M. RussellHistory proves nothing because it contains everything. Emil CioranHow real is history? Is it just an enormous soup so full of disparate ingredients that it is uncharacterizable? Thomas CahillHistorical awareness is a kind of resurrection. William Least Heat MoonHistory, facts and truth are all Divine Products, and must prevail. Charles A. BriggsTradition usually rests upon something which men did know; history is often the manufacture of the mere liar. Jefferson DavisFor history is to the nation as memory is to the individual. A.M. Schlesinger, Jr.The past has always been the handmaid of authority. J.H. PlumbHistory is no more than memories refreshed. Peter C. NewmanA new future requires a new past. Eric FonerHonest history is the weapon of freedom. A.M. Schlesinger, Jr.Whosoever in writing a modern history shall follow the truth too near the heels it may haply strike out his teeth. Sir Walter RaleighWhen the past no longer illuminates the future, the spirit walks in darkness. Alexis de TocquevilleAnd history becomes legend and legend becomes history. J. CocteauThe record - history - exists only in the media, and the people who make the media, make history. James MonacoMen make their own history, but they do not make it just as they please; they do not make it under circumstances chosen by themselves, but under circumstances directly found, given and transmitted from the past. Karl MarxRevisionism is a healthy historiographical process, and no one, not even revisionists, should be exempt from it. John Lewis GaddisThere will always be a connection between the way in which men contemplate the past and the way in which they contemplate the present. Harry Thomas BuckleFor wisdom is the great end of History. It is designed to supply the want of experience. Hugh BlairA reason that the past is so hated by the young is that there is no way to be entirely free of it. Paul HorganAt the heart of good history is a naughty little secret: good storytelling. Stephen SchiffHistory is the record of encounters between character and circumstance. Donald CreightonLife must be lived forward, but it can only be understood backward. Søren KierkegaardHistory is the new poetry. Thomas CarlyleMy country has no history, only a past. New Brunswick poet Alden Nowlan[History] is little else than a picture of human crimes and misfortunes. VoltaireIt takes three facts to make a truth. Eugene Manlove Rhodes[I]f one has an exaggerated view of the past, then one is obviously going to have a diminished view of the present. Joseph NyeHistory is the projection of ideology into the past. quoted from an unnamed source by John KeeganHistory teaches everything, even the future. Alphonse de LamartineHistory never repeats itself; at best it sometimes rhymes. Mark TwainHistory isn't really about the past - settling old scores. It's about defining the present and who we are. Ken BurnsI wonder why we hate the past so. W.D. Howells to Mark Twain It's so damned humiliating. Twain's replyA historian has many duties. Allow me to remind you of two which are important. The first is not to slander; the second is not to bore. VoltaireI am always ready to learn although I do not always like being taught. Sir Winston ChurchillWe learn from history that we do not learn from history. HegelThe consciousness of the past weighs like a nightmare on the brain of the living. Karl MarxThere is no history, only histories. Karl PopperTo be ignorant of the past is to remain a child. paraphrase from an observation by CiceroAs the primary end of History is to record truth, impartiality, fidelity and accuracy are the fundamental qualities of an Historian. Hugh BlairThe world is too dangerous to live in - not because of the people who do evil but because of the people who sit and let it happen. Albert EinsteinHistory is the only laboratory we have in which to test the consequences of thought. Etienne GilsonThe only form of fiction in which real characters do not seem out of place is history. In novels they are detestable. Oscar WildeGod cannot alter the past; historians can. Samuel ButlerThe lack of a sense of history is the damnation of the modern world. Robert Penn WarrenThere is no history, only fictions of varying degrees of plausibility. VoltaireHistory has thrust something upon me from which I cannot turn away. Martin Luther King Jr.The one duty we owe to history is to rewrite it. Oscar WildeNovels arise out of the shortcomings of History. A.S. ByattHistory is too much about wars; biography too much about great men. Virginia Woolf in A Room of One's OwnThe only true knowledge of things is the knowledge of their causes. Archbishop LeightonHistory is a reconstruction of life in its wholeness, not of the superficial aspects, but of the deeper, inner organic processes. MicheletAll our knowledge - past, present, and future - is nothing compared to what we will never know. TsiolkovskyBut then history does not only consist of documents. John LukacsAny historical narrative is a bundle of silences. Michel Ralph TrouillotThe use of history as therapy means the corruption of history as history. A.M. Schlesinger, Jr.History is not a catalogue but…a convincing version of events. A.J.P. TaylorHistory belongs above all to the man…who needs models, teachers, comforters and cannot find them among his contemporaries. Friedrich NietzscheHistory is an indispensable even though not the highest form of intellectual endeavor. Carl BeckerHistory is neither written nor made without love or hate. Theodor MommsenHistory makes some people feel good and other people feel bad. Joyce KingHistory to be above evasion must stand on documents not on opinion. Lord ActonHistory is the only science enjoying the ambiguous fortune of being required to be at the same time an art. Johann Gustav DroysenThe historian must have…some conception of how men who are not historians behave. Otherwise he will move in a world of the dead. E.M. ForesterHistory at its best is vicarious experience. Edmund S. MorganEvery day grows more amnesiac about its recent past. Hilton KramerHistory is the great propagator of doubt. A.J.P. TaylorUnderstanding the past requires pretending that you don't know the present. Paul FussellHistory thus returns forever - as film. Anton KaesHistory is often not what actually happened but what is recorded as such. Henry L. Stimson[History] is a closeout sale of new and old public myths. Anton KaesHistory, in brief, is an analysis of the past in order that we may understand the present and guide our conduct into the future. Sidney E. MeadAll history is an attempt to find pattern and meaning in a section of human experience, and every historian worthy of the name raises questions about man's ultimate destiny and the meaning of all history to which, as history, he can provide no answers. The answers belong to the realm of theology. G.B. CairdHistory teaches us that men and nations behave wisely once they have exhausted all other alternatives. Abba EbanChronology, so the saying goes, is the last refuge of the feeble-minded and the only resort for historians. Joseph J. Ellis[B]inary opposites fit nicely the formulation of history as written, but they do little to capture the messy, inchoate reality of history as lived. Ira BerlinHistory is not history unless it is the truth. Abraham Lincoln in a letter to W.H. Herndon, 1856We cannot escape history. Abraham Lincoln in Annual Message to Congress, Dec. 1, 1862Anything is bearable if you can make a story out of it. N. Scott MomadayIf a modern historian were to show his works to the Venerable Bede, the man might well say, well and good, but I want to know how it was that God ordained the conversion of the British Isles. Charles W. ColeHistory is, indeed, an argument without end. A.M. Schlesinger, Jr.]]> Fri, 19 Apr 2024 19:11:50 +0000 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/1328 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/1328 0 Factoids Christian Persecution?

    Source:  Daniel Pipes, at his blog (Aug. 24, 2004)

    Bethlehem and Nazareth, the most identifiably Christian towns on earth, enjoyed a Christian majority for nearly two millennia, but no more. In Jerusalem, the decline has been particularly steep: in 1922, Christians slightly outnumbered Muslims and today they make up less than 2% of the city's population.

    Bush's Strained Relationship with Wall Street 

    Source: NYT (Aug. 22, 2004)

    On the stump, the president can come across as a prairie populist, describing investment-banking practices as"fancy footwork" and calling the stock market boom of the 1990's feckless,"pie in the sky" investing.

    Yet, as the grandson and nephew of patrician East Coast bankers - on his mother's side as well as his father's - President Bush has raised millions of dollars from Wall Street to finance his brief career as an oil wildcatter and his two presidential campaigns. And his fiscal policies, which include sweeping cuts in dividend and capital gains taxes, could be the most pro-Wall Street since Ronald Reagan began cutting taxes in 1981.

    Still, for the most part, President Bush has kept bankers at arm's length in his administration. In fact, he is the first Republican president since Dwight D. Eisenhower to not appoint a Treasury secretary from Wall Street, though there is speculation that this may change if he is re-elected.

    FOIA's Anniversary Celebrated

    From the newsletter of the Coalition for History (July 9, 2004)

    4 July 2004 marked the 38th anniversary of President Johnson signing the Freedom of Information Act into law. To commemorate the event, the George Washington University's National Security Archive posted on its website interesting FOIA facts. Here one can learn that last year over 4,000 news stories were released as a result of federal, state, and local freedom of information acts. Included among these were revelations about bacteria infested meat, misuse of government funds, conflicts of interest in the personal finances of public officials, technical flaws in space equipment, and many more. In 2002 over 2.4 million people used FOIA; critics say this cost the government over $300 million. With an estimated increase of use in 2003, the United States Census Bureau projects that FOIA will cost approximately $1.03 per person -- a relatively low expense, the archives implies, for ensuring an open and honest government. For more information including directions on how to use FOIA, tap into: http://www.nsarchive.org.

    Chief Justices of the Supreme Court

    Source:  Ohio News Now (May 18, 2004)

    In a speech in Columbus to hail the opening of a new building for the Ohio Supreme Court, U.S. Chief Justice William Rehnquist noted that three Ohioans have held his post."No state has had more, and only New York boasts as many.

    Do Oil Price Hikes Cause Recessions?

    Source:  Robert D. McTeer, in the WSJ

    The U.S. once again finds itself grappling with high energy prices. Oil has jumped to nearly $40 a barrel, pushing gasoline to record levels. Natural gas has been selling for more than $6 per million BTU, pricey for this time of year.

    Nine of the 10 U.S. recessions since World War II followed spikes in oil prices, so many Americans might worry that today's energy prices have risen enough to scuttle a recovery that has just begun creating a significant number of jobs. Paying more for oil and natural gas can sap growth, but this time around the recovery appears robust enough to withstand the higher energy bills. Rising prices without recession isn't unprecedented: The oil markets gave four false signals during the 1980s and '90s.

    There's little mystery in the link of energy prices to recession. Consumer spending takes a hit as budgets stretch to pay more for filling up at the gasoline pumps and heating homes. Just as important, oil products and natural gas are key inputs for electricity, airlines, trucking, petrochemicals, fertilizer and a host of other industries. Those vulnerabilities haven't gone away, and that's why the recovery slows.

    Who Pays More in Taxes?

    Source:  Matthew Miller n the NYT (April 11, 2004)

    WITH April 15, comes the perennial debate over the fairness of the tax burden. Liberals say the rich pay too little; conservatives argue that the rich get soaked. Conservatives often cite these statistics: the top 5 percent of taxpayers pay 57 percent of federal income taxes, the top 1 percent 36 percent, and the bottom 80 percent a trifling 17 percent.

    But this argument ignores the payroll tax, which finances Social Security, as well as excise taxes on things like liquor or tobacco. These take their biggest bite, proportionally, from lower-income Americans. Income tax will account this year for 42 percent of federal revenue; the payroll tax, 41 percent. If you count the payroll tax paid by employers (which economists generally agree comes out of workers' wages), four in five workers pay more in payroll taxes than income taxes.

    The chart ... shows what happens when you consider this data: the top 1 percent of taxpayers earn 17 percent of the income and pay 23 percent of federal taxes; the top 5 percent earn 31 percent of the income and pay 40 percent of the taxes; the bottom 80 percent make 41 percent of the income and pay 31 percent of the taxes. In other words, the tax system is modestly progressive.

    Corporate Profits

    Source:  NYT (April 5, 2004)

    The Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University reports that "This is the first time we've ever had a case where two years into a recovery, corporate profits got a larger share of the growth of national income tha labor did. Normally labor gets about 65 percent and corporate profits about 15 to 18 percent. This time profits got 41 percent and labor got 38 percent."

    Secrets

    Source:  John Podesta in Salon (March 22, 2004)

    How many secrets does the United States government have? According to an article by, in 2002 "the government created more than 23 million official secrets at a cost of $5.7 billion."

    Influenza Deaths, 1918

    Source:  NYT (March 14, 2004)

    The numbers astonish and horrify. According to the earliest estimates, 20 million people died during the flu pandemic of 1918. That figure is still used in classrooms and textbooks, but as John M. Barry tells us in ''The Great Influenza,'' it's certainly too low. Modern experts say that 20 million may have died in India alone, and they calculate the total number of victims at somewhere between 50 million and 100 million worldwide. No disease in human history has caused so many fatalities, not even the Black Death. The 1918 influenza pandemic killed more people in 24 weeks than AIDS has in 24 years.

    In the United States, about one-quarter of the population, more than 25 million people, took ill, and about 675,000 died (a comparable figure for today's population would be 1,750,000). Undertakers ran out of coffins. Morgues ran out of space. Corpses were placed in spare rooms, in closets, on porches, until they could be collected for mass graves. The odor must have been unbearable.

    John Kerry -- Skates into History

    Source:  Chicago Tribune (2004)

    Tuesday's voting could make John Kerry the inevitable Democratic nominee and the first passionate in-line skater running for president."

    Tarheel's Idea of History: Clay AikenSource:   Arizona Republic (2004)

    [The] white Italian shirt, black pinstriped pants and shoes that singer Clay Aiken wore on American Idol will be displayed at the North Carolina Museum of History.

    ]]>     Fri, 19 Apr 2024 19:11:50 +0000 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/3849 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/3849 0