Historians in the News

This page features brief excerpts of stories published by the mainstream media and, less frequently, blogs, alternative media, and even obviously biased sources. The excerpts are taken directly from the websites cited in each source note. Quotation marks are not used.

Source: Irish Times
8-6-11

Medieval history professor wrote groundbreaking book on Ireland

PROF MICHAEL RICHTER: MICHAEL RICHTER, who has died aged 68, was a former professor of medieval history at the University of Konstanz, Germany, having previously spent 15 years teaching at University College Dublin.He is best known for his groundbreaking book, Medieval Ireland: the enduring tradition (1988). Whereas Irish history had traditionally been depicted either in isolation or in the manner by which it was influenced by outside forces, especially England, Richter adopted a different approach.First, his study encompassed a longer time span than previous works and paid more attention to the early medieval period. Secondly, he placed less emphasis on political and military history than on general social and cultural aspects. As a result, his interpretation of medieval Ireland is one in which social and cultural norms dating from pre-historic times in Ireland are seen to survive right through to the Middle Ages....

Source: Reuters
8-5-11

Douglas Brinkley: In the age of Twitter, political history "comes and goes in a nanosecond."

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House and Republicans are competing to shape the first draft of history after an epic battle over the debt, but the next chapter could be critical in deciding who wins the message war.Now that the threat of a crippling U.S. default has been averted, dueling narratives are in play -- and each side is hoping to gain traction with opinion-makers and voters as the 2012 election race looms...."This is the age of Twitter when contemporaneous history comes and goes in a nanosecond," said Douglas Brinkley, a political historian and author at Rice University in Houston. "Politicians have only a narrow window to make their case and try to make it stick."Feeling that sense of urgency, both sides have used everything from mainstream media and news websites to blog posts and Twitter messages to try to win over a public mostly fed up by weeks of acrimony in Washington....

Source: Killeen Daily News
8-6-11

Scholars study military history at symposium in central Texas

Area residents and scholars gathered Saturday to learn about military history and its place in today's society at the first Central Texas Military Symposium.More than 25 professors, retired military members and historians presented papers on and discussed topics such as military history in colleges, warfare in the 19th century and personalities in history.The program, which was held at Central Texas College, was sponsored by the University of North Texas Military History Center and the Texas A&M University-Central Texas Department of History and Political Science.Jerry W. Jones, assistant professor of history at TAMU-CT, said he and some UNT colleagues came up with the idea for the symposium in March."It's really something that happened through spontaneous combustion," Jones said, adding the symposium allowed attendees to learn from various scholars and experts.Michael Leggiere, deputy directory of the Military History Center, said the symposium not only taught attendees about military history but gave students an opportunity to gain professional experience....

Source: Hurriyet Daily News
8-7-11

Historian retraces the route of a 17th-century Ottoman traveler

Ottoman historian Caroline Finkel along with a group of riders, rode on horse for six weeks, re-tracing the steps of Evliya Çelebi, a 17th century Ottoman traveler, who traveled more than 250 cities in 40 years and wrote a 10-volume book.Almost everyone knows about Marco Polo, but how many people in the world are familiar with Evliya Çelebi, a 17th-century Ottoman traveler, sociologist, war reporter, historian , gourmet chef and writer who visited more than 250 cities over 40 years and wrote a 10-volume book?Such was the question that triggered Ottoman historian Caroline Finkel and her fellow travelers who mounted their horses and followed the route of the early stages of Evliya Çelebi’s pilgrimage to Mecca. The story about their travels is now published as a guidebook for those who want to follow in Çelebi’s footsteps.Finkel, who is also the author of “Osman’s Dream: History of the Ottoman Empire,” has been living in Turkey for more than 25 years and says that after sitting in libraries for so many years, she wanted to do something that touches on real life....

Source: Catholic Online
8-8-11

Historians work to preserve slave castle in Sierra Leone

Wealthy anonymous donors in the United States, a group of historians, archaeologists and concerned citizens are working to preserve what's left of the infamous slave castle on Bunce Island near Sierra Leone in Africa. The area is a crucial site in remembering America's slave trade in the 18th and 19th centuries. Philanthropists now want to build a museum that explores the island's role in the transatlantic slave trade.LOS ANGELES. CA (Catholic Online) - Bunce Island now is but a tiny scrap of land on West Africa's Atlantic coast. At one point, however it was the notorious site for hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children who were stolen from their homes and sold into slavery, many of them bound for the rice plantations of Georgia or South Carolina.Bunce Island, along with it's notorious "slave castle," is overgrown by jungle, and only gets a handful of tourists every year. The ruins of the castle is smothered by vines and eroded by the 13 feet of rain that fall every year in Sierra Leone."It's the most important historic site in Africa for the United States," Joseph Opala told the Christian Science Monitor. An American historian and the director of the U.S. branch of the Bunce Island Coalition, Opala's organization that is working to preserve the island....

Source: Reuters
7-29-11

Stanley Kutler lawsuit forces Nixon Watergate testimony released

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More than 36 years later, the secret grand jury testimony of President Richard Nixon in the Watergate scandal was ordered released on Friday by a federal judge because of its significance in American history.U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth granted a request by historian Stanley Kutler, who has written several books about Nixon and Watergate, and others to unseal the testimony given on June 23 and 24 in 1975.Nixon was questioned about the political scandal during the 1970s that resulted from the break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington....

Source: UC Berkeley News Center
8-8-11

Historian of science Roger Hahn dies at 79

Roger Hahn, emeritus professor of history at the University of California, Berkeley, and a leader in shaping the academic field of the history of science, died unexpectedly on May 30 in New York City. He was 79.Now widely recognized as a significant field of study, the history of science was an emerging discipline when Hahn, in 1953, was among the first students to graduate from Harvard College with majors in both science (physics) and history.  Through his studies in Paris at the École Pratique des Hautes Études, as a Fulbright Scholar, and then at Cornell University, where he earned his Ph.D., Hahn developed a keen interest in the relationship between science and society.  Moving away from the established approach of teaching scientific development as a series of isolated chronological discoveries, Hahn pursued an integrated view of the development of scientific ideas and institutions as reflective of the socio-political, philosophical, human and other dimensions of their times....

Source: HNN Staff
8-3-11

WTF Barack? Historians on the left hold Facebook roundtable on Obama

In a rather startling (and refreshing) use of social media by academics, Corey Robin, author of The Reactionary Mind: Conservatism from Edmund Burke to Sarah Palin, sparked off an impromptu Facebook roundtable between leading academic figures on the Left about President Obama.Robin, reacting to this piece by Glenn Greenwald on the debt deal—in which Greenwald argued that Obama actually wanted to slash government spending as opposed to being forced to by the GOP—asked his Facebook friends whether Obama is “politically inept” or if he’s “a true believer in neoliberal economics.” He got responses from Rick Perlstein, Jay Driskell, Adolph Reed, Thaddeus Russell, Joe Lowndes, and Tom Sugrue, among many others.Some highlights:Rick Perlstein‎: “The people hate partisan gridlock”; “I defeated partisan gridlock”; “The people will hail me as a hero, bearing me aloft on their shoulders.” The fellow’s not quite well….

Source: Clarksville Online
7-31-11

William R. Ferris, Rock Star of Southern Culture

William R. Ferris, keynote speaker for the Seventh Annual Clarksville Writers’ Conference authors’ reception and banquet, held at Clarksville Country Club on Thursday night, is as close to being a rock star as you can get in the world of Southern culture and its study.Although now the Senior Associate Director of the Center for the Study of the American South, professor of history, and adjunct professor in the Curriculum in Folklore at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he was formerly the chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) beginning in 1997 when he was appointed by President William Jefferson Clinton.'

Source: NJ.com
7-30-11

Rutgers professor to be appointed vice chairman of Obama's historic preservation advisory council

NEWARK — When political leaders, local reporters and visiting dignitaries are looking for a lesson in Newark history, Clement Price is the biggest man on campus.Now, another leader will lean on the Rutgers distinguished service history professor — for a national perspective.President Barack Obama announced Friday that Price, 65, will be appointed vice chairman for the president’s Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. Price, known to many as a walking encyclopedia of Newark’s past and present, said he plans to use his new post to shine a light on some of the more neglected corners of U.S. history....

Source: San Francisco Chronicle
8-1-11

Noted World War II Military Historian William L. McGee Selects National Museum of the Pacific War as Recipient of Research and Writing Files

Noted World War II military historian, William L. McGee, selected The National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg, Texas as the permanent World War II military archive for his research and writing files.The National Museum of the Pacific (formerly The Admiral Nimitz Museum) was chosen for its "dedication to perpetuating the memory of the Pacific Theater of WWII in order that the sacrifices of those who contributed to our victory may never be forgotten".McGee's archival materials represent two decades of research and writing for four books on WWII military history in the Pacific Theater.The Marine Corps League praised McGee's work with "Enough gripping drama, heroism, and heartbreak in McGee's almost encyclopedic work to supply Hollywood with material for a century."...

Source: WaPo
8-1-11

Historian charged in conspiracy to steal documents from archives to remain in federal custody

BALTIMORE — A presidential historian charged in a conspiracy to steal documents from archives in several states will remain in federal custody while authorities search his New York City apartment again.Barry Landau’s attorney says a hearing on Landau’s release will be postponed until Thursday while federal authorities return to his apartment....

Source: Ke Alaka'i
8-1-11

Richard Wells a former, professor of art, art history and American studies passes away

Richard DeLos Wells, 63, of Kahuku, a professor of art, art history and American studies at Brigham Young University-Hawaii, died in Kahuku on July 26. He was born in Idaho Falls, Idaho. He is survived by wife Wendy I., son Todd R., daughters Charmaine M. Wells-Gurr and Rebecca J. Wells, mother Bonnie L. Pedersen-Wells, brothers Larry and Gary, sister Maralyn Wells-Whitney and seven grandchildren. No services. No flowers. Donations suggested to pancreatic cancer research or the Hawaii Arts Council. Here are some things that former students and friends have said about Richard Wells gathered from facebook comments. Ed Gonzalez said, "He was a strength and a mentor to me in my studies at BYUH and words alone cannot convey the impact he made on me. My heartfelt condolences to all his family. Really a special, unique and amazing person who I will never forget"...

Source: Texas A&M
8-1-11

Current Enemies Caused Evolution Of U.S. War Vision, Contends Texas A&M Prof

COLLEGE STATION, Aug. 1, 2011 — The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have resulted in a radical shift in the U.S. Armed Forces’ concept of war, observes Texas A&M History Professor Brian McAllister Linn. Prior to these conflicts, both U.S. military and political leaders believed that technology would make wars rapid, decisive and cheap, he asserts.In an article published in the summer issue of Dædalus: Journal of the American Academy Arts and Sciences, Linn notes that the pre-Iraq military dialogue on war was filled with terms such as “effects-based operations” and “full spectrum dominance.”“Many believed that the next war was going to be an engineering problem,” Linn says. “You just had to figure out how much military force to apply and where to apply it. By hitting a few select points simultaneously, you could cause the collapse of the enemy’s ability to fight.”However, the flaw in this theory was that the U.S. Armed Forces assumed that defeating the enemy’s military forces was all that was needed to secure victory, and no one really thought about the aftermath, Linn continues....

Source: The Local (Sweden)
8-2-11

Russia caught "red-handed" in Wallenberg probe, says historian

A new book containing statements from a cellmate of missing Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg proves that Russian officials deliberately withheld information about the fate of the man credited with saving thousands of Jews from the Holocaust, researchers allege.

Source: Robert Townsend in AHA Today
7-27-11

Changing the Rules for Three AHA Prizes

Robert Townsend is deputy director of the AHA.Starting with next year’s competition, some rules for the AHA’s John A. Dunning Prize, Herbert Feis Award, and Roy Rosenzweig Prize for Innovation in Digital History are changing.In the case of the Dunning Prize (for United States history) the revisions mark only a very small change—eliminating language that invites “monographs in manuscript or in print” that are “published or completed.” This means that only published books will be considered for the prize beginning in 2012. The prize committee already receives well over 100 submissions each year, and the language was not in the original bequest, so the AHA Council readily agreed to the change.

Source: Jerusalem Post
7-27-11

Historians debate: Could more Jews have been saved?

Seventy years after the Holocaust, the issue of America's response to it, and whether more Jews could have been saved, still arouses passions.At a July 17 academic conference at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem featuring the institution's leading historians alongside scholars from the U.S.-based David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies, they locked horns over the question.The historian David S. Wyman, in his book that appeared 28 years ago – “The Abandonment of the Jews” – exposed a pattern of apathy and obstruction at the highest of levels of the U.S. Government and among the Jewish organizational establishment led by Rabbi Steven S. Wise. 

Source: NYT
7-26-11

With Digital Mapmaking, Scholars See History

Few battles in history have been more scrutinized than Gettysburg’s three blood-soaked days in July 1863, the turning point in the Civil War. Still, there were questions that all the diaries, official reports and correspondence couldn’t answer precisely. What, for example, could Gen. Robert E. Lee actually see when he issued a series of fateful orders that turned the tide against the Confederate Army nearly 150 years ago?

Source: Telegraph (UK)
7-21-11

Ian Mortimer: historian invented the British Empire [video]

Ian Mortimer talks about researching his books and what he's learned, including the power that historians have.

Source: NOLA.com
7-23-11

Basque historian says many Louisiana families have Basque origins, but don't know it

Few New Orleanians would identify themselves as of Basque heritage, but according to one of them, that's only because they're unaware of their families' origins a few centuries ago.From Abadie and Alciatore to Yzaguirre and Zatarain, says Michel-Antoine Goitia-Nicolas, dozens of longtime local families can trace their origins back to the Basque region that straddles the border between France and Spain.Most of them, he says, are aware only that their ancestors emigrated from France or Spain, not of their exact ethnic background.But, he says, whether Barbe or Begue, Chachere or Charbonnet, Gayarre or Goyeneche, Lacombe or Lemoyne, Mandeville or Marigny, Sapir or Soraparu -- all have Basque origins.Goitia-Nicolas, 46, who was born in Canada and has lived in New Orleans since 1984, founded a nonprofit group, the Louisiana Basque-American Society and Cultural Organization, or LABASCO, in 2003 to promote awareness of the state's Basque heritage....