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: BBC News
3-21-10
Chancellor Alistair Darling is due to deliver his Budget on Wednesday 24 March, but why does he bother?
It is less than four months since he made his pre-Budget report, so we have a good idea of what he is planning to do with taxation this year, and chief secretary to the Treasury Liam Byrne said last week that taxes would not have to go up, although there has been some backtracking since that statement was made....
For an example of an occasion on which the Finance Bil
Source: NYT
3-22-10
Despite King George’s boast that “once these rebels have felt a smart blow, they will submit,” back-channel messages from British generals and diplomatic officials in America during the Revolutionary War, some of them previously unpublished, turn out to have been decidedly more pessimistic.
As early as June 1775, after the Battle of Bunker Hill — which the Redcoats technically won — Gen. John Burgoyne pronounced British military prospects in America “gloomy” in what he called “a cri
Source: Dave Stone at the Russian Front
3-22-10
Head of Rosarkhiv Andrei Artizov has announced plans to create an enormous new archive to unite all Russian materials relating to the Second World War. Slated for completion by the 70th anniversary of victory, i.e. 2015, the new collection will include 13 million files.
The only English-language coverage I found was from Voice of Russia, and the translation isn’t entirely correct. 13 million files in the Russian original becomes 13 billion documents in English, for example.
Source: Guardian (UK)
3-21-10
A leading British historian has called for a Jamie Oliver-style campaign to purge schools of what he calls "junk history".
Niall Ferguson, who teaches at Harvard and presented a Channel 4 series on the world's financial history, has launched a polemical attack on the subject's "decline in British schools", arguing that the discipline is badly taught and undervalued. He says standards are at an all-time low in the classroom and the subject should be compulsory at
Source: NYT
3-23-10
Since the founding of their church 131 years ago, Christian Scientists have been taught to avoid doctors at all cost. It is a conviction rooted so deeply in church dogma that dozens of members have gone to jail rather than surrender an ailing person to what they see as the quackery of medical science.
But faced with dwindling membership and blows to their church’s reputation caused by its intransigence concerning medical treatment, even for children with grave illnesses, Christian S
Source: St. Petersburg Times
3-22-10
Host Bob Schieffer noted that milestone during the March 22, 2010, edition of CBS' Face the Nation. "March 19th was the seventh anniversary of the Iraq invasion, which began our longest war," he said.
We wondered if it really has been America's longest war....
It's worth noting that answering this question is more art than science. James Bradford, a Texas A&M historian, points out that the American Revolution may have begun with the Declaration of In
Source: LA Times
3-23-10
In the tense hours Sunday leading up to the House vote on a historic healthcare bill, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi took time to call the former president of Notre Dame, Father Theodore Hesburgh.
The House Democrats' leader was not seeking spiritual guidance. What she wanted was Hesburgh to help lock up the vote of Rep. Joe Donnelly, a Democrat from South Bend, Ind., who was wavering over the abortion issue.
Donnelly ultimately pressed the "yes" button late Sunda
Source: CS Monitor
3-22-10
Republican lawmakers and activists had no trouble segueing to their new mantra following the passage of health care reform: “Repeal it.”...
“You have a window where they can try to raise doubts about what’s about to happen,” says Julian Zelizer, a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University in New Jersey....
“No one would have imagined the conservatives would be so energized a year after 2008,” says Mr. Zelizer. “Now we’re talking about a possible Re
Source: WaPo
3-21-10
Has Karl Rove played fast and loose with historical fact in his new memoir"Courage and Consequence"? History will decide. But recollections invariably differ -- perhaps never more so than in political memoirs. And Rove's isn't the first to spark debate over what is the true tide in the affairs of men. In that spirit, we asked a variety of people to name the least accurate political memoirs ever written....JAMES K. GALBRAITH, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin and
Source: WaPo
3-21-10
As the final round of the battle over health-care reform begins Sunday, President Obama and the Democrats are in reach of a historic legislative achievement that has eluded presidents dating back a century. The question is at what cost. By almost any measure, enactment of comprehensive health-care legislation would rank as one of the most significant pieces of social welfare legislation in the country's history, a goal set as far back as the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt and pursued since by many other presidents. But unlike Social Security or Medicare, Obama's health-care bill would pass over the Republican Party's unanimous opposition. Even Republicans agree on the magnitude of what Obama could pull off, while disagreeing on the substance of the legislation. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) said: "Obviously, he will have achieved as president something nobody else has done. So in that sense, it's historic." But he added, "It doesn't end the health-care debate -- it just changes it. And if it does pass, it would be a historic mistake."...
Source: NYT
3-19-10
The social studies curriculum recently approved by the Texas Board of Education, which will put a conservative stamp on textbooks, was received less as a pedagogical document than as the latest provocation in America’s seemingly endless culture wars.
“Why Is Texas Afraid of Thomas Jefferson?” the History News Network asked, referring to the board’s recommendation that Jefferson, who coined the expression “separation of church and state,” be struck from the list of world thinkers who
Source: The Atlantic
3-16-10
[Jeffrey Goldberg is a national correspondent for The Atlantic. Author of the book Prisoners: A Story of Friendship and Terror, he has reported from the Middle East and Africa.]Juan Cole writes of me:People like Goldberg never tell us what they expect to happen to the Palestinians in the near and medium future. They don't seem to understand that the status quo is untenable. They are like militant ostriches, hiding their heads in the sand while lashing out with their
Source: WaPo
3-18-10
Historians criticized proposed revisions to the Texas social studies curriculum Tuesday, saying that many of the changes are historically inaccurate and that they would affect textbooks and classrooms far beyond the state's borders....
"The books that are altered to fit the standards become the best-selling books, and therefore within the next two years they'll end up in other classrooms," said Fritz Fischer, chairman of the National Council for History Education, a group
Source: Christianity Today
3-11-10
The study of religion is too important to be left in the hands of believers.
So claims David A. Hollinger, a professor of American history at the University of California at Berkeley, in his response to religion emerging as the hottest topic of study among members of the American Historical Association (AHA).
Perhaps surprisingly, leading evangelical scholars voiced general agreement with his basic premise.
"The practice of history is best served by m
Source: NYT
3-16-10
Whether it’s correctly called a movement, a backlash or political theater, state declarations of their rights — or in some cases denunciations of federal authority, amounting to the same thing — are on a roll.
In Utah, a bill by Representative Carl Wimmer, a Republican, would require the state to sign off on any federal health reform.
Gov. Mike Rounds of South Dakota, a Republican, signed a bill into law on Friday declaring that the federal regulation of firearms is inv
Source: Inside Higher Ed
3-17-10
Wendy Doniger, a professor of the history of religion at the University of Chicago, has drawn the ire of some Hindus who regard her scholarship as sacrilegious. During a lecture in London in 2003, someone in the audience threw an egg at Doniger to express disagreement with her interpretation of a passage in the Ramayana, a sacred epic.
The egg did not connect. But it proved that she had her audience’s attention. So does the response to her book The Hindus: An Alternative History, pu
Source: Lee White at the National Coalition for History
3-17-10
National History Day (NHD) is asking for your help to gain support from members of Congress for a $1 million National History Day appropriation that will help state programs grow and improve. NHD NEEDS YOUR HELP TODAY! We have two more days left and it is critical that you pick up the phone to contact your members of Congress and ask them to sign the NHD “Dear Colleague” letter.
Source: The Daily Pennsylvanian
3-16-10
On Monday night, nine College seniors in the final stages of writing their honors theses gathered on the third floor of Van Pelt Library. They wanted answers.
The seniors are part of a 17-person History honors thesis class that is leading a charge to protest the tenure denial of their thesis seminar advisor, Ronald Granieri.
An assistant professor of modern European history, Granieri was recently denied tenure in his second and last chance to apply for the standing. He
Source: Times Online (UK)
3-16-10
[Oliver Kamm is a leader writer and columnist at The Times. He was previously an investment banker and co-founder of an asset management firm.]
I'm deliberately not providing a link for the article that I'm criticising in this post. The reason is that the article is by David Irving, who a court of law has determined is a Holocaust denier. But you can take my word for it that the material I'm referring to can be found on Irving's website.
I've recently written about Irv
Source: Allentown Morning Call
3-14-10
A simple question from his 6-year-old granddaughter inspired Easton historian Donald L. Miller to start writing about World War II.
While walking with his granddaughter, they came across a World War II monument. Miller told her about his father, who had served in World War II. The girl asked if he was going to write about it....
Miller, a Lafayette College history professor, has since written three books on the history of World War II. That led him to his latest projec
