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: The Other Russia
11-7-09
A criminal case against a historian who researched repressed German settlers in the Arkhangelsk region of Russia is now being transferred to the investigative committee of the general prosecutor’s office, according to a statement by authorities.
The case against Professor Mikhail Suprun and Police Colonel Aleksandr Dudarev had elicited a strong public outcry, prompting the investigation. According to the general prosecutor’s office (SKP), Suprun received a grant in 2007 from the Ger
Source: The Star
11-7-09
OTTAWA–Sean Maloney has been to Afghanistan eight times, experienced two attacks by improvised explosive device and survived at least five attempts on his life.
"I've been shot at, rocketed, mortared, all of it. My view always was that I needed to understand these things so I could do the job properly," he says.
Maloney is not a soldier, but he is on a mission. When he ventures outside the relative safety of Kandahar Airfield, there is a Canadian flag on one a
Source: WSJ
11-7-09
[Mr. Kaminski is a member of the Journal's editorial board.]
'Fantastyczne!"
That's the word Adam Michnik, the man who played one of the starring roles in bringing the Cold War to an end, exclaims in Polish as he thinks back over the two decades since the Berlin Wall fell that Nov. 9 evening. He repeats it in rapid fire, each time flawlessly, with no hint of his trademark stutter.
"Fantastic! Fantastic! Poland has not had such 20 years in its last
Source: SSRC
11-4-09
November 13-14, 2009 (Friday and Saturday)
34th Annual Social Science History Association Meeting, Long Beach, CA, 12-15 November 2009, on the Queen Mary. Conference Theme: “Agency and Action”
The 2009 SSHA conference features a presidential panel series of 4 panels and over 20 speakers devoted to Charles Tilly’s and Louise Tilly’s work and legacy. The conference also features the Tilly Fund’s inaugural presentation of the Charles and Louise Tilly Prize for the Best Gra
Source: Prague Daily Monitor
11-5-09
Czech President Vaclav Klaus highlighted the issue of the post-war Benes decrees in a discussion on the EU reform Lisbon treaty only because he is more and more ending up in isolation, Czech historian Ondrej Matejka said in Vienna on Wednesday, the APA Austrian agency reports Thursday.
"He (Klaus) put the dirtiest card he had available on the table to re-gain support of the Czech public," APA quotes Matejka, from the Antikomplex NGO, as saying in a debate at the Vienna Uni
Source: Cape Cod Day (MA)
11-5-09
BREWSTER —
There are very few retired Chinese human rights activists in our vicinity, which makes 90-year-old Gu Chang-Sheng’s new memoir all the more interesting. He is the author of several histories and biographies in Chinese, but “Awaken: Memoirs of a Chinese Historian” is his first book in English. Half history of twentieth century China, and half personal journey, it’s a book as confounding as it is gripping.
Gu’s story begins and ends with the author’s censorship
Source: Bueno Aires Herald
11-6-09
Argentine historian Félix Luna died today at the age of 84, losing a battle to a long illness, his family reported.
Luna, also a writer and university professor, was born in Buenos Aires to a family originally from La Rioja Province, in 1925. A grandfather had founded the La Rioja chapter of the newly-established centrist Radical Civic Union (UCR) in 1892, and an uncle, Pelagio Luna, had been Vice President of Argentina for President Hipólito Yrigoyen, between 1916 and 1919.
Source: NewLeader.com
11-5-09
Burns, an assistant history professor at the University of Virginia, has just published "Goddess of the Market: Ayn Rand and the American Right," a peer-reviewed study of the controversial author/philosopher/atheist/libertarian.
"So much of what was written about her was either pro or con and written by people who had known her," Burns said. "There was no academic book on this important topic."
As a graduate student in history at the Univer
Source: Cape Coral Daily Breeze
11-5-09
A Florida Gulf Coast University professor and wartime historian discussed the war in Afghanistan and Iraq at the Rotary Club of Cape Coral's weekly meeting Wednesday.
Guest speaker Dr. Peter Bergerson has been an educator for 42 years. Before becoming a professor at FGCU eight years ago, he taught at Southwest Missouri State University for 34 years.
Paul Sanborn, Rotary Club speaker chairman, said he chose Bergerson because of his resume. He added that Bergerson is a wa
Source: Ralph Luker at HNN blog, Cliopatria
11-4-09
A year after his election, historians assess President Obama: Walter Isaacson, Michael Kazin, Rick Perlstein,
Source: University of Guelph
11-3-09
When Eglantyne Jebb started Save the Children, the world's first international child-welfare agency in 1919, she inspired a generation of women to use their skills and minds to make a difference as volunteers.
Three years later, Jebb drafted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, a series of children's rights proclamations that eventually evolved into the famous United Nations Rights of the Child that were adopted in 1959.
Yet history has largely overlooked this im
Source: The Grio
11-4-09
Eric Foner is DeWitt Clinton professor of history at Columbia University. He sat down with msnbc.com's Cynthia Joyce to discuss Obama's place in history one year in to his presidency. Q: As a close observer of history, were you personally surprised by the outcome of the 2008 election?Eric Foner: I wasn't surprised. I couldn't imagine anyone voting Republican after eight years of Bush. I wrote an article in the
Source: This is South Devon
11-4-09
A PROMINENT memorial in the heart of Totnes which honours a famous explorer of Australia appears to be disappearing down under itself.
The Wills Memorial near to the Brutus Bridge was set up to honour the ill-fated explorer of Australia John Wills but it is shrinking, according to one historian.
Over the last century the 22ft high granite monument which sits on The Plains has shrunk by around 18 inches.
It also appears to have begun to lean a couple of inch
Source: Bi-College News
11-4-09
On Thursday night Bryn Mawr welcomed Dr. Edward Luttwack, a military historian and strategist, to campus.
In addition to teaching, Luttwack has written numerous books including, "Strategy: The Logic of War and Peace" (1987, rev. ed. 2002), and "Coup d’etat: A Practical Handbook" (1968; rev. ed. 1979). His newest book, "The Grand Strategy of the Byzantine Empire," was the main focus of Thursday night’s lecture, “Attila the Hun and Roman Strategy: A Compa
Source: WTRF Channel 7
11-3-09
WEIRTON -- A $2,500 grant will help a Pittsburgh historian research the former summer home of steel magnate E.T. Weir.
Historian Carol Peterson will prepare a historical profile of the property and make suggestions of possible uses, as well as identify any needed improvements.
The business development corporation won the grant for the property, which is now owned by Williams Country Club.
Source: Truthdig
11-4-09
George McGovern has some advice for President Barack Obama: Get U.S. troops out of Afghanistan.
“I’m convinced that war is going to turn sour. I’m convinced we’re not going to prevail there,” McGovern, the 1972 Democratic presidential nominee, said Sunday at a Truthdig event in West Los Angeles.
The former U.S. senator from South Dakota noted that “some of the best reporters over there are telling us that the Taliban are getting stronger and we’re getting weaker in the
Source: The Daily News (NY)
11-3-09
Historians, museums, historical societies and related organizations are in the process of creating a countywide federation, the Genesee County Human Service Committee was told Monday.
"We're going to try to pool in our resources. It's trying to do more with what we've got," County Historian Susan Conklin said.
Conklin discussed the new organization, which has yet to be named, while giving an update on her department to the Human Service Committee.
Source: Lee White at the website of the National Coalition for History (NCH)
10-30-09
Related Links
Lee White: How the National Park Service did
Lee White: How Smithsonian did
Lee White: How Library of Congress did
Source: LA Times
10-30-09
Reporting from Tokyo and Seoul - Several politicians in South Korea and Japan have begun exploring the possibility of a joint history textbook between their nations and China. But given the lingering differences over issues ranging from past wars to current territorial claims, the proposal faces numerous hurdles...
... "It is a leap that Japan started talking about this issue publicly," said Yang Mi-gang, who worked on a privately published Korea-Japan-China history book
Source: AHA Blog--what's in the October issue of the AHR
10-28-09
The second forum in this issue looks back upon a notable achievement in the writing of recent American history, America during the King Years, by Taylor Branch. The final volume of this trilogy was published in 2007. Three historians examine Branch’s contribution from different perspectives. In “Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Meaning of the 1960s,” Michael Kazin takes an appreciative look at the volumes’ interpretation of that turbulent decade, but also offers some criticism of Branch’s narrati
