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 Budapest Times
8-31-09
The nature of thinking is one of the core elements of this autobiographical memoir by Hungarian-American historian John Lukacs, or ‘autohistory’, as he calls it. That’s only one of the elements, but it’s a key one, as demonstrated by Lukacs putting his summarised views about history and historiography at the beginning of the book. Summarising a summary, Lukacs believes strongly in the interrelation between the historian and history, almost to the point of saying that without the historian there
Source: courant.com (Hartford Courant)
8-30-09
'They fear us because we have no fear." So go the words to the song that has become the anthem of the Honduran resistance.
Like many Hondurans determined to restore democracy and constitutional order, Darío A. Euraque has no fear of the politicos and generals who on June 28 kidnapped his country's democratically elected president at gunpoint and flew him into exile, imposing themselves as rulers of the land and brutally repressing peaceful protest with clubs, tear gas and bulle
Source: Newsweek
8-29-09
[Jon Meacham is the Editor of Newsweek. Meacham’s latest book, American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House, won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for biography or autobiography.]
The editor of The New York Times Book Review and the paper's"Week in Review" section, Sam Tanenhaus is the biographer of Whittaker Chambers and is at work on the life of William F. Buckley Jr. In a new, short book, The Death of Conservatism, he argues that the right needs to find its footing for the good of the
Source: AHA website
8-28-09
The American Historical Association has recently received several inquiries from members and others about its upcoming annual meeting in San Diego, which will be co-headquartered at the Manchester Grand Hyatt and the San Diego Marriott hotels. Most inquiries have been prompted by a recent letter to history departments from San Diego Unite Here Local 30. This message calls for a boycott of the Manchester Grand Hyatt because its owner Douglas Manchester supported Proposition
Source: brisbanetimes.com.au
8-29-09
The man who revealed the human stories behind brutal World War II battles in Europe says the protagonists in the battle for the Pacific are still too raw for him to tackle a similar book.
British historian Antony Beevor has written a series of books, most notably Stalingrad and Berlin, which sold more than four million copies and covered the bitter fighting on the Eastern Front between the Soviet forces of Stalin and the Nazi troops of Hitler.
But despite his succes
Source: wbur.org (NPR Boston)
8-28-09
BOSTON — For historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, the death of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy marks more than the passing of an era. The Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer has also been a long-time Kennedy friend.
Goodwin spoke to us live from the John F. Kennedy Library in Dorchester on Friday morning, where she was helping keep vigil over the flag-draped casket of the late senator.Bob Oakes: I’m wondering if you might share with us what Ted Kennedy has meant to you in yo
Source: The Times of India
8-28-09
BANGALORE: Often people are not aware of historians' research on several subjects and places. A new set of initiatives by The Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) aims to change that.
With a view to make such research accessible to non-specialists and history consciousness a part of popular culture, ICHR has initiated several new programmes. The autonomous organization plans to celebrate the 500th anniversary of Sri Krishnadevaraya of the Vijayanagara empire by holding an e
Source: The Harvard Crimson
8-28-09
Art historian Melissa McCormick received tenure from the East Asian Languages and Civilizations department this July, becoming a professor of Japanese art and culture.
Her research on the Tale of Genji, a seminal Japanese novel composed by a woman over 1000 years ago, and her work on the relationship between painting and literature in pre-modern Japan have helped bring her to the forefront of her field...
... McCormick said she intends to do further research on women’s
Source: American Thinker
8-28-09
[Stephen Schwartz is executive director of the Center for Islamic Pluralism. This article was sponsored by Campus Watch, a project of the Middle East Forum.]
In an important development for the fight against extremist Islam in the West, the Dutch city of Rotterdam and Erasmus University Rotterdam have dismissed Tariq Ramadan, the Swiss-born Islamist academic, from his two local jobs.
Born in Switzerland, Ramadan is the grandson of Hassan al-Banna, founder of the radical
Source: The Wall Street Journal
8-28-09
In a vault beneath the British Library here, Jeremy Leighton John grapples with a formidable challenge in digital life. Dr. John, the library's first curator of eManuscripts, is working on ways to archive the deluge of computer data swamping scientists so that future generations can authenticate today's discoveries and better understand the people who made them.
His task is only getting harder. Scientists who collaborate via email, Google, YouTube, Flickr and Facebook are leaving fe
Source: theage.com.au
8-26-09
Biographer Brian Matthews was shocked as he read through Manning Clark's diaries and discovered the private anguish and ''multiplying betrayals'' behind the public mask.
The eminent historian and his wife, Dymphna, were ''a golden couple'' who appeared to have a very strong marriage, the author of Manning Clark said at yesterday's Melbourne Writers Festival...
... Clark's epic A History of Australia often reflected his personal life, Matthews said. He looked for key fig
Source: The Wall Street Journal (blog)
8-21-09
[Charles Geisst is a professor of finance at Manhattan College. His new book, “Collateral Damaged: The Marketing of Consumer Debt to America,” was recently published by Bloomberg Press.]
Wall Street without the Dow?It seems to be a possibility. We know Dow Jones & Co Inc. has been sounding out potential buyers for the company’s stock-market indexing business. The Journal’s story contains this tantalizing bit:"A new owner might have the option to renam
Source: MRC Newsbusters (Conservative Media Watchdog)
8-26-09
During the 2:00AM ET hour of CBS’s Up to the Minute on Wednesday, shortly after news broke of Senator Ted Kenney’s death, historian Douglas Brinkley exclaimed the Massachusetts Democrat was: "...going to be a – a martyr because of all that he’s done and he very well might help, in death, Obama get his health care plan."
Fill-in anchor Michelle Gielan discussed Kennedy’s legacy with Brinkley, soon turning to the current debate over health care reform: "And one of those
Source: bath.co.uk
8-26-09
Historian Martyn Whittock is working on A Brief History of the Third Reich when I call, trying to distill all that has been written about this period of history into a one-stop shop easily digestible account.
But he is more than happy to stop writing to discuss a topic closer to his heart – medieval history – and his latest book, A Brief History of Life in the Middle Ages, which has just been published by Constable & Robinson.
It is his 37th book to be published, th
Source: UPI.com
8-26-09
A University of California anthropologist says her study of 19th-century silver prospectors sheds light on the recent bubble in the U.S. housing market.
Susan Glover, who recently received a Ph.D. from University of California-Davis, in a report published in the journal Human Ecology, looked at the relationship between what was reported in contemporary local newspapers and the strategy used by prospectors in Gothic, Colo. She found news reports tended to overstate what prospectors c
Source: Hartford Courant
8-16-09
To say that Louis P. Masur is a fan of Bruce Springsteen is just about the epitome of understatement.
Masur, the William R. Kenan Jr. professor of American institutions and values at Trinity College, is so taken with Springsteen's work that he has merged his academic research with his favorite artist. The result is Masur's latest book, "Runaway Dream: 'Born to Run' and Bruce Springsteen's American Vision" (Bloomsbury Press, $23), set for publication Sept. 1.
It's an
Source: pnj.com
8-23-09
1 More than 30 years after he served as an Army helicopter pilot over the forests of Vietnam, Charles "Doc" Merkel, 64, is going on another combat deployment.
But much has changed in the last 30 years.
Merkel is a civilian employee of the Air Force now--he retired as a major from active-duty after serving 20 years--and he's no longer a helicopter pilot. He's a historian.
As historian for the 53rd Wing at Eglin Air Force Base, Merkel is responsible
Source: Times (London)
8-23-09
One of them is a “poseur”. The other is “patronising”. One suffers from “verbal diarrhoea”. The other is a “whiner”.
A bust-up on the set of High School Musical 4 perhaps? A scrap behind the catwalk at a Milan fashion show? No. Those accusations were slung round in an increasingly bitter public row between two of the world’s most distinguished commentators on global finance and economics, professors Paul Krugman and Niall Ferguson, of Princeton and Harvard, respectively.
Source: AHA Blog
8-23-09
[HNN: Arnita Jones, the executive director of the AHA plans to retire after next summer. She has served 21 years in the same job, first at the OAH and then at the AHA. This week the AHA posted a job announcement for her replacement.]
AHA: Applications Are Invited for the Position of Executive Director
The American Historical Association invites applications for the post of executive director, the Association’s chief executive position, responsible to the elected AHA Council. Th
Source: Inquirer.net
8-21-09
Today, Aug. 21, a nationwide non-working holiday, will provide Filipinos time to remember Ninoy Aquino and how this man’s life and death set off a chain of events that made history
. We will also remember Ninoy today in the context of the life and death of his widow Cory Aquino who also began another chain of events that made history. Now that there are many moves to proclaim Cory a national hero, to begin the process of canonization, to at least have her face adorn the P500 bill alongsid
