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.
12-31-69
Source:Canadian Press (2-11-09)Two authors of books on Abraham Lincoln's military leadership have been named winners of the Lincoln Prize and will share the $50,000 cash award, organizers announced Thursday, the 200th anniversary of the president's birth.James McPherson, best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning Civil War history,"The Battle
Source: Victor Davis Hanson at Pajamasmedia.com
2-17-09
Things seemed pretty bad as I counted over 100 ‘For Sale” signs in a mere five mile stretch. I collated my own status. The equity on the farm is way down. I figure I lost about the last 5 years of 401(k) contributions— omnis effusus labor as Virgil says of Orpheus in the Georgics or as my favorite singer Mark Knopfler sings: “And if it’s all for nothing. All the road running it’s been in vain.” The Tribune Media outlet for whom I write a weekly syndicated column has declared bankruptcy, and some
Source: Chronicle of Higher Ed
2-18-09
A fledgling group calling itself the U.S. Campaign for the Academic & Cultural Boycott of Israel now lists 193 faculty members and several student groups at American colleges as endorsing its call for a boycott.
David Lloyd, a professor of English at the University of Southern California who serves as a spokesman for the group, said its supporters were being urged to encourage colleges to divest from companies that provide weapons and weapons systems to the Israeli military. “Th
Source: Stanford News Service
2-18-09
Caroline Walker Bynum, a professor of European medieval history at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, will be at Stanford Feb. 23-26 as the biennial Raymond Fred West Memorial Lecturer.
Carolyn Walker Bynum, who has been called a historian of feminist spirituality, will give two lectures and two seminars on Christian materiality. All events will be held at the Humanities Center.
The lectures are: "Weeping Statues and Bleeding Bread: Miracles in the Late
Source: Editorial in the WaPo
2-18-09
THE NEWS stories about Alison Des Forges, who died Thursday in the crash of a Colgan Air plane near Buffalo, naturally focused on her role in trying to prevent, and then to document, the genocide of some 800,000 Tutsis by Hutus in Rwanda in 1994. She was fearless and relentless in that heartbreaking role. But, as a friend of Ms. Des Forges's reminded us shortly after her death at age 66, she was also relentless in calling attention to human rights violations by Tutsis when they, in their turn, b
Source: NYT
2-13-09
Alison L. Des Forges, a human rights activist and historian who tried to call the world’s attention to the looming genocide in Rwanda in 1994 and who later wrote what is considered the definitive account of the eventual slaughter of more than 500,000 Rwandans, was among the passengers killed Thursday when Continental Airlines Flight 3407 crashed near Buffalo. She was 66 and lived in Buffalo.
Her death was confirmed by Human Rights Watch, the New York-based advocacy group; Dr. Des Fo
Source: http://www.scoop44.com
2-17-09
One day before spending Martin Luther King Jr. day with the soon-to-be President Barrack Obama, nationally esteemed scholar and author Dr. Cornell West critiqued multiple aspects of Obama’s policy.
West gave the keynote address at a two-day conference hosted by Ohio University honoring 100th birthday of Mahmoud Mahamed Taha, a Sudanese Muslim regarded as the founder of progressive Islam.
He challenged Obama to speak out about foreign conflict, and to address the Israeli-Pales
Source: Philadelphia Bulletin
2-17-09
Herbert Hoover was a pariah to Democrats. George H.W. Bush’s greatest shortcoming was his ambition. John Tyler’s presidency was marked by tumult and trauma.
These and more morsels of information were shared by three historians during a panel discussion on the administrations of Mr. Hoover, Mr. Bush and Mr. Tyler at the National Constitution Center on Presidents’ Day last night.
Commemorating “The American Presidents” book series, Gary May, William Leuchtenburg and Tim N
Source: Network of Concerned Historians
2-17-09
On 6 February 1998, Tohti Tunyaz (pen name: Tohti Muzart) (1959–), an Uighur historian and writer, was detained and on 1 April 1998, he was arrested in Urumqi, Xinjiang (East Turkestan’s name since 1955), when returning to China to visit his relatives, collect source materials, and do research. Tohti was born in Kashgar and graduated from the Central Institute of Nationalities history department, Beijing (1984). Later, he was assigned to work for the Standing Committee of the China National Peop
Source: Mary Madigan at Frontpagemag.com
2-17-09
[Mary Madigan, publisher of the Exit Zero blog, wrote this article for Campus Watch, a project of the Middle East Forum.]
I expected Columbia's
Source: Gary Fouse at Frontpagemag.com
2-16-09
[Gary Fouse is an adjunct teacher at UC Irvine. He spent 3 years in the US Military from 1966-68 as a military policeman in Erlangen, Germany. He was a US Customs Agent from 1970-73, and a DEA agent from 1973-1995. Gary blogs at http://www.garyfouse.blogspot.com. He wrote this article for Campus Watch, a project of the Middle East Forum
Source: Time Magazine
2-16-09
Last year's gripping campaign and the wave of popularity behind Barack Obama have focused tremendous attention on the White House and the presidency. As the country marks Presidents Day, TIME spoke with author and historian Richard Norton Smith about America's "schizoid" relationship with its President, the lofty expectations for Obama and the way history's verdicts can shift over time.
[QUESTION] What interests you as a historian about our new President?
[A
Source: Cynthia Haven at the website of the Stanford News Service
1-30-09
Everyone's heard it: "Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it." Despite Santayana's well-worn bromide, however, history is no amulet against repetition, according to Norman Naimark, the Robert and Florence McDonnell Professor of Eastern European Studies.
Naimark gave his talk, "Passing the Torch: Thoughts about History, Teaching, and Mentorship," on Jan. 29 for the Award-Winning Teachers on Teaching series sponsored by the Center for Teaching
Source: Letter dated Feb. 11-2009 (distributed through IraqiCrisis email)
2-11-09
Mr. Nouri al Maliki, Prime Minister of Iraq
Mr. Mufeed al Jazairi, Head of Cultural Committee, Iraqi Parliament
Mr. Qahtan al Juburi, Minister of Tourism
Mr. Qais Husain Rashid, Acting Chairman of the State Board of Antiquities and
Heritage
Dear Sirs,
We write to you with serious concern about the preservation of the cultural
heritage of our country.
As you know, the 2003 war resulted in extensive damage to the museums and
historical sites of Iraq.
We ar
Source: http://www.nixonlibraryfoundation.org
2-10-09
John H. Taylor, President Nixon's former chief of staff and executive director of the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace Foundation since 1990, is leaving his Foundation position on Feb. 15 to accept the call of the Episcopal Bishop of Los Angeles, J. Jon Bruno, to serve full time as vicar, or priest in charge, of St. John Chrysostom Episcopal Church and School in Rancho Santa Margarita, California.
Taylor announced his resignation on Jan. 5 to a group of Foundation Board
Source: Secrecy News, written by Steven Aftergood, is published by the Federation of American Scientists
2-12-09
A management crisis in the State Department Office of the Historian threatens the future of the official “Foreign Relations of the United States” (FRUS) series that documents the history of U.S. foreign policy, according to a newly disclosed report on the situation.“We find that the current working atmosphere in the HO [Historian's Office] and between the HO and the HAC [Historical Advisory Committee] poses real threats to the high scholarly quality of the FRUS se
Source: Allan J. Lichtman in the OAH Newsletter
2-1-09
Like E. H. Carr, I believe that history is as much about the future as about the past. This belief has guided my rather unorthodox forty-year career as a historian and led me to become an unofficial stand-in for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama in mock presidential debates this past September in Russia. I took part in twelve such debates, sponsored by the United States Department of State, during a hectic ten-day period in four Russian cities—Moscow, Ryazan, St. Petersburg, and Yek
Source: Jane Kamensky and Jill Lepore in the OAH Newsletter
2-1-09
What happens when historians write fiction? We decided to find out. Blindspot, our novel, is set in 1764, in Boston, a city reeling from the economic downturn following the French and Indian War, and beginning to simmer with the fires of liberty. The book tells the story of Stewart Jameson, a Scottish portrait painter fleeing debtor’s prison, and Fanny Easton, the fallen daughter of one of Boston’s richest merchants, who poses as a boy to gain a situation as Jameson’s apprentice. Their lives tak
Source: CNN
2-12-09
... In conjunction with the bicentennial of his birth, a slew of new books on the 16th U.S. president have appeared. Among the best-reviewed is the biography "A. Lincoln" (Random House) by historian Ronald C. White Jr., who drew on new research for his portrait.
CNN talked with White about Lincoln's impact on the country, President Obama's affinity for him and what lessons Lincoln has to offer Americans of today. The following is an edited version of White's comments:
Source: Chicago Tribune
2-8-09
As Barack Obama's historic presidential campaign unfolded last year, a certain official at the Smithsonian Institution was holding his breath with particular intensity. The official was Lonnie Bunch, founding director of the Smithsonian's planned National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC), in Washington, D.C. n Bunch and his staff realized how having an African-American in the White House for the first time could energize the envisioned museum's startup efforts. With Obama'
