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: PRNewswire
6-24-07
Congressman John Lewis and Dr. James M. McPherson have been named the 2007 recipients of Ford's Theatre Lincoln Medals. Ford's Theatre Lincoln Medals were bestowed on Congressman Lewis and Dr. McPherson by Nicholas D. Chabraja, Vice Chair of the Ford's Theatre Society Board of Trustees and one of the 2005 winners, at the Ford's Theatre annual benefit gala held on Sunday, June 24, 2007.
Given by Ford's Theatre, the site of one of the most significant events in American history, the F
Source: Kyodo News
6-25-07
When it comes to the debate about World War II "comfort women," Australia has "chosen to ignore" evidence of Japanese military brothels that housed up to 3,000 Japanese and Korean women in the town of Rabaul on the island of New Guinea, an Australian historian claims.
Instead of highlighting the abuses suffered by women in Rabaul, located in what was then mandated Australian territory, Australia's politicians and its media have focused on Jan Ruff O'Hearne, a Dut
Source: The Age
6-26-07
HISTORIAN Geoffrey Blainey will sit on a panel of commentators who will work out the best way to teach Australian history to year 9 and 10 students.
Professor Blainey — the conservative heavyweight who in 1993 coined the phrase "black armband view of history" to describe the portrayal of European colonisation as shameful — will be joined by Sydney Institute director Gerard Henderson, NSW Board of Studies inspector Jennifer Lawless and Australian National University senior
Source: Chronicle of Higher Education
6-29-07
The Finnish Academy of Science and Letters expects its humanities division to be transformed by an unexpected gift from a historian who lived through quite a bit of history himself.
When Eino Jutikkala, a longtime member of the academy, died last year, at the age of 99, he bequeathed the academy about $29.4-million, the result of some very patient investing. The gift is believed to be the largest an individual has ever given to the humanities in Finland, said Matti Saarnisto, the ac
Source: http://www.marionstar.com
6-26-07
MARION - When it comes to President Warren G. Harding's achievements compared to other presidents, a British scholar is asking other historians to cut the Marion native some slack.
Niall Palmer, who wrote "The New Hampshire Primary and the American Electoral Process" and "The Twenties in America: Politics and History" said he finds Harding interesting because of how more attention has been paid to his personal life rather than his politics.
"The
Source: Richard Evans in the NYT Book Review
6-24-07
In 1997, Saul Friedlander published “The Years of Persecution, 1933-1939,” the first of his projected two-volume history of “Nazi Germany and the Jews.” In the introduction to that volume, he announced his intention of “establishing a historical account of the Holocaust in which the policies of the perpetrators, the attitudes of surrounding society and the world of the victims could be addressed within an integrated framework.” Such a framework has indeed been missing from most historical accoun
Source: NYT Mag
6-24-07
The stones at Machu Picchu seem almost alive. They may be alive, if you credit the religious beliefs of the ruler Pachacuti Yupanqui, whose subjects in the early 15th century constructed the granite Inca complex, high above a curling river and nestled among jagged green peaks. To honor the spirits that take form as mountains, the Inca stoneworkers carved rock outcrops to replicate their shapes. Doorways and windows of sublimely precise masonry frame exquisite views. But this extraordinary marria
Source: Mercury News
6-21-07
The 26-year-old UC Berkeley graduate student who was driving the car involved in a crash that killed award-winning journalist David Halberstam last April faces misdemeanor criminal charges in the accident, the San Mateo County District Attorney's Office announced today.
San Mateo County Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said Kevin Jones will be charged with vehicular manslaughter without gross negligence. He faces up to a year in the county jail and a fine of up to $1,0
Source: HNN Staff
6-26-07
In his NYT review of My Way, the new biography of Hillary Clinton by Jeff Gerth and Don Van Natta Jr., historian Robert Dallek concluded that the book offers an unsatisfying portrait of the former first lady and would-be president.
Now the authors have taken their revenge. Van Natta told an interviewer that Dallek "is a biographer of dead presidents. We did an investigative biography of someone running for president."
Dallek is the author of books on JFK, L
Source: Straits Times
6-20-07
RELIGIOUS extremists who preach terror and violence are pushing a distorted version of their religion, said renowned historian Karen Armstrong.
'There is a lot of bad religion about,' she said, noting that Buddhists used the term 'unskilled religion'.
'Terrorism, in my view, is not inspired by religion. It's a form of religiously articulated nationalism,' she said.
She was delivering this year's Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (Muis) lecture to some
Source: Chronicle for Higher Ed
6-18-07
Add to the list of academics criticizing DePaul University’s decision to deny tenure to Norman Finkelstein Mark A. LeVine, who posts his blog on the History News Network.
“I am especially offended at this immoral and utterly politically motivated action, which goes against the principles of intellectual honesty, courage, and integrity that I was taught were the foundations of a proper Catholic education,” LeVine says. “It is certainly a shameful stain, and a mark of cowardice, parti
Source: BBC News
6-16-07
Kendal-born broadcaster and historian Dr David Starkey is among Cumbrians named in the Queen's birthday honours.
Dr Starkey - once Britain's highest paid TV presenter - becomes a CBE for services to history.
Also honoured are Westmoreland Cardiac Support Society co-founder Gillian Impey, who becomes an MBE.
Sellafield managing director Barry Snelson and Cumbria Police deputy chief constable Christine Twigg are also among those recognised.
Mr Snel
Source: Kansas City Star
6-16-07
David McCullough spoke Wednesday in Independence to help observe the Truman Library’s 50th anniversary.
McCullough’s biographies of Harry Truman and John Adams have won Pulitzer Prizes. His years introducing “American Experience” on public television, as well as his narration of the landmark Ken Burns “The Civil War” documentary, have made him perhaps the county’s most recognizable historian.
About 400 people attended his speech Wednesday, which he delivered on the libr
Source: BBC News
6-16-07
Vere Harmsworth Professor of Imperial and Naval History at Cambridge, Prof Christopher Alan Bayly, researches and writes extensively about the Far East.
He revealed in a recent book that at the end of World War II more than 80,000 Japanese were kept in captivity.
The historian claimed they were used as cheap labour on projects across Asia and were not repatriated until 1948.
The professor, who also writes about the British Empire and the growth of Europe
Source: Expatica
6-14-07
French-Israeli historian Saul Friedlaender has been awarded the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, officials announced in Frankfurt Thursday.
The prize, with a value of 25,000 euros (33,000 dollars), is Germany's most prestigious literary award. It is to be presented at the Frankfurt Book Fair on October 14.
The jury said Friedlaender was an "epic storyteller of the history of the Shoah, the persecution and extermination of Jews in the time of Nazi dominance in
Source: Latvian Abroad
6-12-07
Latvian historian Heinrihs Strods has been denied Russian visa. He intended to visit Moscow to explore documents in Russian archives and to give a talk at a conference. Strods applied for visa several times, with support letters from the Latvian embassador to Russia and from a history institute of Russian Academy of Sciences and was repeatedly denied visa. This is a second instance when a well-known Latvian historian has been denied Russian visa. The first was Aivars Stranga in 2005.
Source: The Advocate
6-12-07
Pulitzer Prize-winning author David McCullough warned that failing to properly educate youth about history could have grave implications for the nation.
During a speech Saturday at the Historical Society of the Town of Greenwich's 75th anniversary, held on the lawn of the historic Tomes-Higgins House, McCullough spoke about his crusade to educate the nation's youth about the importance of history and the vital role historical societies play in preserving the past.
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Source: The Guardian
6-12-07
One of the most rancorous disputes in American academia has ended with a prominent political scientist with controversial views on Israel and anti-semitism being denied tenure at one of the country's top 10 private universities.
Norman Finkelstein, author of The Holocaust Industry, now has less than a year remaining on his contract with the political sciences department of DePaul University in Chicago. He lost his bid for a lifelong post after a four to three vote of the promotions
Source: The Boston Globe
6-10-07
Eighteen years ago, at an academic conference at the University of California, San Diego, Drew Gilpin Faust, then a widely respected professor of Southern history at the University of Pennsylvania, caused an uproar that some of her peers still talk about.
Among historians of the South and the Civil War, there is no larger question than why the Confederacy lost its bid for independence. Explanations range from battlefield tactics to the North's industrial superiority, from slave insu
Source: WSJ
6-8-07
Not long after the faculty coup d'etat that removed Lawrence Summers from the Harvard presidency, he made a point of speaking at the school's commissioning ceremony for the Reserve Officers Training Corps, as he had for every year of his tenure. "I believe that our country is best served when great universities like this one stand with those who defend freedom," he said.
One measure of the new Harvard leadership after Mr. Summers is ROTC, and on Tuesday neither acting pres
