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: Inside Higher Ed
5-9-07
[Scott McLemee writes Intellectual Affairs each week.]
... Another combined experience of deja vu and “so what?” came in the wake of the recent appearance in English of the whole of Michel Foucault’s History of Madness, published by Routledge. It was accepted as a doctoral thesis by the Sorbonne in 1960 and published in France the following year.
Foucault's abridged version has long been available under the title Madness and Civilization, translated by Richard Howard. H
Source: National Coalition for History
5-9-07
On May 8, 2007, political scientist Harvey Mansfield delivered the 2007 Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities here in Washington. The Jefferson Lecture is sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and is considered the most prestigious honor the federal government bestows for distinguished intellectual achievement in the humanities.
Dr. Mansfield is the William R. Kenan, Jr., Professor of Government at Harvard. His speech was entitled “How to Understand Politics: Wh
Source: Chicago Maroon (Student newspaper, U. of Chicago)
5-4-07
The business of home care in America is too often misunderstood, t the detriment of home-care workers, according to Eileen Boris, University of California–Santa Barbara (UCSB) labor historian. In he talk, entitled “Organizing Home Care: Low-Waged Workers in th Nation’s Health & Welfare,” given at the School of Social Servic Administration (SSA) on Wednesday, Boris discussed the current stat of home care and argued that home-care workers deserve a faire deal in the labor market
Source: NYT
5-5-07
Public broadcasting executives are defending the right of the filmmaker Ken Burns to tell the history of World War II as he sees fit, in the face of escalating complaints and veiled threats of a boycott from Latinos who say his coming PBS documentary “The War” slights Hispanics’ contributions to the war effort.
At what participants described as an emotional meeting on Thursday in Washington, members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus asked corporate sponsors of the 14 and one half
Source: http://www.pakistanlink.com
5-5-07
An Indian historian has defended Pakistan’s claim on Kashmir, saying it is a “genuine international dispute”. Ramachandra Guha, author of ‘India After Gandhi: The History of the World’s Largest Democracy’, has also tried to differentiate between other troublesome Indian locations and the Jammu and Kashmir issue.
Guha says that while the Indian Constitution is competent enough to find solutions for the problems in the Northeast and naxalism, it cannot cope with the Kashmir issue. He
Source: NYT
5-8-07
Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, were the guests of honor Monday at a state dinner at the White House.
Following is a guest list, as provided by the office of the first lady.
President Bush and Laura Bush.
Vice President Dick Cheney and Lynne V. Cheney.
Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip.
Cmdr. Heber Ackland, Royal Navy, equerry-in-waiting to the queen.
The Countess of Air
Source: HNN Staff
5-14-07
The latest issue of Newsweek features a picture of Harry Truman next to the caption: WANTED: A NEW TRUMAN.
The cover story plays off interviews with Michael Beschloss, whose latest book concerns presidential courage: Presidential Courage: Brave Leaders and How They Changed America 1789-1989.
The isue includes an op ed by Beschloss and an excerpt from his book.
Source: Paul Morton at bookslut.com
5-1-07
By the summer of 1862, George McClellan had come within six miles of Richmond and Union forces had obtained 50,000 square miles of key territory in the West. The Confederacy, a fledgling country then only a little over a year old, was an inch away from ceasing to exist. If it had surrendered then, the North would have allowed slavery to persist in the South, at least for a time. But the South was cursed by a hero named Robert E. Lee who took command of the Army of Northern Virginia. “[L]ee’s cou
Source: Press Release -- National Archives
5-8-07
Archivist of the United States Allen Weinstein will host an "American Conversation" with Dr. Cathy Gorn, executive director of National History Day, on Wednesday, June 13, at 3 p.m. They will discuss the growth and significance of National History Day, the annual competition which inspires the teaching and learning of history. The National Archives provides active support to National History Day.
Dr. Cathy Gorn is executive director of National History Day and adjunct prof
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
4-29-07
"We're trying to do something against mealy-mouthed policies that don't hold responsible those scum with Ph.D.'s who stand beside torturers," Gerald Sider, a professor emeritus of anthropology at the City University of New York Graduate Center, snarled to a reporter for Inside Higher Ed.
Sider was interviewed in November at the 105th annual business meeting of the American Anthropological Association in San Jose. The meeting was abuzz over a year-old New Yorker article by
Source: Gary Bass in the New Republic
5-3-07
.... No doubt the definition of rights, and certainly the language of it, is slippery and easily exploited. The precise content of a right is always up for debate, as are the people who get to hold them. (Under the English Bill of Rights, Protestants were allowed to carry arms sufficient to defend themselves.) Rights are supposed to exist in all times and all places: the enslavement of the Spartan helots and apartheid are what we would call human rights violations. But, as Lynn Hunt's splendid n
Source: Manan Ahmed at Cliopatria (HNN blog)
5-2-07
It started innocently enough.
I had been mulling that blogging historians should be make a panel submission to AHA - on their actual work - and not just on 'blogging'. A comment thread sparked the idea forward into motion and soon enough, we had a full blown roundtable panel proposal submitted to the AHA. I had some other ideas of sharing some of our research and even allow
Source: Ralph Luker at HNN Blog, Cliopatria
5-3-07
When Tony Blair steps down as the British PM"within the next few weeks," he is likely to be succeeded by a historian. At 16, James Gordon Brown (1951- ), the current Chancellor of the Exchequer, entered the University of Edinburgh to study history. He graduated with First Class Honors. Brown remained at Edinburgh for his doctorate, writing a disserta
Source: harvardmagazine.com
5-1-07
... If Ferguson has had a signature theme, it is this: the importance of an energetic liberal empire and how best to carry it off, as did, for the most part, the British and Romans. Though his next few years will be dedicated to his other principal interests, namely money, German-Jewish history, and power, it is his multiple works on empire that have brought him notoriety.
At the age of 43, the prodigious Ferguson has produced eight meaty, weighty books, and has another two in progr
Source: Canada.com
5-3-07
War historian Jack Granatstein has joined the verbal battle over whether an exhibit at the Canadian War Museum should be changed in the face of veterans' angry complaints it portrays Second World War bomber crews as "war criminals."
In a blunt statement Wednesday to a Senate subcommittee examining the issue, Granatstein said it would be wrong to bow to demands to alter the exhibit.
Granatstein, an author and a former head of the museum, said he has d
Source: Ohio State student newspaper--The Lantern
5-2-07
Most Americans are familiar with John Adams and Harry Truman. Both were former U.S. presidents, but they had something else in common: an excellent knowledge of history.
Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David McCullough emphasized the importance of knowing history at a lecture Monday at the Wexner Center.
McCullough said Adams and Truman are examples of men who reflected upon history before making decisions that affected the future.
McCullough's lecture, &q
Source: AFP
5-2-07
France's presidential election has been depicted as the moment when the country could finally choose the path of liberal economic reform, bending to the winds of globalisation by choosing the pro-market agenda of Nicolas Sarkozy.
But nothing could be further from the truth, according to British historian Robert Tombs, who says the most that can be expected from a Sarkozy victory over Socialist Segolene Royal on Sunday is "some tweaking round the edges" of the French state
Source: Independent
5-2-07
Werner Maser was best known for his 1971 study of Hitler, Adolf Hitler: Legende, Mythos, Wirklichkeit ("Hitler: legend, myth and reality"), which was translated into over 20 languages (and published in English as Hitler, 1973), a great achievement considering the vast literature on the subject. The volume was just part of a long study of the Third Reich which included not only the Nazi leader, but also his party, the Nuremberg trials, German-Soviet relations and much more.
Source: Chronicle of Higher Education
5-4-07
A recent role model for women's-studies students, according to [Nikki Ayanna Stewart, a Ph.D. candidate in women's studies at the University of Maryland at College Park], is Drew Gilpin Faust, the first female president of Harvard University. Ms. Faust is also a former director of the women's-studies program at the University of Pennsylvania.
In a separate article, though, Caryn McTighe Musil, senior vice president of the Association of American Colleges and Universities, says that
Source: Investor's Business Daily
5-3-07
A key member of Petraeus' "Baghdad brain trust" is Col. H.R. McMaster, author of the book "Dereliction of Duty" that analyzes the mistakes of the Vietnam War. McMaster's skills in executing a "clear, hold, and build" counterinsurgency strategy succeeded spectacularly in bringing the city of Tal Afar in western Nineva Province under coalition control in the fall of 2005. Voter turnout in the Tal Afar region soon increased by about 550%.
