Modern History Notes

The Organization of American Historians has released a draft of its"2009 Strategic Plan." Larry Cebula's"More Cowbell: My Plan to Revive the OAH," Northwest History, 16 September, argues that more radical change is in order.

Ira Berlin,"The Not-So-Solid South," NYT, 17 September, reviews Lacy K. Ford's Deliver Us From Evil: The Slavery Question in the Old South.

Michael Bailey,"Brunel, Locke and Stephenson: the engineering giants who shaped our world," Telegraph, 15 September, pays tribute to three 19th century British railroad engineers -- titans of the Industrial Revolution.

Steve Heller,"The Revolution Will Be Illustrated," NYT, 17 September, reviews David King, ed., Red Star Over Russia: A Visual History of the Soviet Union From the Revolution to the Death of Stalin, Agnes Husslein-Arco, Jean Louis Gaillemin, Michel Hilaire and Christiane Lange, eds., Alphonse Mucha, designed by Peter Baldinger, Daniel Zimmer's and David J. Hornung's Reynold Brown: A Life in Pictures, Earl Kemp and Luis Ortiz, eds., Cult Magazines, A to Z: A Compendium of Culturally Obsessive and Curiously Expressive Publications, Craig Yoe's Secret Identity: The Fetish Art of Superman's Co-Creator Joe Shuster, and Edward Sorel's The Mural at the Waverly Inn: A Portrait of Greenwich Village Bohemians.

Mary Speck,"Fidel and Friends," Washington Post, 20 September, reviews Simon Reid-Henry's Fidel and Che: A Revolutionary Friendship and Angel Esteban's and Stephanie Panichelli's Fidel and Gabo: A Portrait of the Legendary Friendship Between Fidel Castro and Gabriel Garcia Marquez.