Thursday's Notes

The Historical Society's Historically Speaking has become the most vital historical newsletter in the United States. Currently, its series of symposia on the state of traditional fields of history considers Intellectual History and Military History. September's issue on Intellectual History featured essays by Daniel Wickberg, David Hollinger, Sarah Igo, and Wilfred McClay. November's issue on Military History has essays by Brian Linn, Dennis Showalter, Robert Citino, Victor Davis Hanson, and Roger Spiller. There's a foretaste of the Military History forum at The Historical Society's ths blog.

Peter Campbell,"At the British Museum," LRB, 5 November, reviews"Moctezuma: Aztec Ruler," an exhibit at the London's BM.

Julian Bell,"For Those Who Don't Know," LRB, 5 November, reviews Leo Jansen, Hans Luijten and Nienke Bakker, eds., Vincent van Gogh: The Letters, trans. by Michael Hoyle et al.

Paul Reitter,"The precious Hugo von Hofmannsthal," TLS, 4 November, reviews J. D. McClatchey, ed., The Whole Difference: Selected writings of Hugo von Hofmannsthal.

Tariq Ali,"The life and death of Trotsky," Guardian, 31 October, reviews Bertrand M. Patenaude's Stalin's Nemesis: The Exile and Murder of Leon Trotsky and Robert Service's Trotsky: A Biography.

Evgeny Morozov,"Edit This Page," Boston Review reviews Andrew Lih's The Wikipedia Revolution: How a Bunch of Nobodies Created the World's Greatest Encyclopedia.