Thursday's Notes

Field-switching in history: a sign of intellectual breadth or a mark of dilettantism?

"Intellectual migrations: how and when to switch fields?" Historiann, 7 March

"The Fox and the Hedgehog, part 1: A Hedgehog Contemplates Change," and"The Fox and the Hedgehog, part 2: The Problem with Other People," The Adventures of Notorious Ph.D., Girl Scholar, 30 and 31 July

Katrina Gulliver,"Stone cold foxes of academe," Notes from the Field, 4 August.

Mark Brown,"National Portrait Gallery shines light on forgotten artist Thomas Lawrence," Guardian, 4 August, previews"Thomas Lawrence: Regency Power and Brilliance," an exhibit coming to London's National Portrait Gallery.

The current special issue of Politics and Culture features essays in intellectual biography, with reviews of biographies of Theodor Adorno, Simone de Beauvoir, Fyodor Dostoyevski, Thelonious Monk, and others.

Paul Johnson,"He Smelt of Honey," Literary Review, August, and Claire Harmon,"H. G. Wells, the futurity man," TLS, 4 August, review Michael Sherborne's H G Wells: Another Kind of Life.

Jeffrey Wasserstrom,"Stalking Charlie Chan," Huffington Post, 2 August, reviews Yunte Huang's Charlie Chan: The Untold Story of the Honorable Detective and His Rendezvous with American History.