Things Noted Here & There

David Eltis and David Richardson,"New revelations about slaves and slave trade," CNN, 5 January, identifies what they believe are new findings.

Gordon Wood,"No Thanks for the Memories," NYRB, 13 January, his review of Jill Lepore's The Whites of Their Eyes: The Tea Party's Revolution and the Battle Over American History, is no longer behind the firewall. It is discussed at 3 quarks daily, Cliopatria, Facebook, Hysteriography, and The Way of Improvement Leads Home.

Adam Kirsch,"The First Drafts of American History," NYT, 7 January, sees a link between the House of Representatives sanitizing the Constitution and a publisher sanitizing Huckleberry Finn.

Andrew Motion reviews Judith Flanders's The Invention of Murder: How the Victorians Reveled in Death and Detection and Created Modern Crime for the Guardian, 8 January.

Paul Collins,"The Case of the First Mystery Novelist," NYT, 7 January, identifies the author of the first mystery novel.