I Gotta Friend at the OAH

By now, we've learned that the blurbs on the covers of books should be taken with a grain of salt, but I've been known to be critical of the Organization of American Historians from time to time (viz., for example, here). It came as a pleasant surprise some months ago, therefore, when Joyce Appleby told me that my article,"Murder and Biblical Memory: The Legend of Vernon Johns," had been chosen to appear in the premier volume in an annual series that Palgrave/MacMillan will publish and the OAH will sponsor, The Best American History Essays, 2006. I found this paragraph about it particularly -- well -- both amusing and flattering:

In this debut volume, former OAH and AHA president Joyce Appleby has gathered ten of the best American history essays and articles from over three hundred learned and popular journals published in the last year. Written by such eminent historians as Joseph Ellis, Ralph E. Luker, and Thomas J. Sugrue, the book's essays cover all aspects of American history, from the early days of the republic to the twentieth century.

"Eminent." Did you get that? Duke University and Durham, North Carolina? Did you get that? Allegheny College? Did you get that? Virginia Polytechnic Institute? Delaware Humanities Forum? Did you get that? Lincoln University? The Martin Luther King Papers Project? Emory University? Antioch College? Morehouse College? I was run out of every one of them. Did all you all get that? Eminent. Your laughter and applause are welcome in comments.