Blogs > Cliopatria > Things Noted Here and There

Jun 16, 2006

Things Noted Here and There


by Cliopatria


As Manan Ahmed points out, History Carnival XXXIII is up at American Presidents Blog. Go over, enjoy some of the best in history blogging, and thank Jennie for her fine work. Manan will host the next History Carnival at Chapati Mystery on 30 June.

Alan Jones,"Connecting the Dots," Inside Higher Ed, 16 June, traces the convergence of funding sources that created a network for conservative criticism of American higher education. There are many familiar names and organizations here, including ACTA, the Federalist Society, David Horowitz, History News Network's Tom Reeves, and others.

For the record, Juan Cole,"Yale Affair," Informed Comment, 9 June, is his public statement about Yale's search for a historian of the modern Middle East.

Happy Bloomsday to Margaret Soltan. D. T. Max,"The Injustice Collector: Is James Joyce's Grandson Suppressing Scholarship?" New Yorker, 19 June, is fascinating reading. Will Stanford's Lawrence Lessig be able to curtail Stephen James Joyce's hyper-gatekeeping of his grandfather's estate? Stay tuned.

George Will,"Iraq's Atomization," Washington Post, 15 June, claims that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi"became, arguably, the most effective terrorist in history." Will concedes that the title more rightly belongs to Osama bin Laden, but for a columnist with a fairly sturdy sense of history the claim still seems short-sighted. Some other nominees: Mikhail Bakunin, John Brown, Gavrilo Princip, and Carlos"the Jackel" Ramirez. Neither should we forget people, like Nelson Mandela and Yassir Arafat, once known as terrorists, who eventually changed their image. Surely al-Zarqawi, largely a creature of American action, will not be remembered as a major figure in the history of terrorism. Thanks to Jonathan Dresner for the tip.

Finally, early this morning, according to one of our site meters, Cliopatria had its 400,000th visitor. Thanks to my colleagues and our readers for making it a congenial place to be. Come, visit again, and share history's feast with us.


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More Comments:

Ralph E. Luker - 6/16/2006

Sure. Like some of the conservative commentators on the article, it partakes a bit in the conspiracy networking that David Horowitz's Discover the Network features -- _except_ that it doesn't do the Nutwork's outrageous linkages, like "what do Barbara Streisand and Osama bin Laden have in common?" So far as I can tell, Jones's named individuals and organizations do have significant funding bases in common. Yes, Reeves' banner says that he's a senior fellow at the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute. I doubt that many of his readers know its funding background. I admire your fortitude in continuing to read Reeves. I don't.

Ed Schmitt - 6/16/2006

Thanks for the tip on this interesting article Ralph. It is worth noting, however, that Reeves's bio at the top of his blog does list him as a "senior fellow" at the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute. So I don't think its fair to suggest he's hiding his perspective. Also, while this trail of dollars is interesting and should be a factor in analyzing the work of the authors in question, ultimately they have to be assessed on what they write, not who's supporting them. Professor Reeves gives us plenty to chew on with his own thoughts.