More Noted Things
Re-Enactment: Francis X. Rocca,"A Festival Brings the Dark Ages to Light," CHE, 21 July, takes us to the Mercato delle Gaite (the Market of the Quarters) in Bevagna, Italy. Its re-enactment of a late medieval market builds on a quarter century of collaboration among archaeologists, dramatists, historians, and hundreds of local re-enactors. CHE's slideshow has more lovely photographs. (Subscriber only)
Burke Fix: Tim Burke's in South Africa for a conference, travel, and research, but he's keeping us posted at Easily Distracted. His posts, on topics such as higher education in South Africa, primal landscapes, and archival research, are, as usual, rich and thoughtful. Just scroll down.
Administration Watch: Charles A. Kupchan and Ray Takeyh,"Middle East: Reaping What Bush Sowed," International Herald Tribune, 19 July; and Timothy Garton Ash,"Lebanon, North Korea, Russia ... here is the world's new multipolar disorder," Guardian Unlimited, 20 July. Thanks to Taylor Owen for the tip.
Lying Pols: At H-Diplo, H-Net's site for historians of diplomacy, there's a symposium on Eric Alterman's When Presidents Lie: A History of Official Deception and Its Consequences. The symposium features comments by Carolyn Eisenberg, Lloyd Gardner, Tom Nichols, Melvin Small, Randall Woods, and a response by Alterman.
Blind Certainties: Finally, in Mark Fiore,"Swearing to Success!" San Francisco Gate, 19 July, the cartoonist mocks our loud voices of certitude caught by our open mikes. Thanks to Manan Ahmed for the tip.