More Noted Things

Who Owns History? Barry Strauss,"Why Is Troy Still Burning?" Historically Speaking, September/October, is a fascinating account of conflicting modern dispositions playing out in the battles over understanding ancient Troy --"the Great White Whale of scholarship." See also: Project Troia.

Humanities Medals: Recipients of the National Humanities Medal this morning in the Oval Office at the White House include: Fouad Ajami, the Middle Eastern Studies scholar, Washington, DC; James Buchanan, an economist, Fairfax, VA; Nickolas Davatzes, president and ceo emeritus of A&E Entertainment, Wilton, CT; Robert Fagles, translator and classicist, Princeton, NJ; The Hoover Institution (John Raisian, Senior Fellow and Director of Hoover, will accept the award on its behalf), Palo Alto, CA; Mary Lefkowitz, classicist, Wellesley, MA; Bernard Lewis, Middle Eastern Studies scholar, Princeton, NJ; Mark Noll, Historian of Religion , Notre Dame, IN; Meryle Secrest, biographer, Washington, DC; Kevin Starr, historian, San Francisco, CA. Thanks to Inside Higher Ed for the tip.

On Tolerance: Brendon O'Neill,"‘The Left Has Been Infected by the Disease of Intolerance'," Spiked, 27 October, and Stanley Fish,"The Trouble with Tolerance," CHE, 10 November. Thanks to Arts & Letters Daily for the tip.