Things Noted Here and There
Whatever their differences of tone and authority, ... our colleges and universities are following rather than resisting the national trend toward a widening disparity between rich and poor. This is true not only in how colleges admit their students, but in their internal structure (presidential compensation has crossed the million-dollar threshold in several cases), and in the wealth of leading institutions relative to their competitors (the annual return on Harvard's $30 billion endowment now exceeds the entire endowment of some of its Ivy League rivals).
Katie Hafner,"History, Digitized (and Abridged)," NY Times, 10 March, argues that, despite our enthusiasm for digitized records, most will not be digitized any time soon and we risk forgetting that. One antidote to our forgetfulness: Bookporn!
Goeffrey Wolff,"A Nineteenth Century Turn," NY Times, 11 March, reviews Kurt Andersen's sprawling, new historical novel, Heyday. Andersen,"A New World Ablaze," Time, 9 March, is an excerpt from the novel; Andersen,"1848: When America Came of Age," Time, 8 March, is his essay about the era in which it is set; and Andersen's blog is here. Thanks to Manan Ahmed for the tip.
Scott Wilson,"Israel Revisited," Washington Post, 11 March; and Wilson,"A Shared History, A Different Conclusion," Washington Post, 11 March, look at the work of Israeli historians, Benny Morris and Ilan Pappe.
Finally, the AHA, OAH, and National Coalition for History have sent out an emergency alert. It asks us to contact our congressional representatives and urge their support of H.R. 1255, which is expected to reach the House floor this week. See: AHA Today. You can use or modify the Humanities Advocacy Network's suggested e-mail text to make that appeal.