Thursday Notes

Elisabeth Grant,"BlackPast.org – An Online Gateway to African American History," AHA Today, 6 August, introduces Quintard Taylor's BlackPast.org, which is an unusually rich source of information and references.

Louis Menand,"Lives of Others," New Yorker, 6 August, reviews Meryl Secrest's Shoot the Widow: Adventure of a Biographer in Search of Her Subject.

Florence King,"Our Inner Abes," Wilson Quarterly, Summer, reviews Andrew Ferguson's Land of Lincoln: Adventures in Abe's America.

William Grimes,"Russia's Castaway Intellectuals in Revolution's Wake," NYT, 8 August, reviews Lesley Chamberlain's Lenin's Private War: The Voyage of the Philosophy Steamer and the Exile of the Intelligentsia.

Pankaj Mishra,"Exit Wounds: The Legacy of British Partition," New Yorker, 13 August, reviews Alex von Tunzelmann's Indian Summer: The Secret End of the End of an Empire.

Richard Schickel,"Rerunning Film Noir," Wilson Quarterly, Summer, looks back at film noir in the age of optimism. Hat tip.

Arthur Max,"Plight Deepens for Baghdad's Last Jews," Boston Globe, 8 August. There as early as the 6th century BCE, they were a third of the city's population by World War I. Now, only eight Jews remain in Baghdad and there are conflicting reports about whether they want to be evacuated from the city. Thanks to Manan Ahmed for the tip.