Wednesday Notes
Felipe Fernandez-Armesto,"The End of Empires," TLS, 10 October, reviews Kim Macquarrie's The Last Days of the Incas and Peter Clarke's The Last Thousand Days of the British Empire.
Alexandra Alter,"The Photo Detector," WSJ, 12 October, features Maureen Taylor, who's become an expert in finding the clues in a photograph that tell us about it. Thanks to Manan Ahmed for the tip.
Scott Jaschik,"Genocide Deniers," IHE, 16 October, asks when it is acceptable to deny a genocide. Is it a singular event? Has widespread use of the word rendered it useless for historical debate? Are there degrees of genocide? Do official pronouncements foreshorten discussions that need to happen?
Bill Watterson ("Calvin and Hobbes" cartoonist),"The Grief That Made Peanuts Good," WSJ, 12 October, and John Updike,"Sparky from St. Paul," New Yorker, 22 October, review David Michaelis's Schulz and Peanuts: A Biography.
Scott McLemee,"Be Aware (Beware)," IHE, 17 October, comes just in time to forearm us against David Horowitz's"Hate Your Neighbor Week."
Finally, the Seasonal Bad Taste Award goes to: Judge Rufus Peckham,"Duke's ‘Group of Eighty-Eight' commits mass suicide after ex-D.A. Nifong held in contempt of court: Profs say death preferable to teaching privileged white males," Carbolic Smoke Ball, 4 September.