More Noted Things

"Gavin Menzies: mad as a snake - or a visionary?" Telegraph, 1 August, looks at Menzies' claims – from the Chinese discovery of America to their inspiration of the Italian Renaissance.

David Kelly,"Anatomy Lessons," Paper Cuts, 18 August, calls our attention to the publication of Tony Perrottet's Napoleon's Privates: 2,500 Years of History Unzipped, which has such chapter titles as"Holding Your Own at Caligula's Orgies,""Who Didn't Have Syphilis in Belle Époque Paris?" and"Columbus Discovers the Clitoris."

James Guida reviews Heinrich Heine's Travel Pictures, translated by Peter Wortsman, for More Intelligent Life, 15 August. Hat tip.

Recent American political history below the fold:

Joshua Freeman,"Tricky Dick's Legacy," Dissent, Summer, reviews Rick Perlstein's Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America.

Stanley Kurtz,"Chicago Annenberg Challenge Shutdown?" National Review, 18 August, complains that Kurtz was denied access to Barack Obama/William Ayres-related documents in Special Collections at the University of Illinois, Chicago. See also: Kelly Field,"Conservative Scholar Takes On U. of Illinois in Fight Over Papers Linked to Obama," CHE, 19 August.

"The Audacity of Hype," Mother Jones, September/October, asks:"Is Barack Obama exaggerating when he compares his campaign to the great progressive moments in US history?" Among others, historians Robert Dallek, Michael Kazin, Rick Shenkman, Roger Wilkins, and Garry Wills respond to the question.