Things Noted Here and There

by Cliopatria

Tim Burke's"Planning for Contraction," IHE, 29 September, looks at the economic prospect for American institutions of higher education.

Jonathan Gottschall,"Hidden histories," Boston Globe, 28 September, argues that The Odyssey and The Iliad are still teaching us new things about the ancient world. Thanks to Manan Ahmed for the tip.

Goeffrey Wheatcroft,"'Munich' Shouldn't Be Such a Dirty Word," Washington Post, 28 September, sketches an argument for Munich revisionism. See also: Brett Holman,"The Sudeten Crisis," Airminded, 29 August-28 September.

Dave Lester has created an American Studies Tagline as"a visual historiography of an evolving discipline" from 1957 to 1996. Dragging the slider yields shifting word clouds from canonical texts in the field. Hat tip.

Peter Hitchens,"China's new slave empire," Daily Mail, 28 September, reports on China's new interests in Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Robert J. Shiller,"Everybody Calm Down. A Government Hand In the Economy Is as Old as the Republic.," Washington Post, 28 September, is a smart reminder that, whether the Wall Street bailout is good legislation or not, it is consistent with precedent in American economic history.

Finally, farewell to the distinguished historian, William Woodruff.

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More Comments:

Andrew D. Todd - 9/29/2008

The obvious comparison to make would be to the 1980's Savings and Loan crisis. The storm center of that was the system of state chartered banks, insured at the state level, which were not under the federal system. This divided control lent itself to all kinds of interstate dummy transactions.

Look at the case of Marvin L. Warner, the founder of an Ohio state-chartered savings bank. He managed to take the Ohio state savings bank insurance pool down with him. I don't recall the details of the bail-out, though it involved Carl Lindner, cited in the newspaper article, who was, at the time, CEO of one of the major Cincinnati banks.
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http://www.bhamwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Marvin_L._Warner

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Howard Wilkinson, "From magnate to inmate, his fall hurt many," The Cincinnati Enquirer, Saturday, April 13, 2002.
http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2002/04/13/loc_1from_magnate_to.html
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Ralph E. Luker - 9/29/2008

I don't think it's just you. The piece announces one argument, as it were, and delivers on a different one.

Chris Bray - 9/29/2008

Odd column in the Post -- Schiller starts with a claim that the bailout isn't unprecedented, but then he doesn't really name any precedents. He briefly namechecks George Washington, and makes a quick reference to the American System, but nothing that I see in there offers a comparison to nearly two trillion dollars in direct cash loans and investments. Is it just me, or does he not really make the argument he sets out to make?

Ralph E. Luker - 9/29/2008

Thanks, Jon. I linked to it earlier, but I'm happy to add it here.

Jonathan Dresner - 9/29/2008

No online discussion of Munich is complete, now, without reference to Brett Holman's post-blogging the Sudenten Crisis project, which I've been enjoying immensely, learning a great deal.