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2008 Cliopatria Award Nominations: BEST INDIVIDUAL BLOG
by Cliopatria
Nominations are now closed. Winners will be posted here when they are announced at the AHA in January
Please submit, in comments below, your nominations for the best individual blog by historians or about history for the period from 1 December 2007. [registration not required to post nominations, but the usual rules of civility and conduct still apply] Nominations will be accepted from November 1st through 30th.
Please include a URL for the blog(s). You many nominate as many blogs as you wish in this category, and you may nominate individual posts or bloggers in other categories as well.
Bloggers do not need to be academic historians. If you're not sure whether a blog or blogger qualifies as"history," nominate them anyway and the judges will make a final determination. If you have questions, feel free to contact Ralph Luker or leave a comment here.
Judging Committee: Jonathan Dresner, Elle, Ph.D., Jeremy Young
[Judges are ineligible to win awards they are judging, but feel free to nominate them for something else!]
Nominations are now closed. Winners will be posted here when they are announced at the AHA in January
William Hogeland -
11/30/2008
I nominate Boston 1775 http://boston1775.blogspot.com/. Rich, thoughtful, informative, an invaluable resource to me in writing a book yet also highly accessible to nonspecialists. Uses appropriate Web style (bullets, links are irreproachable from interaction-design pov) yet never dumbs down content. Prose style is similarly approachable yet sophisticated. Seemingly narrow focus enables deep inquiry. Idiosyncratic yet responsible: what more should a blog be? Full disclosure: Has linked to some of my own posts, here and there.
Mary Dudziak -
11/30/2008
I nominate Claire Potter, Tenured Radical. Among other things, her blog is the best place on the web for wise counsel for academics, like this post.
Ralph Luker -
11/25/2008
Ms. Stokes, Would you care to give us the name and web address of the blog you are nominating or must we guess?
Lori Stokes -
11/25/2008
Best new individual blog! Thorough postings on the founding principles of the nation, plenty on Puritans, and everything else from Civil War to the 2008 Depression. And it's often funny.
;I'm lazy tonight so I'll just reproduce my short blog post explaining why.
It’s not the typical blog that would get nominated for a Clio. David Meadows tends to filter news rather than write original commentary. It’s not simply news though, it’s central to the classical blogsphere because it’s regular and comprehensive. It’s hard to see how the job could be done better. To be honest it staggers me that no major society has poached him and his blog for their own website. If you want to keep up with Classics on the web then Rogue Classicism is the one essential place to start.
1. why don't you consider opening a new category for Non- English Blogs? The blogosphere is packed with excellent blogs that develop History related contents in French, German, Italian, and in my particular case, Spanish.
2. should you take into consideration my first proposal, then I could be entitled to introduce you to my Classical History blog: www.historiaclasica.com. It's been on since January 2006 and I have posted more than 800 articles since that date. Some thousand readers enjoy it on a daily basis!
I would be honoured if you took some time to review it!
David Stewart, the author of a best-selling book on the Constitutional Convention and the author a forthcoming work on the impeachment of Andrew Johnson, uses his skills a narrative historian to bring matters of constitutional and legal history alive on the internet. His posts cover such wide-ranging topics as the Google books controversy, the odd history of the electoral college, FDR’s closing argument in the 1936 election, and the imprisonment detainees at Guantanamo.
Stewart’s writing is always fresh, thus perfect for a blog, and thoughtful, which can rare for a blog.
The judges of this competition should find a lot to praise when they read his entries.
'Digital History Hacks: A methodology for the infinite archive' - simply a brilliant blog. Required reading for anyone who wants to be a historian in ten years time.
Nate Levin -
11/6/2008
After a long career as a top litigator in Washington, David O. Stewart has become a distinguished independent scholar. His book "The Summer of 1787" is an engrossing account of the Constitutional Convention, and he is completing a second book, on the impeachment of Andrew Johnson. His "Constitutional Journal" is a must read for me. As an amateur historian, I can't get enough of David's sharp writing and penetrating insights into the many ways in which legal and constitutional history bear on current issues. No other individual blog that focuses mainly on history comes close to David's in quality, in my opinion. Please accept this nomination and consider David's blog for your award.
Both are consistently excellent, penetrating history and engaging reads.
-
11/5/2008
I am afraid that the de facto answer to your question is "Yes." There is no rule that excludes non-English language blogs and, in truth, we'd love to recognize the best of them. The problem is: Given the many languages in which history blogging is done, how do you compose a committee of three judges or three committees of three judges each with the language skills that might be necessary? Would non-English language blogs be judged in the same categories as English language blogs or would there be categories for separate judging of non-English language blogs? Would German language blogs be judged in competition with Spanish language blogs or judged separately? If you have any suggestions about how to deal with that problem, I'd be glad to hear them. You can write to me at: ralphluker*at*mindspring*dot*com.
Jorge -
11/4/2008
That's my question, are the awards only for blogs written in English?
This blog was started on Memorial Day, 2008 and features the writings home of Sgt. Samuel E. Avery during the time of the First World War from 1916-1919 while first serving with the 8th Mass. Infantry during the Mexican Border campaign (1916) and then with the 103rd U.S. Infantry (26th Division) in France as part of the AEF.
Sgt. Avery was a prolific writer and his words home form a fascinating narrative of eyewitness history from the hot sands along the Rio Grande to the cold mud along the Meuse. His letters are published on the date they were actually written 91 years ago and they have developed a devoted readership in the short time this blog has been active.
Other features of this blog include rare photos from the Avery Collection, maps, original recordings of period music and numerous links to other resources of interest to the student of military history and American involvement in World War I. The editor has constructed the pages with care to help create a historical background with which to understand each piece of correspondence as part of chapters in a sweeping personal story.
Going forward this site will also feature letters Sgt. Avery received from the Home Front which are more rare in the genre since soldiers in the field had limited means by which to preserve them.
The editor is a former High School history teacher, B.A. Magna Cum Laude, Drew University 1985, M.A.T. Tufts University 1989.
