Modern History Notes

The Virginia Quarterly Review has opened its electronic archive from the period of Staige Blackford's editing, 1975-2003. Without charge, you can read online: Ralph E. Luker,"Garry Wills and the New Debate Over the Declaration of Independence," VQR, Spring 1980, 244-261. Ronald Reagan was not yet elected President, but the new conservative intellectuals dominated critical response to Wills' Inventing America: Jefferson's Declaration of Independence, the most important book on the subject since Carl Becker's The Declaration of Independence. And the diversity of their criticism illustrated divisions within the new conservatism. Or, you can read Irving Louis Horowitz's"Printed Words, Computers, and Democratic Societies," VQR, (Autumn 1983): 620-636, which anticipated the development of wikipedia, e-book readers, and blogs. He does it with the literary skill peculiar to sociologists, but it's a smart article, nonetheless.

Shelby Steele,"Pride and Compromise," NYT, 13 February, reviews Robert J. Norrell's Up from History: The Life of Booker T. Washington.

Joe Nocera,"Flying Blind," NYT, 13 February, and Frank Ahrens,"Who Caused the Great Depression?" Washington Post, 15 February, review Liaquat Ahamed's Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World.

Matthew Dallek,"Starting Out Strong," Washington Post, 15 February, reviews Adam Cohen's Nothing to Fear: FDR's Inner Circle and the Hundred Days That Created Modern America and Burt Solomon's FDR v. The Constitution: The Court-Packing Fight and the Triumph of Democracy.

Phillip Carter,"Fighting in the Air," NYT, 12 February, reviews Michael Korda's With Wings Like Eagles: A History of the Battle of Britain.

Clay Risen,"A Dream Obscured," Washington Post, 15 February, reviews Eric J. Sundquist's King's Dream and Christine King Farris's Through It All: Reflections on My Life, My Family, and My Faith.

Chris Bray,"Back from Iraq and Afghanistan," Washington Post, 15 February, reviews Donovan Campbell's Joker One: A Marine Platoon's Story of Courage, Leadership, and Brotherhood, Eric Maddox's Mission – Blacklist #1: The Inside Story of the Search for Saddam Hussein -- As Told by the Soldier Who Masterminded His Capture, and Craig M. Mullaney's The Unforgiving Minute: A Soldier's Education.