Thursday's Notes

Meredith Hindley,"The Voracious Pen of Thomas Carlyle," Humanities, March/April, features the crucial role of The French Revolution: A History in Carlyle's career.

Adam Zamoyski,"How I Rewrote Polish History," Standpoint, March, reflects on revising his The Polish Way: A Thousand-Year History of the Poles and their Culture after a decisive turning point in Poland's history.

Michael Dirda,"No More Waiting for Beckett's Letters," Washington Post, 2 April, reviews Martha Dow Fehsenfeld and Lois More Overbeck, eds., The Letters of Samuel Beckett. Volume I. 1929-1940.

Janet Maslin,"A Daughter's Life With Daddy Issues," NYT, 2 April, reviews Allegra Huston's Love Child. Until a teenager, Allegra thought that she was the daughter of Hollywood producer, John Huston, but her biological father is the British historian, John Julius Norwich, her half-sister is his daughter, the historian Artemis Cooper, and her half-brother-in-law, the historian Anthony Beevor.

Robert Dallek,"Can Obama Be a Majority of One," 100 Days, 31 March, recommends lessons from FDR about controlling congressional Democrats.

Finally, would someone please tell National Review's John J. Miller that the History Department at the University of Wisconsin has hired its American military historian. Major John Hall earned his doctorate at UNC, Chapel Hill, will publish Uncommon Defense: Indian Allies in the Black Hawk War this year, and joins the UW department this summer as an assistant professor. Thanks to Ed Schmitt for the tip.