Things Noted Here & There

Oliver Marre,"They're too cool for school: meet the new history boys and girls," Guardian, 28 June, identifies a half-dozen young historians who are leading the renewal of popular history in Great Britain with"a mix of strong narratives, exciting personalities and quirky facts." Thanks to Manan Ahmed for the tip.

Sam Tanenhaus,"Sound of Silence: The Culture Wars Take a Break," NYT, 27 June, and Stan Katz,"NEH in Obamaland," Brainstorm, 28 June, disagree about the significance of Jim Leach's nomination to lead the National Endowment for the Humanities.

David Schiff,"Mahler's Body," The Nation, 24 June, reviews Henry-Louis de La Grange's Gustav Mahler: A New Life Cut Short (1907-1911).

Manjit Kumar,"The meeting of minds," Telegraph, 22 June, is an excerpt from his Quantum, which was shortlisted for the BBC's Samuel Johnson Prize for non-fiction. In it, Kumar explores a clash between Niels Bohr and Albert Einstein, one of the great controversies in the history of physics.

In"Blog to Book: An Elegant Execution," New Yorker, 24 June, Caleb Crain discusses the publication of The Wreck of the Henry Clay: Posts & Essays, 2003-2009, his anthology of work from his blog, Steamboats are ruining everything. In 2007, Crain won the Cliopatria Award for Best Writer.