POLITICAL HIGHLIGHTS:
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IN FOCUS:
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- Rosalind Rosenberg: Interview with Professor Rosenberg:
Why should we continue to celebrate Women’s History Month? So that women do not disappear again from history.... -
Columbia Spectator, 2-28-10
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HISTORY NEWS:
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- Congressman Wants Reagan on $50 Bill, Joan Waugh objects to call to replace Grant on the $50 bill
with Reagan:
"President Reagan is indisputably one of the most transformative presidents of the 20th century," Rep. Patrick
McHenry, a Republican, said in a letter to his fellow members of Congress. "Like President Roosevelt on the dime
and President Kennedy on the half-dollar, President Reagan deserves a place of honor on our nation's currency."
"I'm outraged," Joan Waugh, UCLA history professor and the author of "U.S. Grant: American Hero, American Myth,"
told AOL News. "I think it's a bad idea, and particularly troublesome coming from Southern Republicans."
The commanding general who led the North to victory in the Civil War, Grant was not a beloved figure in the Deep
South, Waugh says. "But for the rest of the country, he was an incredibly popular two-term president."... -
AOL News (3-3-10)
- Diane Ravitch: Scholar's School Reform U-Turn Shakes Up Debate:
Diane Ravitch, the education historian who built her intellectual reputation battling progressive educators
and served in the first Bush administration’s Education Department, is in the final stages of an astonishing,
slow-motion about-face on almost every stand she once took on American schooling.... -
NYT, 3-3-10
- Henry Holt drops publication of 'Last Train From Hiroshima':
Henry Holt is dropping publication of "The Last Train From Hiroshima" after the author, Charles Pellegrino,
failed to adequately answer questions about a source in the book and the revocation of his PhD more than 25
years ago.... -
WaPo, 3-2-10
- Pellegrino's atom bom book withdrawn from circulation:
Publication has been halted for a disputed book about the atomic bombing of Japan that "Avatar" director James
Cameron had optioned for a possible film, The Associated Press has learned.
Publisher Henry Holt and Company, responding to questions from the AP, said Monday that author Charles Pellegrino
"was not able to answer" concerns about The Last Train from Hiroshima, including whether two men mentioned in
the book actually existed....
AP (3-2-10)
- Vichy remains a source of discomfort in modern France:
The tangled oak woods of the Château de l’Écluse are inhabited by a great silence.
The descendants of Fernand Plée, who purchased these grounds and this red-brick manor in central France in 1941,
say they have nothing to hide. Their grandfather, they say, was a good man: a decorated veteran of the First World
War, a willing partner to the Allies in the second, a man of generosity and courage.... -
NYT (3-1-10)
- Historians (among others) honored at White House ceremony:
"Sorry I'm a little late. I had this thing I had to do," joked President Obama, just before an afternoon ceremony
at the White House on Thursday in which luminaries in the arts and academics were presented with the highest
medals for achievements in their fields....
The humanities citations went to prizewinning authors and historians Robert A. Caro ("The Years of Lyndon Johnson:
The Path to Power, Means of Ascent and Master of the Senate"), Annette Gordon-Reed ("The Hemingses of Monticello"),
David Levering Lewis ("W.E.B. Du Bois: The Fight for Equality and the American Century, 1919-1963") and William H.
McNeill ("Plagues and Peoples"). The list also includes speechwriter and lawyer Theodore Sorensen, former director
of the Metropolitan Museum of Art Philippe de Montebello and philanthropist Albert H. Small, as well as Wiesel,
founding chairman of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and the author of "Night," whom the president gave his
own big hug.... -
WaPo (2-26-10)
- Israel names two biblical tombs in West Bank heritage sites:
Israel named the Tomb of the Patriarchs and Rachel's tomb in the West Bank heritage sites on Monday. Both biblical
tombs are in Palestinian cities, and the decision brought warnings of violence and protests on Tuesday.... -
CS Monitor, 2-23-10
- Adrian Johns: History shows that intellectual property is more complex than either its creators or copiers
care to admit, says a Chicago scholar:
The history of publishing is swimming with pirates—far more than Adrian Johns expected when he started hunting through the archives for
them. And he thinks their stories may hold keys to understanding the latest battles over digital publishing—and the
future of the book.... -
Chronicle of Higher Education (2-21-10)
- Film Based on Book by Duke Professor Opens Nationwide Friday
Duke connections helped bring "Blood Done Sign My Name" to big screen:
The film version of Duke professor Timothy Tyson's best-selling memoir "Blood Done Sign My Name" opens nationwide
in select theaters this Friday, Feb. 19.... -
Duke News, 2-17-10
- Tests show King Tut died from malaria, study says:
King Tutankhamen, the teen-aged pharaoh whose Egyptian tomb yielded dazzling treasures, limped around on tender
bones and a club foot and probably died from malaria, researchers said on Tuesday.... -
Reuters, 2-16-10
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OP-EDs:
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- ROBERT W. MERRY: Op-Ed Contributor The Myth of the One-Term Wonder:
No doubt President Obama was sincere when he recently told ABC's Diane Sawyer that he'd "rather be a really good
one-term president than a mediocre two-term president." The president seemed to be saying that he would make
decisions with history in mind rather than voter sentiment, even if voter sentiment would get him tossed out
at the next election.
This is perhaps a noble sensibility — and one worth reflecting on as President's Day approaches. But it's also
misguided. The judgment of history — in the form of presidential rankings yielded up by those periodic polls of
heavyweight historians — coincides to a remarkable degree with the contemporaneous judgment of the electorate.
With few exceptions, history has not smiled upon one-term presidents. Only one such chief executive has managed
with any consistency to get into the historians' "near great" category.... -
NYT, 2-13-10
- Ron Radosh: Growing Anti-Semitism On The Campus:
But even more disturbing is the growing evidence that Jewish students are
having a most confused response to this development.... -
Minding the Campus (3-3-10)
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REVIEWS & FIRST CHAPTERS:
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- Marilyn Johnson: Library Science
THIS BOOK IS OVERDUE
How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All
NYT, 3-7-10
Excerpt
- Karl Rove: Book review: 'Courage and Consequence' by Karl Rove:
COURAGE AND CONSEQUENCE My Life as a Conservative in the Fight
In his memoir, Karl Rove acknowledges mistakes during the Bush presidency, but defends his former boss.... -
WaPo, 3-5-10
- Francis Wheen: Book review: 'Strange Days Indeed: The 1970s: The Golden Age of Paranoia' by Francis Wheen:
STRANGE DAYS INDEED The 1970s: The Golden Age of Paranoia
Some historians believe in the great man theory of history. Not Francis Wheen. In "Strange Days Indeed,"
Wheen advances what might be called the "crazy man theory of history." And it makes perfect sense because
he's writing about the 1970s, when world leaders exhibited astonishing levels of lunacy.... -
WaPo, 3-5-10
- James S. Hirsch: Willie Mays, the Say Hey Kid:
WILLIE MAYS The Life, the Legend
All those old passions rose in me again when reading James S. Hirsch’s fine new book, "Willie Mays:
The Life, the Legend."...
In his long, fascinating account, Hirsch tells the full story of Mays’s baseball life.... -
NYT, 2-28-10 -
Excerpt
- Book Review of "Princess Noire: The Tumultuous Reign of Nina Simone," by Nadine Cohodas:
Indeed, what kept me from warming to Nadine Cohodas's sharply observed biography is that it tethered me to such
a deeply unpleasant character: a woman who neglects her own daughter and pushes away everyone who does her a good
turn, who dwindles into alcoholism and self-exile without losing an ounce of her arrogance.... -
WaPo, 2-26-10
- Nadine Cohodas: Nina Simone, Diva Out of Carolina:
PRINCESS NOIRE
The Tumultuous Reign of Nina Simone
Indeed, Nadine Cohodas’s disturbing portrait in "Princess Noire" sets out to confirm Simone's genius. The author
lingers on her stage performances, her musical decisions, her sartorial choices — the alchemy she created in sound
and fury.... -
NYT, 2-25-10
Excerpt
- History Book review: "Our Times" by A.N. Wilson:
OUR TIMES The Age of Elizabeth II
The reign of Queen Elizabeth II "is the one in which Britain effectively stopped being British,"
A.N. Wilson argues.... -
WaPo, 2-26-10
- More Obama books on the way:
We've seen several books on the 2008 election -- Game Change now rides the top of the non-fiction charts --
and soon we'll be seeing new, broader works on Barack Obama's life and times.... -
USA Today, 2-22-10
- Ken Gormley: The President and the Prosecutor:
THE DEATH OF AMERICAN VIRTUE Clinton vs. Starr:
"The Death of American Virtue: Clinton vs. Starr," by Ken Gormley, recreates it all, from the Clintons'
investment in the Whitewater development in rural Arkansas to the Paula Jones sexual harassment lawsuit and
Clinton's affair with Lewinsky, culminating in the impeachment trial. This hefty volume, going beyond the
sordid details, provides helpful context for the larger story, the fractionalization of American politics that
defined the Clinton years.... -
NYT, 2-16-10
- Damages: Bill Clinton's Legal Mess:
THE DEATH OF AMERICAN VIRTUE Clinton vs. Starr: -
NYT, 2-15-10
- David Greenberg: Book review of 'The Death of American Virtue,' by Ken Gormley:
THE DEATH OF AMERICAN VIRTUE Clinton vs. Starr
Ken Gormley's new book about the Clinton impeachment saga bears the lurid and trite title "The Death of American
Virtue," which sounds like a mashup of works by the conservative pundit William Bennett. Happily, though, it's
nothing of the sort. It is, rather, something I didn't imagine would arrive so soon: a restrained, fair-minded,
soup-to-nuts history of the largely fruitless investigations of Bill Clinton that shadowed so much of his
presidency....
WaPo, 2-19-10
- Nadine Cohodas: Under a Strange, Soulful Spell:
PRINCESS NOIRE
The Tumultuous Reign of Nina Simone
One result was a stunning song, "Mississippi Goddam," written by Simone in the wake of the 1963 Birmingham church
bombings and the killing of the civil rights advocate Medgar Evers.
It was a song that inserted her into the forefront, at least musically, of the civil rights movement. Its recording
is a moment that Nadine Cohodas's fascinating if turgid new biography of Simone, "Princess Noire," builds toward
and then falls away from.... -
NYT, 2-18-10
Excerpt
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FEATURES:
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- Tim Lewis: Teaching Canadian history through hockey:
Turning hockey into a history lesson is a dream come true for Tim Lewis.
Lewis combined his love of hockey and passion for history and developed two hockey-themed history courses in
the summer including "Hockey and the Canadian Identity to 1952: The Development of a National Obsession", and
"Hockey and the Canadian Identity since 1952: Canada's Game in the Cold War and Beyond".... -
Canada.com (3-3-10)
- Black History Today: A Profile of Historian Crystal Feimster:
Crystal Feimster went to college thinking she was going to be an attorney. The legal profession’s loss was history's
gain. While she was still an undergraduate at the University of North Carolina, Feimster met a string of distinguished
African-American historians who made history exciting, including Tera Hunter, Darlene Clark Hine and Clayborne
Carson....
Today, Feimster, 38, is at the forefront of a new wave of black historians exploring the forgotten nooks and
crannies of American history. This fall, she will move from Princeton, where she has been a visiting professor,
to a position in the Department of African-American Studies at Yale University. She is married to Australian
historian Daniel Bottsman, whose work centers on Japan... -
The Root (2-19-10)
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QUOTES:
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- Missing Element in Obama's Ties With G.O.P. Leaders: Good Chemistry:
"The founders' work was grounded in personal chemistry," said Ted Widmer, a presidential historian at
Brown University and former speechwriter for President Bill Clinton. "They spent endless time together. They lived
near each other in Philadelphia. They disagreed profoundly on things, but they all knew each other, and that helped."... -
NYT, 2-24-10
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INTERVIEWS:
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- Robert Dallek: All Things Considered, Obama, Congress, And The Need For Toughness:
President Obama is known for his consensus-building style. But does he have the stomach for the tactics to get
his agenda passed? President Lyndon Johnson went one-on-one with dissenting congressmen and threatened to end their
careers unless they toed the party line. Would those tactics fly today? In the wake of an unprecedented health-care
summit this week, host Guy Raz talks with historian Robert Dallek about how tough presidents have to be.... -
NPR, 2-27-10
- Jeffrey Wasserstrom: The Dalai Lama's Visit to D.C.: A Short Interview With Historian A. Tom Grunfeld:
The lead-up to the Dalia Lama's meeting with President Barack Obama at the White House last week received a great
deal of attention from the press, and there was also a considerable amount of after-the-fact assessment of the
event. In order to place what happened into a broad historical perspective, I put a few questions to A.
Tom Grunfeld, who is a past contributor to "China Beat" and the author of The Making of Modern Tibet. Here
are the results of our interview via e-mail....
Huffington Post (2-24-10)
- Michael Kazin says America is an optimistic nation -- Interview with CNN:
What does it mean when 86 percent of the Americans surveyed last week by CNN/Opinion Research Corp. say they
believe that their system of government is broken?
It probably means, Michael Kazin says, that Americans are behaving like they always do. A repeated theme in
American history, says Kazin, a historian at Georgetown University, "is Americans believing the country is in
decline and then finding ways to rebound from both the fear of decline and the problems that gave rise to
that fear."... -
CNN (2-23-10)
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AWARDS &APPOINTMENTS:
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- Robert S. McElvaine: Clintonian receives literary honor:
Historian, author and longtime Clintonian Robert S. McElvaine is a winner of the 2010 Richard Wright Literary
Excellence Award.
The honor was presented Friday at the 21st annual Natchez Literary and Cinema Celebration in Natchez. It is given
annually to honor Wright, the internationally acclaimed author and Natchez native who wrote the classic books
Black Boy and Native Son.... -
Clintonian News, 3-4-10
- Gordon S. Wood wins American History Book Prize:
The historian Gordon S. Wood won the American History Book Prize last week for "Empire of Liberty: A History of the
Early Republic, 1789-1815," an account of how America’s leaders created the country’s democratic institutions.
The award, presented by the New-York Historical Society, comes with a $50,000 prize, an engraved medal and the
title of American Historian Laureate.... -
NYT (2-28-10)
- Washington College Announces George Washington Book Prize Finalists:
The finalists are: Richard Beeman’s Plain, Honest Men: The Making of the American Constitution (Random House),
R.B. Bernstein's The Founding Fathers Reconsidered (Oxford), and Edith B Gelles' Abigail & John: Portrait of A
Marriage (William Morrow).... -
The C.V. Starr Center at Washington College
- Henry Snyder: UC - Riverside historian named Officer of the British Empire (OBE):
To the titles Recipient of a National Humanities Medal and Professor of History Emeritus at UC Riverside Henry
Snyder can add one more: Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.
The award, which is presented to few individuals outside the United Kingdom, was announced by Queen Elizabeth II
in December and will be presented to Snyder at the British embassy in Washington, D.C. in early spring.... -
UC - Riverside (2-22-10)
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SPOTTED:
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- Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. captivates Messiah College audience with lecture
on genealogy and history:
On Thursday night, before a packed audience at the Eisenhower Campus Center at Messiah College in Grantham, Gates'
formidable command of history and genealogy, plus his natural and authentic style at the podium, captivated an
audience of students, adults and dignitaries -- young, old, black and white -- with a lecture that wove personal
stories with American history, and the important implications of personal ancestry.... -
Penn Live, 2-25-10
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ANNOUNCEMENTS & EVENTS CALENDAR:
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- Spotlight, Greenwich Offering Face Time With History:
the Bruce is hosting a three-part lecture series. On Feb. 25, Philip B. Kunhardt III, a Lincoln scholar and Bard
Center Fellow (and Mr. Kunhardt Jr.'s uncle), will discuss the photographs in "Lincoln, Life-Size," which span
the period from 1857 to 1865. "I'm going to focus in on Lincoln’s face," he said, "what we can learn from it,
how it changed over time."... -
NYT, 2-21-10
- Studying and debunking Civil War myths:
Civil War history is rich with tales of blood and gore, heroism, and too many lies.
Some of the nation's pre-eminent historians will examine that history in a symposium, "Race, Slavery and the
Civil War: The Tough Stuff of American History and Memory," at Norfolk State University in September.
The conference is free and open to the public, and registration opened this week.... -
The Virginian-Pilot (3-2-10)
- Civil War Web site gears up
State promoting events for war's 150th anniversary:
With just one year to go until the Civil War's 150th anniversary, history lovers across Tennessee have taken
their battle for the past to a new front - cyberspace.
The Tennessee Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission and the state Department of Tourist Development launched a
new Web site this month to help promote events planned statewide for the war's anniversary, which will stretch
from 2011-2015.
The Web site - www.tncivilwar150.com - remains a work in progress but has already drawn praise from East
Tennessee historians and preservationists.... -
Knox News, 2-8-10
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BEST SELLERS (NYT):
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BOOKS COMING SOON:
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- Cliff Sloan: The Great Decision: Jefferson, Adams, Marshall, and the Battle for the Supreme Court,
(Paperback) March 2, 2010
- Hugh Ambrose: The Pacific, (Hardcover) March 2, 2010
- Jonathan Phillips: Holy Warriors: A Modern History of the Crusades, (Hardcover) March 9, 2010
- Thomas Asbridge: The Crusades, (Hardcover) March 9, 2010
- Bryan D. Palmer: James P. Cannon and the Origins of the American Revolutionary Left, 1890-1928 (1st Edition),
(Paperback) March 1, 2010
- C. Brian Kelly: Best Little Stories from the Civil War,
(Paperback) March 1, 2010
- Nicholas Schou: Orange Sunshine: The Brotherhood of Eternal Love and Its Quest to Spread Peace, Love, and
Acid to the World,
(Hardcover) March 16, 2010
- Timothy M. Gay: Satch, Dizzy, and Rapid Robert: The Wild Saga of Interracial Baseball Before Jackie Robinson,
(Hardcover) March 16, 2010
- Miranda Carter: George, Nicholas and Wilhelm: Three Royal Cousins and the Road to World War I,
(Hardcover) March 23, 2010
- John W. Steinberg: All the Tsar's Men: Russia's General Staff and the Fate of the Empire, 1898-1914,
(Hardcover) April 1, 2010
- Simon Dixon: Catherine the Great,
(Paperback) April 6, 2010
- J. Todd Moye: Freedom Flyers: The Tuskegee Airmen of World War II,
(Hardcover) April 12, 2010
- Seth G. Jones: In the Graveyard of Empires: America's War in Afghanistan
(Paperback) April 12, 2010
- Nick Bunker: Making Haste from Babylon: The Mayflower Pilgrims and Their World: A New History,
(Hardcover) April 13, 2010
- Dominic Lieven: Russia Against Napoleon: The True Story of the Campaigns of War and Peace,
(Hardcover), April 15, 2010
- Timothy J. Henderson: The Mexican Wars for Independence,
(Paperback) April 13, 2010
- Hampton Sides:
Hellhound on His Trail: The Stalking of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the International Hunt for His Assassin,
(Hardcover) April 27, 2010
- Max Hastings: Winston's War: Churchill, 1940-1945,
(Hardcover) April 27, 2010
- Bradley Gottfried: The Maps of Gettysburg: An Atlas of the Gettysburg Campaign, June 3 - July 13, 1863,
(Hardcover) April 19, 2010
- Kelly Hart: The Mistresses of Henry VIII, (Paperback) May 1, 2010
- Mark Puls: Henry Knox: Visionary General of the American Revolution,
(Paperback) May 11, 2010
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DEPARTED:
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- William LaFleur, noted scholar at Penn:
WILLIAM R. LaFleur was a distinguished professor of religious studies at the University of Pennsylvania,
delving into such subjects as bioethics, Zen Buddhism, Japanese culture and the like, but one subject that also
caught his interest was abortion.
He wrote on this subject in a book, "Liquid Life: Abortion and Buddhism in Japan," one of his many books on
subjects ranging from medieval literature to unethical medical research, religious thought, Zen and many
other topics.
He died of a massive heart attack Friday at the age of 73.... -
Philadelphia Daily News, 3-4-10
- Professor Jack Pole: historian of the US, dies at 87:
Professor Jack Pole was the foremost British historian of the United States in his generation, and his books and
articles won him recognition and acclaim in the highest ranks of US historians. He was an expert on the American
Revolution but he wrote on all periods and linked the history of the US to that of Britain in the 17th and 18th
centuries.
Times Online (UK) (2-16-10)
- David Bankier, Scholar of Holocaust, Dies at 63:
David Bankier, who helped expand the contours of Holocaust research by examining the participation of ordinary
Europeans in the extermination of their Jewish neighbors, died over the weekend after a long illness, Yad Vashem,
the Jerusalem Holocaust center, announced. He was 63.
Mr. Bankier, who was head of the International Institute for Holocaust Research at Yad Vashem, focused his
scholarly work on anti-Semitism, especially its use by the Nazis to promote and sustain a broader ideology.
He was the author of "Germans and the Final Solution: Public Opinion Under Nazism" as well as a collection
of essays, "Hitler, the Holocaust and German Society: Cooperation and Awareness.".... -
NYT (2-28-10)
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POLITICAL HIGHLIGHTS:
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IN FOCUS:
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- Books on Abraham Lincoln:
Michael Burlingame offers a Presidents Day reading list: Distinctive personal portraits of Abraham Lincoln.... -
1. Honor's Voice, By Douglas L. Wilson, Knopf, 1998
2. The Young Eagle, By Kenneth J. Winkle, Taylor, 2001
3. Lincoln's Melancholy, By Joshua Wolf Shenk, Houghton Mifflin, 2005
4. Mrs. Lincoln and Mrs. Keckly, By Jennifer Fleischner, Broadway, 2003
5. Herndon's Lincoln, By William H. Herndon and Jesse W. Weik, University of Illinois, 2006 -
WSJ, 2-13-10
- Test your knowledge of presidential history:
Ultimately, the Founding Fathers rejected the prevailing concept of governance at the time - a monarch - in setting
up an infant nation, opting instead for someone a little closer to home.
The President....
And because we put so much faith in one man - no women, yet - we want to know as much about him as possible. So
as we recognize Presidents Day today, it might be a good time to determine just what we do know about the presidents
who've come and gone.... -
The Gainsville Sun, 2-15-10
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HISTORY NEWS:
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- Faulkner Link to Plantation Diary Discovered:
The climactic moment in William Faulkner’s 1942 novel "Go Down, Moses" comes when Isaac McCaslin finally decides to
open his grandfather’s leather farm ledgers with their "scarred and cracked backs" and "yellowed pages scrawled in
fading ink" — proof of his family’s slave-owning past. Now, what appears to be the document on which Faulkner
modeled that ledger as well as the source for myriad names, incidents and details that populate his fictionalized
Yoknapatawpha County has been discovered.... -
NYT, 2-11-10
- Niall Ferguson: Sex and summitry: the rise of the raunchy summit:
So now we know what it takes to remove leading public intellectuals from their studies and source-notes.
Niall Ferguson, TV historian, neo-Conservative and heart-throb of the conference circuit, has left his wife
for the terrifyingly glamorous feminist writer, Ayaan Hirsi Ali.... -
UK Standard, 2-11-10
- Snow Is No Longer a Joking Matter in Washington
For what might be the first time ever, says Fred Beuttler, the House's deputy historian, the chamber's cafeteria
was forced to close... -
Time, 2-10-10
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REVIEWS & FIRST CHAPTERS:
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- Andrew Young's Memoir of John Edwards:
THE POLITICIAN
An Insider's Account of John Edwards's Pursuit of the Presidency and the Scandal That Brought Him Down
In "The Politician," Young, a longtime aide to John Edwards, ventilates his abhorrence for former Senator Edwards
and his wife, Elizabeth, both of whom he seems to have undertaken Stakhanovite efforts to please.... -
NYT, 2-12-10
Excerpt
- Jerry Z. Muller: Jews and the Burden of Money:
CAPITALISM AND THE JEWS -
In his slim essay collection "Capitalism and the Jews," Jerry Z. Muller presents a provocative and accessible survey of how Jewish culture and historical accident ripened Jews for commercial success and why that success has earned them so much misfortune.
NYT, 2-12-10
- James S. Hirsch: A Nice Guy in a Perfect Baseball World:
WILLIE MAYS
The Life, the Legend
James S. Hirsch's new book, "Willie Mays: The Life, the Legend," is the first biography written with Mays’s participation.
(Mr. Hirsch and Mays intend to split the book’s earnings.) The result is an authoritative if sometimes listless book,
one that’s less "Say Hey" than so-so. Like a long out to center field that scores a runner, however, it’s a book that
gets the job done... -
NYT, 2-12-10
Excerpt
- Michael Shelden: Books of The Times Mark Twain: A Public Image as Tailored as His Snow-White Suits:
MARK TWAIN: MAN IN WHITE
The Grand Adventure of His Final Years
As Michael Shelden illustrates in his lively, star-struck and surprise-filled portrait of Twain the septuagenarian,
this kind of behavior was carefully calculated. Twain made crucial, image-shaping decisions about how he would live
his last years, and Mr. Shelden takes his book’s title from one of these choices... -
NYT, 2-12-10
Excerpt
- Kevin Boyle: Book review of 'Root and Branch' by Rawn James, Jr.:
ROOT AND BRANCH
Charles Hamilton Houston, Thurgood Marshall, and the Struggle to End Segregation
In "Root and Branch," Rawn James, Jr. isn't trying to add to that imposing scholarship as much as he's trying to
give it a popular spin. A Washington lawyer, he moves nimbly through the complex legal issues Houston and his team
raised. To add a poignant touch, he interweaves Houston's and Marshall's powerful personal stories. And he gives
their campaign a stirringly triumphal arc, the story of a whole nation being forced -- by the fierce will of two
learned men -- to overcome.... -
WaPo, 2-12-10
- PUBLIC POLICY
Book review: 'The Great American University,' by Jonathan R. Cole:
THE GREAT AMERICAN UNIVERSITY
Its Rise to Preeminence, Its Indispensable National Role, Why It Must Be Protected
Our high schools may be hurting, but the best U.S. universities -- the Ivies, Johns Hopkins, Stanford, the select
state universities (Virginia, California at Berkeley, Michigan and others) -- are the envy of the world. In his
new book, Jonathan R. Cole, a former provost and dean of faculties at Columbia, shows how our research universities
in particular came to be what they are... -
WaPo, 2-12-10
- Book review: 'Inside Obama's Brain,' by Sasha Abamsky:
INSIDE OBAMA'S BRAIN -
Sasha Abramsky promises us a glimpse in "Inside Obama's Brain." He tells us right away what his book is not: It's not
a biography, not political history, not inside-the-Beltway prattle. It is, he says, "a psychological profile
writ large."... -
WaPo, 2-12-10
- Bettye Collier-Thomas: Faith-Based Defiance:
JESUS, JOBS, AND JUSTICE
African American Women and Religion
In "Jesus, Jobs, and Justice," Bettye Collier-Thomas, a professor of history at Temple University, tells
the untold stories of scores of religious and politically active black women, their organizations, informal
gatherings and intellectual movements. For readers who imagine that the religious and political activism of
Sojourner Truth, Mary McLeod Bethune and Rosa Parks is exceptional, the book will be a revelation.... -
NYT, 2-5-10
- SUSAN RUBIN SULEIMAN on Frederick Brown: French Contentions:
FOR THE SOUL OF FRANCE
Culture Wars in the Age of Dreyfus
The real question for the opposing camps was not whether Alfred Dreyfus was guilty or innocent, but whether France
itself was to be modern or traditional, cosmopolitan or nationalist, Catholic or secular, a republic or a
monarchy. The struggle, as Frederick Brown puts it in “For the Soul of France,” his briskly paced and highly
readable book, was between “champions and foes of the Enlightenment.” -
NYT, 2-5-10
- Rebecca Skloot: Eternal Life:
THE IMMORTAL LIFE OF HENRIETTA LACKS
In “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,” Rebecca Skloot introduces us to the “real live woman,” the children who survived her, and the interplay of race, poverty, science and one of the most important medical discoveries of the last 100 years. -
NYT, 2-5-10 -
Excerpt
- Charles Pellegrino Book review: 'The Last Train from Hiroshima'
THE LAST TRAIN FROM HIROSHIMA The Survivors Look Back
But the tragedies and atrocities of World War II now belong to history, while Hiroshima is still part of our
world, our continuing present, maybe our dreaded future.
"The Last Train from Hiroshima" reminds us why this is so. Charles Pellegrino's account of what it was actually
like on the ground in both Hiroshima and Nagasaki, culled from survivors' memories and his own work in forensic
archaeology, is the most powerful and detailed I have ever read. It puts flesh on the skeletons.... -
WaPo, 2-7-10
- Garry Wills: Book review: 'Bomb Power':
BOMB POWER
The Modern Presidency and the National Security State
Gary Wills begins his provocative account of the atomic bomb's impact on the republic with a high-detonation assertion....
The ensuing pages carry the reader through well-written, sometimes exciting vignettes of the bomb's damage to liberty and constitutional checks and balances.
WaPo, 2-7-10
- Jonathan R. Cole: Tales Out of School:
THE GREAT AMERICAN UNIVERSITY
Its Rise to Preeminence, Its Indispensable National Role, Why It Must Be Protected
As provost of Columbia University for 14 years and a professor of sociology and dean of faculties before that, Jonathan R. Cole is in an excellent position to write about the rise of the American research university and its special contribution to American life. In “The Great American University,”he makes a case for the extraordinary role such institutions play in improving our daily lives. He also argues that these “jewels in our nation’s crown” face a host of serious threats.
NYT, 2-5-10
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FEATURES:
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- Tomb May Hold Answer to How Much Shakespeare Actually Wrote:
A sarcophagus in an English parish church built by the writer Fulke Greville, a Shakespeare contemporary, could
contain clues about several works traditionally attributed to Shakespeare.
St. Mary’s Church in Warwick, England, contains a tomb that parishioners believe may contain clues about
Shakespeare's work. The church was built by Fulke Greville, a "prominent 17th-century nobleman, ... scholar,
soldier, statesman," spy, writer and Shakespeare contemporary who "some believe is the true author of several of
the Bard's works," according to the Daily Telegraph. -
Finding Dulcinea, 2-15-10
- HOW CHRISTIAN WERE THE FOUNDERS?
The Christian "truth" about America's founding has long been taught in Christian schools, but not beyond. Recently,
however — perhaps out of ire at what they see as an aggressive, secular, liberal agenda in Washington and perhaps
also because they sense an opening in the battle, a sudden weakness in the lines of the secularists — some activists
decided that the time was right to try to reshape the history that children in public schools study. Succeeding at
this would help them toward their ultimate goal of reshaping American society. As Cynthia Dunbar, another Christian
activist on the Texas board, put it, "The philosophy of the classroom in one generation will be the philosophy of
the government in the next." -
San Francisco Sentinel, 2-14-10
- Changing History Four new ways to write the story of the world:
The fame of Howard Zinn, who died a week and a half ago, rested on his long record of challenging the status quo.
As a young professor, he was a leader of the civil rights and antiwar movements, and throughout his career he was an
inveterate demonstrator and speaker at rallies and strikes. His writings brought formerly obscure events like Bacon’s
Rebellion, the Great Railroad Strike of 1877, and the Philippine-American War into the light, arguing that such
popular uprisings - and their brutal suppression - were central to the American story. It’s a vision that resonated
with readers: Zinn’s 1980 book, “A People’s History of the United States,” has sold more than 2 million copies....
Boston Globe, 2-7-10
- A Chronicler of the World Now Looks Inward:
In one of the short personal reminiscences that the historian Tony Judt has been writing for The New York Review
of Books he mentions that he was part of the “lucky generation” born in the affluent West after World War II,
free to indulge in daydreams and passions.
Mr. Judt’s world, sadly, has contracted considerably. Now 62, he learned about 16 months ago that he has a
form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or A.L.S., commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, and since then he
has lost the ability to move nearly every muscle in his body, including those that help him breathe and swallow.... -
NYT, 2-8-10
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QUOTES:
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- Mark Dyreson "It's a weird world of sports, but Winter Games have charms too":
"Part of the reason we don't get the Winter Games is that we just don't understand the sports -- 300,000 Swedes
lining a snow-covered path to watch people skiing strikes us as absurd," said Mark Dyreson, sports historian and
professor at Penn State. "But part of it is also bald nationalism. We don't like it because we're not top dog." -
LAT, 2-12-10
- On Religion A Rare Blend, Pro Football and Hasidic Judaism:
For Jews, abundant as fans but uncommon as top players, the visibility of a Shlomo Veingrad serves both
reassuring and cathartic roles. Having a Jew to root for — whether Hank Greenberg, Sandy Koufax or the
Israeli N.B.A. rookie Omri Casspi — "has a lot to do with our desire to define ourselves as Americans in
the most American way, which is sports," said Jeffrey S. Gurock, a history professor at Yeshiva University
and the author of "Judaism’s Encounter With American Sports."
At a deeper and more anxious level, American Jews continue to grapple with the stereotypical view of the Jew as
egghead, nerd, weakling. That dismissive portrayal was a staple not only of anti-Semites, but also of early
Zionists, who envisioned their "new man" with his plow and rifle as the antidote to the "golus Yid,"
the exilic Jew unable even to defend himself.
"I don’t think those feelings are as conscious as in prior generations, but they still have some resonance,"
Professor Gurock said in a telephone interview. "So there’s a residual pride of someone achieving in this
very secular world of sports." -
NYT, 2-6-10
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INTERVIEWS:
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- Michael Kazin: What's Behind The New Populism?:
In the year 2010, what is populism?
It is as it has always been: the language of people who see ordinary people as a noble group and the elite class as self-serving. This year, the elites are perceived as Wall Street, the Obama administration and Democrats who want to increase the size of government. The left and right have been arguing in populist terms — whether the big evil is big government or big business — since the 1930s.
NPR, 2-5-10
- Brown's Entry Ends Democrats' Supermajority:
Republican Scott Brown was sworn in Thursday as the 41st Republican in the U.S. Senate. His election ends the
Democratic supermajority in the chamber.
WELNA: Senate Historian Don Ritchie says years ago it was normal that Republicans and Democrats would cross the aisle on key votes. He says its lately become normal that they dont.
Mr. DON RITCHIE (Senate Historian): The two parties are much more internally cohesive than they ever were before. The ideological spectrum inside the Democratic conference and inside the Republican conference is much narrower than it was before, and they tend to vote together.
WBUR, NPR, 2-4-10
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AWARDS &APPOINTMENTS:
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- Michael Burlingame "UIS professor wins 2010 Lincoln Prize":
Authorities at the University of Illinois Springfield have announced two new honors for Professor Michael
Burlingame, a noted Abraham Lincoln scholar.
On Thursday, Burlingame was installed as holder of the Naomi Lynn Distinguished Chair of Lincoln Studies. On
Friday, it was announced that Burlingame has won the 2010 Lincoln Prize for his two-volume "Abraham Lincoln: A Life,"
published last year by Johns Hopkins University Press.... -
Chicago Tribune, 2-12-10
- Anna Pegler-Gordon: Professor wins book prize:
Anna Pegler-Gordon, an associate professor in MSU's James Madison College was awarded the 2009 Theodore Saloutos
book prize of the Immigration and Ethnic History Society for her book.
Pegler-Gordon, who also is acting director of the Asian Pacific American Studies Program, won the award for the
book “In Sight of America: Photography and the Development of U.S. Immigration Policy.” -
MSU State News, 2-9-10
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SPOTTED:
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- How Dovid Katz Thirst For Jewish History
Rabbi Dovid Katz’s unique perspectives bend minds and preconceived notions:
On a cold and misty Saturday evening, the small sanctuary at Beth Abraham Congregation in Northwest Baltimore is
packed to overflowing. Men and women, young and old, Orthodox and Conservative, Reform and non-affiliated, have
all come to hear about modern Jewish history.
The speaker is Dovid Katz, the rabbi of Beth Abraham (known widely as "Hertzberg’s Shul"), who also happens to
hold a Ph.D. in Jewish history and is attracting large audiences to his current 12-part lecture series — most
of whom find his talks entertaining, interesting and informative. That’s one reason why the program is
underwritten by the Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore, and co-sponsored by a number
of local businesses and individuals.... -
Baltimore Jewish Times,
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ANNOUNCEMENTS & EVENTS CALENDAR:
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- Noted historian to examine 'grand strategy':
"The Nuts and Bolts of Grand Strategy" is the title of a lecture by Yale University historian Paul Kennedy set
for 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 18, in 16 Robertson Hall. -
Princeton, 2-15-10
- Civil War Web site gears up
State promoting events for war's 150th anniversary:
With just one year to go until the Civil War's 150th anniversary, history lovers across Tennessee have taken
their battle for the past to a new front - cyberspace.
The Tennessee Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission and the state Department of Tourist Development launched a
new Web site this month to help promote events planned statewide for the war's anniversary, which will stretch
from 2011-2015.
The Web site - www.tncivilwar150.com - remains a work in progress but has already drawn praise from East
Tennessee historians and preservationists.... -
Knox News, 2-8-10
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BEST SELLERS (NYT):
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BOOKS COMING SOON:
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- Jordan Goodman: The Devil and Mr. Casement: One Man's Battle for Human Rights in South America's Heart of Darkness,
(Hardcover) February 16, 2010
- Ken Gormley: The Death of American Virtue: Clinton vs. Starr
(Hardcover), February 16, 2010
- Jeffrey Race: War Comes to Long An: Revolutionary Conflict in a Vietnamese Province (Updated),
(Paperback) February 16, 2010
- Patrick Tyler: World of Trouble: The White House and the Middle East--from the Cold War to the War on Terror,
(Paperback) February 16, 2010
- Susan Wise Bauer:
The History of the Medieval World: From the Conversion of Constantine to the First Crusade, (Hardcover)
February 22, 2010
- Richard J. Evans: The Third Reich at War (Paperback) February 23, 2010
- Cliff Sloan: The Great Decision: Jefferson, Adams, Marshall, and the Battle for the Supreme Court,
(Paperback) March 2, 2010
- Hugh Ambrose: The Pacific, (Hardcover) March 2, 2010
- Jonathan Phillips: Holy Warriors: A Modern History of the Crusades, (Hardcover) March 9, 2010
- Thomas Asbridge: The Crusades, (Hardcover) March 9, 2010
- Bryan D. Palmer: James P. Cannon and the Origins of the American Revolutionary Left, 1890-1928 (1st Edition),
(Paperback) March 1, 2010
- C. Brian Kelly: Best Little Stories from the Civil War,
(Paperback) March 1, 2010
- Nicholas Schou: Orange Sunshine: The Brotherhood of Eternal Love and Its Quest to Spread Peace, Love, and
Acid to the World,
(Hardcover) March 16, 2010
- Timothy M. Gay: Satch, Dizzy, and Rapid Robert: The Wild Saga of Interracial Baseball Before Jackie Robinson,
(Hardcover) March 16, 2010
- Miranda Carter: George, Nicholas and Wilhelm: Three Royal Cousins and the Road to World War I,
(Hardcover) March 23, 2010
- John W. Steinberg: All the Tsar's Men: Russia's General Staff and the Fate of the Empire, 1898-1914,
(Hardcover) April 1, 2010
- Simon Dixon: Catherine the Great,
(Paperback) April 6, 2010
- J. Todd Moye: Freedom Flyers: The Tuskegee Airmen of World War II,
(Hardcover) April 12, 2010
- Seth G. Jones: In the Graveyard of Empires: America's War in Afghanistan
(Paperback) April 12, 2010
- Nick Bunker: Making Haste from Babylon: The Mayflower Pilgrims and Their World: A New History,
(Hardcover) April 13, 2010
- Dominic Lieven: Russia Against Napoleon: The True Story of the Campaigns of War and Peace,
(Hardcover), April 15, 2010
- Timothy J. Henderson: The Mexican Wars for Independence,
(Paperback) April 13, 2010
- Hampton Sides:
Hellhound on His Trail: The Stalking of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the International Hunt for His Assassin,
(Hardcover) April 27, 2010
- Max Hastings: Winston's War: Churchill, 1940-1945,
(Hardcover) April 27, 2010
- Bradley Gottfried: The Maps of Gettysburg: An Atlas of the Gettysburg Campaign, June 3 - July 13, 1863,
(Hardcover) April 19, 2010
- Kelly Hart: The Mistresses of Henry VIII, (Paperback) May 1, 2010
- Mark Puls: Henry Knox: Visionary General of the American Revolution,
(Paperback) May 11, 2010
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DEPARTED:
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- Hawaii author and historian Bob Dye dead at 81:
Honolulu author, historian and journalist Bob Dye died Friday following a long illness. He was 81.
Dye wrote "Merchant Prince of the Sandalwood Mountains: Afong and the Chinese in Hawai'i," about the first
Chinese millionaire in Hawai'i, and he was the editor of "Hawai'i Chronicles II and III.".... -
Honolulu Advertiser, 2-6-10
- Hans L. Trefousse, Historian and Author, Dies at 88:
Sometimes the least prepossessing American presidents are the most enduringly interesting. That is certainly the
case for Andrew Johnson. His impeachment trial of 1868 was in the news again in the late 1990s, during the
impeachment proceedings against President Bill Clinton.... -
NYT, 2-4-10
- Daniel Randall Beirne: Army officer who went on to become a history and sociology professor and expert
on Baltimore history:
Daniel Randall Beirne, a West Pointer and retired Army officer who later had a second career as a University
of Baltimore professor of sociology and history and was considered an authority on Baltimore history, died
Wednesday of heart failure at his East Lake Avenue home. He was 85.... -
Baltimore Sun, 2-6-10
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POLITICAL HIGHLIGHTS:
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HISTORY NEWS:
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- FDR Defenders Top List Of Absurd Holocaust Statements:
This is one "top ten" list no author wants to find himself on.
The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies has just released its annual list of the "ten most absurd
statements about the Allies' response to the Holocaust." Those who made the 2009 list range from old time
Franklin Roosevelt diehards to legitimate historians who should know better.
The Wyman Institute publishes the list each year in conjunction with International Holocaust Remembrance Day,
which is commemorated on January 27, the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.... -
Jewish Press, 1-27-10
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OP-EDs:
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- Jonathan Zimmerman: GOP due for another purge
With the "birthers" making inroads in Congress, paranoia is back in style:
So here's a question for Scott Brown as he prepares to enter the U.S. Senate: Do you believe President Obama was
born in the United States?
And here's why it needs to be asked: Many "Tea Party" activists who backed Brown think Obama was born overseas,
which would make him constitutionally ineligible to be president. Somehow, these folks insist, the most closely
observed man on the planet managed to keep his origins a secret from everyone - except them.
In short, they're paranoid.... -
Philadelphia Inquirer, 2-2-10
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REVIEWS & FIRST CHAPTERS:
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- Jeffrey H. Jackson: Après le Déluge:
PARIS UNDER WATER
How the City of Light Survived the Great Flood of 1910:
...Jackson, a professor of history at Rhodes College in Memphis, explains in an afterword that he discovered the
story of the Paris flood not long before Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans, and parallels between the
two catastrophes are apparent throughout the book.... -
NYT, 1-29-10
- Jeffrey H. Jackson:
Book review: 'Paris Under Water' by Jeffrey Jackson
PARIS UNDER WATER
How the City of Light Survived the Great Flood of 1910 -
WaPo, 1-29-10
- Christopher Andrew: Smiley's People:
DEFEND THE REALM The Authorized History of MI5
In order to write this compendious but highly readable book, Christopher Andrew, a professor of modern and
contemporary history at Cambridge University, and his team of researchers plowed through some 400,000 MI5 files.
Marking the 100th anniversary of the service, "Defend the Realm" shines a penetrating light into some of the
darkest corners of a secret world. It is not only a work of meticulous scholarship but also a series of
riveting and true spy stories.... -
NYT, 1-29-10
- Christopher Andrew:
DEFEND THE REALM The Authorized History of MI5 Excerpt -
NYT, 1-29-10
- ANDREW WHEATCROFT on Matthew Carr: Cast Away:
BLOOD AND FAITH The Purging of Muslim Spain
Who remembers the last survivors of Muslim Spain, whom Spaniards contemptuously
called Moriscos ("little Moors")? Impressive research on them has appeared in the last 30 years, yet until
now, none of it has escaped beyond the walls of the academic ghetto. Matthew Carr's well-balanced and
comprehensive book brings the story of their tragic fate to a wider public.... -
NYT, 1-29-10
- Paul Strathern: Book review: 'The Artist, the Philosopher, and the Warrior' by Paul Strathern:
THE ARTIST, THE PHILOSOPHER, AND THE WARRIOR
The Intersecting Lives of da Vinci, Machiavelli, and Borgia and the World They Shaped
Five hundred years after his death, Cesare Borgia still ranks as one of history's most reprehensible figures:
ruthless, power-hungry and peacock-vain. But his reputation as a brute obscures the full human dimensions of
this duke who sought to reunite Italy and place himself at the head of a new Roman Empire. As Paul Strathern
explains in his masterful narrative history, "The Artist, the Philosopher, and the Warrior," Borgia was also
brilliant, handsome, charismatic and well-versed in the classics, "a superb exemplar of the Renaissance man."... -
WaPo, 1-29-10
- The all-powerful American president
Garry Wills, in a new book, says Congress and the courts have become immaterial:
It's time we revised our eighth-grade social studies textbooks. America has no presidency any longer,
but a monarchy.
Absurd? Historian Garry Wills says it isn't that far from the truth.
So he argues in his new book, Bomb Power: The Modern Presidency and the National Security State.
An exquisitely researched, passionately written political history, Bomb Power argues that for the last six
decades, an increasingly militarized presidency has usurped power once limited to Congress and the courts.... -
Philadelphia Inquirer, 2-1-10
- McGraw-Hill Contemporizes Classic Text 'From Slavery to Freedom' to Bring African American History
into the 21st Century:
Renowned historian and author John Hope Franklin hands down his work to Harvard's Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham... -
PR Newswire
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FEATURES:
|
- Vince Leggett: Historian seeks Chesapeake Bay's hidden past:
Looking at blacks in history, including Underground Railroad -
Baltimore Sun, 1-31-10
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QUOTES:
|
- Chester Pach: Obama isn't alone among presidents with first-year frustrations:
"People are starting to blame him for things not getting better," Chester Pach, a presidential historian
and a professor at Ohio University. "My guess is that until the economy improves substantially, his ratings
are going to stay somewhere between 45 and 55 percent," or just south of so-so, historically speaking.... -
Kansas City Star, 1-30-10
- Stephen Hess: Obama isn't alone among presidents with first-year frustrations:
Historians say the economy isn't all that drives these ratings. "A lot has to do with the type of leader you are,"
said Stephen Hess of the Brookings Institute.
Contrary to Reagan's rosy persona in the face of recession, "Obama, he's kind of a cool cat," which may not
seem so cool to people losing jobs, Hess said.
"In the long term, we might all be thankful for having an intellectual, farsighted president," Hess said. "But in the short term, people trying to feed
their families aren’t so generous." -
Kansas City Star, 1-30-10
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AWARDS &APPOINTMENTS:
|
- ASU prof to co-host PBS series:
Eduardo Obregón Pagán, an associate professor of history and American studies, has been signed as a permanent
co-host for History Detectives.... -
Latino Perspectives, 2-10
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SPOTTED:
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- UT professors offer perspective, predictions about the future:
Predicting the future has always fascinated mankind.
"Among some, it's known as the world's second-oldest profession," said Michael Stoff, a history professor at
the University of Texas.
Stoff and three other UT professors headlined a program called "Perspectives on the Future" at the Park City
Club in Dallas.... -
Dallas News, 1-31-10
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ANNOUNCEMENTS & EVENTS CALENDAR:
|
- Museum Review: International Civil Rights Center and Museum
Four Men, a Counter and Soon, Revolution:
The International Civil Rights Center and Museum is at 132 South Elm Street,
Greensboro, N.C.; (336) 274-9199, sitinmovement.org
One of the achievements of the International Civil Rights Center and Museum, which is opening Monday in that
former Woolworth building, is that you begin to understand how such a place became a pivot in the greatest political
movement of the 20th century.... -
NYT, 1-31-10
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BEST SELLERS (NYT):
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BOOKS COMING SOON:
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- Andrew Young: The Politician: An Insider's Account of John Edwards's Pursuit of the Presidency and the Scandal That
Brought Him Down (Hardcover) Feb 2, 2010
- Charles Lachman: The Last Lincolns: The Rise & Fall of a Great American Family
(Paperback), February 2, 2010
- S. M. Plokhy: Yalta: The Price of Peace
(Hardcover), February 4, 2010
- Richard Beeman: Plain, Honest Men: The Making of the American Constitution
(Paperback), February 9, 2010
- Philip Dray:
Capitol Men: The Epic Story of Reconstruction Through the Lives of the First Black Congressmen
(Paperback) February 11, 2010
- Ken Gormley: The Death of American Virtue: Clinton vs. Starr
(Hardcover), February 16, 2010
- Susan Wise Bauer:
The History of the Medieval World: From the Conversion of Constantine to the First Crusade, (Hardcover)
February 22, 2010
- Richard J. Evans: The Third Reich at War (Paperback) February 23, 2010
- Seth G. Jones: In the Graveyard of Empires: America's War in Afghanistan
(Paperback) April 12, 2010
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DEPARTED:
|
- Louis R. Harlan, Historian of Booker T. Washington, Dies at 87:
Louis R. Harlan, whose definitive two-volume biography of Booker T. Washington convincingly embraced its
subject’s daunting complexities and ambiguities and won both the Bancroft Prize and the Pulitzer Prize,
died on Jan. 22 in Lexington, Va. He was 87.
The cause was liver failure, said his wife, Sadie. -
NYT, 1-29-10
- Howard Zinn, Historian, Is Dead at 87:
Howard Zinn, historian and shipyard worker, civil rights activist and World War II bombardier, and author of
"A People's History of the United States," a best seller that inspired a generation of high school and college
students to rethink American history, died Wednesday in Santa Monica, Calif. He was 87 and lived in Auburndale, Mass.
The cause was a heart attack he had while swimming, his family said.... -
NYT, 1-28-10
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Support the Earthquake Recovery Efforts in Haiti:
clintonbushhaitifund.org/
POLITICAL HIGHLIGHTS:
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HISTORY NEWS:
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- Couple finds Thomas Jefferson letter at Old Town Alexandria's American Legion -
WaPo, 1-25-10
- Historical Society to Open a Children's Museum:
When thinking of ways to spend a rainy Saturday afternoon, studying history is not high on the list for most
families. Now, in a bid to make history more vivid, alluring and accessible for the Wii generation, an interactive
"museum within a museum," focusing on the lives of young New Yorkers, will open in November 2011 on the lower
level of the New-York Historical Society, museum officials said.... -
NYT, 1-22-10
- Arnved Nedkvitne: NORWAY: Sacked professor sues the state:
Earlier this month, five days were spent in an Oslo court to hear testimonies in a case where sacked University
of Oslo Professor Arnved Nedkvitne is suing the Norwegian government. Professor Arnved Nedkvitne has demanded he
either be reinstated as a full professor in medieval history or paid financial compensation until he reaches
pension age.... -
University World News, 1-24-10
- White House welcomes KU professor:
President Obama has made a Jayhawk one of the newest members of his administration.
Karl Brooks, associate professor in the history and environmental studies departments, will serve as one of 10
regional administrators for the Environmental Protection Agency. Brooks will be the head of Region 7, based in
Kansas City, Kan, which covers Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska and nine tribal nations.... -
University Daily Kansan, 1-25-10
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OP-EDs:
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- HAROLD M. HYMAN: Fight over 'Negro' has a sad history:
The headline over Chronicle reporter Mike Tolson's article said, "Sparks fly over use of ‘Negro' by Census"
(Page A1, Jan. 14). "Not so long ago," the article noted correctly, "the word [Negro] was considered benign,
a means of racial identification much preferred to crude colloquial alternatives. For recent generations
[however], the word Negro, with the N capitalized, is at best archaic and at worst is seen as racist, a
holdover from Jim Crow days."
Tolson's commendable insight deserves a further dig into relevant history. It's not a pretty tale.... -
Houston Chronicle, 1-23-10
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REVIEWS & FIRST CHAPTERS:
|
- Walter Isaacson on Garry Wills, John Yoo: Who Declares War?:
CRISIS AND COMMAND The History of Executive Power From George Washington to George W. Bush,
BOMB POWER The Modern Presidency and the National Security State
In "Crisis and Command," his sweeping history of presidential prerogatives, John Yoo argues that national security crises
inevitably ratchet up the power of the president at the expense of Congress. "War acts on executive power as an
accelerant," he writes, "causing it to burn hotter, brighter and swifter." In "Bomb Power," Garry Wills argues much
the same thing, adding that the advent of atomic weapons has made this concentration of power in the White House
even greater. "The executive power increased decade by decade," he writes, "reaching a new high in the 21st century —
a continuous story of unidirectional increase." Where the two authors disagree is on whether this trend should be
celebrated or denounced. Yoo finds increased executive power appealing and in accord with the Constitution. Wills
finds it appalling and a constitutional travesty.... -
NYT, 1-22-10
- Joyce Appleby: Capitalist Chameleon:
THE RELENTLESS REVOLUTION A History of Capitalism
Appleby, a distinguished historian who has dedicated her career to studying the origins of capitalism
in the Anglo-American world, here broadens her scope to take in the global history of capitalism in all
its creative — and destructive — glory... -
NYT, 1-22-10
- Alison Weir: Anne Boleyn, Queen for a Day:
THE LADY IN THE TOWER The Fall of Anne Boleyn
Alison Weir, a respected and popular historian, has already written about Anne in "The Six Wives of Henry VIII" and
"Henry VIII: The King and His Court." Her new book focuses on the last few months of Anne’s life. She has sifted the
sources, examining their reliability. Doubts have already been cast on Weir’s assumptions; the historian John Guy
has recently suggested that two sources she took to be mutually corroborating are in fact one and the same person.... -
NYT, 1-22-10
- Alison Weir: THE LADY IN THE TOWER The Fall of Anne Boleyn, Excerpt
Chapter 1: Occurrences That Presaged Evil -
NYT, 1-22-10
- Mary Elise Sarotte: The Year That Was:
1989 The Struggle to Create Post-Cold War Europe
But this order of things was hardly inevitable, as Mary Elise Sarotte, a professor of international relations
at the University of Southern California, reminds us in "1989: The Struggle to Create Post-Cold War Europe."
Between the wall’s opening (November 1989) and Germany's unification (October 1990), history lurched forward
with no fixed destination. Sarotte describes a host of competing conceptions of post-cold-war Europe that
flourished, mutated and perished in the maelstrom of events that led up to German unity. In the end, the visions
of President George H. W. Bush and Chancellor Helmut Kohl prevailed — which may not necessarily have been the
best of all possible outcomes, though Sarotte stops short of this conclusion.... -
NYT, 1-22-10
- Donald Kagan: History and its flaws seen in Thucydides:
Thucydides The Reinvention of History
This is an important book, largely right and largely misguided, by one of the most eminent scholars in the field.
Kagan, who is Sterling Professor of Classics and History at Yale University, is a foremost authority on the
Peloponnesian wars (431-404 B.C.), that interminable, swampy, wasteful, and tragic attrition-match between Sparta
and Athens, which ended in disaster for Athens and the end of its democracy and empire.
That means he's also a scholar of Thucydides (circa 460-395 B.C.), the historian of those wars. Kagan's utter
mastery is on display in this vigorous, elegantly written, provocative book. Thucydides is persuasive about
its namesake as a great (if willful and biased) historian, but not in its broader aim: to retell the story of
the wars themselves.... -
Philadelphia Inquirer, 1-30-10
- Paul Johnson's Churchill:
According to the British historian Walter Reid, some 1,663 books have been written on Winston Churchill. The latest
addition to this extensive list, Paul Johnson's biography, Churchill, may be one of the shortest -- and one of
the most enjoyable.... -
American Spectator, 1-11-10
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FEATURES:
|
- Charles Joyner: Conservative exterior, colorful exterior:
This is certainly not the kind of intro learned folks would expect from a 75-year-old professor popular, in part,
for penning a book about slavery in a South Carolina community called "Down by the Riverside."
Joyner was recently honored at a meeting of the Southern Historical Association. The group of more than 5,000
historians from around the globe celebrated "Down by the Riverside" as a model for scholarship combining local
and universal viewpoints.... -
Sun News, 1-24-10
- Patrick Bellegarde-Smith: UWM professor holds hope for rebuilding Haiti:
Patrick Bellegarde-Smith, who was born in Haiti, is a professor of Africology at the University of Wisconsin-
Milwaukee and an expert on Haiti and its Vodou religion. At least nine of his relatives died in the earthquake.... -
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 1-22-10
- Barry Goldberg: Professor Mines History to Show How
Americans Create Conceptions of the Past:
Barry Goldberg, Ph.D., says that while early members of the American labor
movement compared their situation to that of slaves, many were explicitly racist.... -
Fordham Online, 1-19-10
- William Styple: Chatham historian compiles forgotten notes about Lincoln into a book:
William Styple, a Chatham author and historian recently published his latest book, "Tell Me of Lincoln, Memories of
Abraham Lincoln, the Civil War and Life in Old New York."
The book is based on notes by James Edward Kelly (1855 to 1933) who was an artist and sculptor of public monuments.
Kelly possessed a life long fascination with the Civil War and wanted to create a realistic statue of President
Lincoln. To do so, he interviewed more than 50 people who had known the 16th president. Kelly died prior to
completing his Lincoln sculpture; however he kept thousands of pages of notes. Styple discovered these notes at
the New York Historical Society.
Independent Press, 1-22-10
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QUOTES:
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- Obamas' carefully crafted image of ordinariness may be working
'If you were to create the perfect American family in the laboratory, the Obamas would be it,'
says one observer.
"Who could possibly dispute or do anything but admire her involvement with military families or planting vegetable
gardens?" said Richard Norton Smith, a presidential historian. "Both are safe."
"Their appeal," said Ted Widmer, a professor of history at Brown University and a former advisor to President
Clinton, "is that they reach out to so many people." -
LAT, 1-25-10
- Deborah Lipstadt: Evolution of International Holocaust Day reflects changing times:
Deborah Lipstadt, an Emory University historian who has written widely about the phenomenon of Holocaust denial,
said she was "gratified as a historian that there is this attention to this event that is now in the past,
especially as the survivor generation is passing."
But, she said, "One hopes that there is attention in a deeper way: to examine how this emerged and happened,
while the world stood silently by." -
JTA, 1-20-10
- Stephanie Coontz: Study: Marriage benefits men economically, too:
"Just as women are saying they want more from marriage than an economic security blanket, men are more open to
marrying women with more education and earnings," says historian Stephanie Coontz, author of Marriage: A History. -
USA Today, 1-19-10
- Rallies, parades honor King's legacy:
"I don't want to sanitize Martin Luther King Jr.," Cornel West said.
"Even with your foot on the brake, there are too many precious brothers and sisters under the bus,"
West said of Obama. "Where is the talk about poverty? We've got to protect him and respect him, but we've also
got to correct him if the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. is going to stay alive." -
San Francisco Chronicle, 1-18-10
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AWARDS &APPOINTMENTS:
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- National Book Critics Circle Finalists Are Announced:
The National Book Critics Circle announced the finalists for its 2009 book awards on Saturday night at Housing Works
Bookstore Cafe in New York. The organization consists of some 600 book reviewers and was founded in 1974. The awards
will be given out on Thursday, March 11, at the New School in New York.... -
1-23-10
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SPOTTED:
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- Gordon Wood: Brown professor addresses MV faculty:
The Mystic Valley Charter School faculty received a treat in the form of a lecture by one of the world’s top
professors of American History, Gordon S. Wood. Dr. Wood spoke to the faculty during their latest professional
development meeting.... -
Boston Globe, 1-21-10
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- UNM Historian Paul Hutton to Appear on PBS' American Experience 'Wyatt Earp':
UNM Distinguished Professor of History Paul Hutton will appear on the PBS program American Experience
"Wyatt Earp," on Monday, Jan. 25 from 9-10 p.m. on PBS. "Wyatt Earp" features interviews with Hutton and other
biographers and historians of the American West to present a fresh take on an old legend.... -
UNM Today, 1-20-10
- C-SPAN2: BOOK TV Weekend Schedule
- PBS American Experience:
Mondays at 9pm
- History Channel:
Weekly Schedule
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BEST SELLERS (NYT):
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BOOKS COMING SOON:
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- Andrew Young: The Politician: An Insider's Account of John Edwards's Pursuit of the Presidency and the Scandal That
Brought Him Down (Hardcover) Feb 2, 2010
- Charles Lachman: The Last Lincolns: The Rise & Fall of a Great American Family
(Paperback), February 2, 2010
- S. M. Plokhy: Yalta: The Price of Peace
(Hardcover), February 4, 2010
- Richard Beeman: Plain, Honest Men: The Making of the American Constitution
(Paperback), February 9, 2010
- Philip Dray:
Capitol Men: The Epic Story of Reconstruction Through the Lives of the First Black Congressmen
(Paperback) February 11, 2010
- Ken Gormley: The Death of American Virtue: Clinton vs. Starr
(Hardcover), February 16, 2010
- Susan Wise Bauer:
The History of the Medieval World: From the Conversion of Constantine to the First Crusade, (Hardcover)
February 22, 2010
- Richard J. Evans: The Third Reich at War (Paperback) February 23, 2010
- Seth G. Jones: In the Graveyard of Empires: America's War in Afghanistan
(Paperback) April 12, 2010
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DEPARTED:
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- My Friend A Teacher Jim Kluger Died:
My lifelong friend, Dr. James Kluger, professor of American History died yesterday at 5:40 pm of kidney failure.... -
Tucson Citizen, 1-13-10
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