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Week of April 8, 2013


Up Front: OAH Annual Meeting

Highlights from the 2013 OAH Annual Meeting, Day 3
David Austin Walsh
Tags: annual meetings, OAH 2013, San Francisco
VIDEO: Navigating Segregated Life in America's Racial Borderlands
Albert Camarillo (Stanford)
Tags: Albert Camarillo, OAH 2013, racial borderlands, videos
VIDEO: Eric Foner's "Reconstruction" at Twenty-Five
Kate Masur (Northwestern); Heather Andrea Williams (UNC Chapel Hill); Gregory P. Downs (CUNY Graduate Center); Thavolia Glymph (Duke); and Steve Hahn (UPenn), and of course Eric Foner (Columbia)
Tags: Eric Foner, OAH 2013, Reconstruction, videos
VIDEO: OAH Plenary: Corporations in America
Naomi Lamoreaux (Yale); Richard White (Stanford); Bethany Moreton (University of Georgia); Karen Ho (University of Minnesota); and Peter James Hudson (Vanderbilt)
Tags: OAH 2013, videos, corporations, capitalism
VIDEO: Research and Publishing in the Digital Age
Philip Ethington (USC); Adam Arenson (UTEP); Niels Hooper (UC Press), and Susan Ferber (OUP)
Tags: digital history, digital humanities, OAH 2013, videos
Turnout Middling at OAH Meeting in San Francisco
David Austin Walsh
Attendance is down from last year's meeting, but numbers always lower for West Coast conferences.
Tags: conferences, historical associations, OAH 2013, annual meetings
VIDEO: OAH Plenary -- Freedom Struggles
Matthew Countryman (University of Michigan); Clayborne Carson (Stanford University); Barbara Ranby (University of Illinois at Chicago); Tera W. Hunter (Princeton University); and Scott Kurashige (University of Michigan)
Tags: historical conferences, MLK, OAH 2013, videos
OAH 2013 Survival Guide
David Austin Walsh
Tips, tricks, gadgets, and other important advice for the 2013 OAH.
Tags: OAH 2013, survival guide, annual meetings, conventions
POLL: Have You Engaged with the History of Capitalism?
The New York Times ran a major story yesterday profiling the new historians of capitalism. Why haven't other historians jumped on board?
Tags: economic history, historians, history of capitalism, polls

News at Home

New Opposition to Old Sports Mascots
Jim Loewen
When will racist and offensive "Indian" mascots finally be retired?
Tags: mascots, Native Americans, racism, sports
Social Security Cuts: More Than Money At Stake
Ira Chernus's MythicAmerica
There's a simple and easy way to save Social Security (hint: raising taxes), but no one wants to talk about it.
Tags: Social Security, FDR, budget, fiscal policy
Calling All Family Historians: Ideas for New York Times Column?
Stephanie Coontz
I'll be writing a guest column on family/gender in May and June -- if you've been doing some interesting research to highlight, let me know!
Tags: family history, gender history, New York Times, research

News Abroad

The Secret to Margaret Thatcher's Success
Peter Dorey
The "Iron Lady's" was in the right place at the right time.
Tags: British conservatism, conservatism, United Kingdom, Margaret Thatcher
The AP Capitulates to the Muslim Brotherhood
Walid Phares
No more use of the term "Islamists."
Tags: Associated Press, CAIR, Islamists, Muslim Brotherhood
Francis and Xi: More Similar Than You Think
Jeffrey Wasserstrom
The succession rituals of the Catholic Church and the Chinese Communist Party are surprisingly similar.
Tags: Catholic Church, China, Pope Francis, Xi Jinping
Georgia's On Again/Off Again Relationship with Joseph Stalin
Alicia Hooper
A new, quasi-dictatorial regime is bringing Uncle Joe back into favor.
Tags: Joseph Stalin, Georgia, historical memory, communism

Historians & History

The Chaotic and Bloody Aftermath of WWII in Europe
Robin Lindley
Author and historian Keith Lowe on his groundbreaking history Savage Continent
Tags: World War II, Europe, refugees, Keith Lowe

Education

Do the Common Core Standards Flunk History?
Craig Thurtell
By putting historical documents in the hands of English teachers, Common Core does a discredit to both disciplines.
Tags: curriculum, education, national history standards, Common Core
Gilder Lehrman's Common Core Problem
Alan Singer
The "First Emancipation" lesson plan is both Common Core and Gilder Lehrman at their worst.
Tags: curriculum, emancipation, Gilder Lehrman, education

Culture Watch

Paying Tribute to the Master of Suspense
Bruce Chadwick
The Radiotheatre: Alfred Hitchcock Theater Festival kicks off to a rousing start.
Tags: plays, radiotheatre, theater reviews, Alfred Hitchcock

Books

Review of Nate Silver's The Signal and the Noise
Jim Cullen
The strengths and limitations of Big Data.
Tags: 538 blog, Nate Silver, art of prediction, Signal and the Noise
Review of Albert J. Figone's Cheating the Spread
Luther Spoehr
Corruption in college sports is as American as apple pie, but it took the point spread to turn corruption into an institution.
Tags: Albert J. Figone, NCAA, Cheating the Spread, college sports