Feuding Neighbors: Mary Battiata,"Blood Feud," Washington Post, 22 May, seemed to resonate with historians. Rebecca Goetz at (a)musings of a grad student and Sharon Howard at Early Modern Notes explore comparable blood feuds found in their research in early Virginia and early modern Welsh sources.

History and Community:"Joint History Textbook," Korea Times, 27 May, reports on a history textbook produced by Chinese, Japanese, and Korean historians. The work was done in response to failures of a Japanese text to accept responsibility for the use of forced labor in World War II. In praising the text as the first ever produced by cooperating scholars from non-European three countries, the Korea Times article may exaggerate its potential for creating a northeast Asian community of nations. Thanks to Moby Lives for the tip.

History Scandals: At Easily Distracted, Tim Burke reviews Jon Weiner's Historians in Trouble. Tim's one of my friends on the academic left who've been reading Jon's book. It's a pretty good source for academic gossip (a form I'm more inclined to indulge in than Tim would be), but really it's a very wrong-headed reading of the history scandals. It just isn't the case that right-wing scholars have committed their offenses and survived unscathed, while lefty scholars have been savaged. Did Ann Lane survive? Is Ward Churchill still drawing a handsome paycheck? As I've said before, Peter Charles Hoffer's Past Imperfect is a book with its own imperfections, but it's a whole lot more illuminating about the history scandals than Weiner's Historians in Trouble.

Lobbying Washington: Scott McLemee's"Show Clio the Money!" Inside Higher Ed, 31 May, looks at our professional lobbying in Washington. So, we're pragmatists and, so, we get funding for certain kinds of projects and hope that other kinds of projects benefit from the left-overs.

Recommendations: eb at No Great Matter has been consulting such venerable authorities as Invisible Adjunct and Edmund Wilson about what to read on the Enlightenment and the emergence of social history as a field of study. Hume, Michelet, Montesquieu, Adam Smith, Vico, yes; but do you have additional recommendations? They're all welcome.

Memorial Day: Even it cannot pass without controversy. How do you honor those who died in lost or, worse, bad causes? At The Weblog, Adam Kotsko argues that American men and women have not died in a good cause since World War II. Kieran Healy at Crooked Timber and Orin Kerr at The Volokh Conspiracy cross swords over whether it is appropriate on Memorial Day to distinguish service in honorable causes and in ill-conceived ones. Of the lot, I recommend Margaret Soltan's Memorial Day tribute to Marc Bloch and Caleb McDaniel's"On Memorial Day" at Mode for Caleb. The Scope's Evan and I read such work and can only say:"Amen."

Octagon Houses: If you like to think about the construction of space, as I do, here is a fairly comprehensive index of 19th century octagonal, hexagonal, and round houses in the United States, with many photographs. There are lots of quirky features, like the lovely central octagonal fireplace in an octagonal livingroom in an octagonal house. Thanks to Cranky Professor for the tip.

Teaching Writing: Stanley Fish says we don't do it. His"Devoid of Content," New York Times, 31 May, is the provocative Fish at his best. Thanks to Manan Ahmed for the tip.