History Carnival VC goes up at Heather Monroe Prescott's Knitting Clio on Tuesday 1 February. You can nominate the best of January's history blogging via the form.

Matthias Schulz,"Slave Girls and Pickled Heads: The Spectacular Life and Finds of Max von Oppenheim," Der Spiegel, 30 January, explores the background to"The Tell Halaf Adventure," an exhibit at Berlin's Pergamon Museum. This is quite a remarkable story, ancient and modern.

Jonathan Gornell,"The unknown self-publicist," The National, 28 January, reviews Michael Korda's Hero: The Life and Legend of Lawrence of Arabia.

Eric Hobsbawm,"A Niche for a Prophet," LRB, 3 February, reviews John Davis's The Jews of San Nicandro.

Anna Blundy interviews"Michael Burleigh on Hitler" for The Browser, ca 28 January.

Mark Berman for the Washington Post, 28 January, and Janet Maslin,"Singing the Perfectionist-Folkie Blues," NYT, 30 January, review John Szwed's Alan Lomax: The Man Who Recorded the World.