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Cliopatria



  • Modern History Notes

    by Cliopatria

    Avner Shapira previews Eli Friedlander's Walter Benjamin: A Philosophical Portrait for Haaretz, 30 December. This year marks the 120th anniversary of Benjamin's birth. Michael O'Donnell, "The Last Days of Hugh Trevor-Roper," Washington Monthly, Jan/Feb, reviews Adam Sisman's An Honourable Englishman: The Life of Hugh Trevor-Roper.

    Jeff Stier, "Modern-Day Prohibition, Reason, January, reviews Christopher Snowdon's The Art of Suppression: Pleasure, Panic and Prohibition Since 1800.


  • The Cliopatria Awards, 2011

    by Cliopatria

    In conjunction with the AHA annual meeting in Chicago, here are the seventh annual Cliopatria Awards for History Blogging, including our inaugural awards for Best Twitter Feed and Best Podcast Episode. Thanks to the judges this year: Manan Ahmed, Kelly Baker, Jonathan Dresner, Mary Dudziak, Katrina Gulliver, Andrew Hartman, Brett Holman, Sharon Howard, Shane Landrum, Randall Stephens, Karen Tani, and David Weinfeld. They have done a fine job, making difficult decisions to choose the best work from strong fields. Here are the winners and brief explanations of the judges' rationale for their decisions:


  • Errol Morris on Photography

    by Cliopatria

    "Writer and Oscar-winning documentary maker Errol Morris talks about the nature of truth, art and propaganda in photography. Drawing examples from the photographs of Abu Ghraib and the Crimean war, cited in his book Believing is Seeing, he argues we've often underplayed the link between photgraphs and the physical world." Hat Tip

  • Modern History Notes

    by Cliopatria

    G. W. Bowersock, "The Tremendous, Ferocious Bentley," NYRB, 24 November, reviews Kristine Louise Haugens's Richard Bentley: Poetry and Enlightenment.

    William Feaver reviews Steven Naifeh's and Gregory White Smith's Van Gogh: The Life for the Guardian, 21 December.

    Jenna Weissman Joselit, "Blessings," The Book, 21 December, reviews Stephanie Deutsch's You Need a Schoolhouse: Booker T. Washington, Julius Rosenwald, and the Building of Schools for the Segregated South


  • More Noted Things

    by Cliopatria

    Xavier Marquez, "Flattery Inflation," Abandoned Footnotes, 14 December, looks at competitive flattery in tyrannies, ancient and modern.

    Allan Mallinson, "Servants To Masters," WSJ, 20 December, reviews Allan Massie's The Royal Stuarts: A History of the Family that Shaped Britain. Jonathan Lopez, "A Peaceable Canvas," WSJ, 17 December, reviews Anthony Bailey's Velázquez and the Surrender of Breda.


  • Boston College: Final Post

    by Cliopatria

    Or, "The Logical (and Unconstitutional) Conclusion of the Government’s Assertions"

    In a decision released on Friday morning (entire document is below; orders are on pg. 48), a federal judge rejected the effort by Boston College to quash subpoenas for confidential oral history materials regarding the Troubles in Northern Ireland. The subpoenaed materials will first go to the court for in camera review, an opportunity for the judge to draw some boundaries around the release of particular portions of the records. But this review seems unlikely to mean very much, for reasons that I'll explain in a few paragraphs.


  • Friday's Notes

    by Cliopatria

    Michael Dirda reviews Adam Sisman's An Honourable Englishman: The Life of Hugh Trevor-Roper for the Washington Post, 14 December.

    Tom Wright, "The Pope's Life of Jesus," TLS, 14 December, reviews Joseph Ratzinger's Jesus of Nazareth. Holy Week: From the entrance into Jerusalem to the Resurrection, Maurice Casey's Jesus of Nazareth: An independent historian's account of his life and teaching, and Bruce N. Fisk's A Hitchhiker's Guide to Jesus: Reading the gospels on the ground.

    Sophie Roell interviews "Lynn Hunt on the French Revolution," The Browser, 15 December, for her recommendation of five essential books on the subject.