Historians/History

No Kinky Porn, Please -- We're English

by Robin Lindley

Letícia Román in a publicity still for Russ Meyer's 1964 film adaptation of Fanny Hill. Actual illustrations from Fanny Hill are decidedly NSFW.In England, the eighteenth century was a time of questioning, exploration, scientific advances, and an expanded worldview -- the birth of modernity, according to some historians.This age of remarkable energy and innovation also saw an explosion of erotic literature that reflected dynamic social and cultural changes as it challenged the authority of Church and State, satirized the hypocritical, and explored the fantasies of its consumers.

Getting Beyond the "Clash of Civilizations"

by David Cannadine

The world, undivided. Image via Shutterstock.

American Heritage Magazine Temporarily Suspends Publication

by David Austin Walsh

Image via Shutterstock.If you are one of American Heritage magazine's 120,000 subscribers you may be wondering where your copy is. It wasn't lost in the mail. There hasn't been a new issue since last fall.The publication of the print edition of the magazine has been suspended, according to Edwin Grosvenor, the president and editor-in-chief of the American Heritage Publishing Company. The suspension of the magazine will be “temporary,” according to Grosvenor, as the company refocuses its mission on education and digital history.This is the second time in recent years that the storied magazine, founded in the early 1950s, has faced questions about its viability. Forbes, which previously owned American Heritage, suspended publication in the spring of 2008. Grosvenor, the great-grandson of Alexander Graham Bell, stepped in to rescue it that fall.

Redressing Wikipedia's Historical Gender Gap

by Fatima Ahmed-Farouta

Image via Shutterstock.Wikipedia has a problem with women.Statistics released by the Wikimedia Foundation point to a huge gender disparity in the ranks of contributors. Women only constitute approximately 15 percent of Wiki editors. This isn't a new problem -- a 2011 University of Minnesota study of gender ratios on Wikipedia came to the same conclusions, and noted that the Wiki gender gap hadn't changed significantly over the preceding five years.

The Black Russian and the Jews

by Vladimir Alexandrov

George Frederick Thomas in 1896. Courtesy of the author.Jews were, in a sense, the “Negroes” of the Russian Empire.  The discrimination and violence they suffered under the tsars -- which forced over a million to emigrate to the United States in the decades around the turn of the nineteenth century -- is one of the reasons their descendants empathized with black Americans and played a major role in the civil rights movement.  Even earlier in the twentieth century, the anti-Semitism that had compelled Jews to emigrate from Western Europe led their leading figures to support black activists and to help found the NAACP and the National Urban League.  American blacks reciprocated, and for much of the twentieth century shared a sense of solidarity with Jews that was motivated by their common goal of social justice.

Historians Still Despise George W. Bush

by David Austin Walsh

Image via Shutterstock.Former president George W. Bush has had his best week in years. His public approval ratings have hit a seven-year high, publications around the country have published articles reassessing his legacy, and he was warmly joined by all of the living former presidents at the dedication of his new presidential library at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.

The History of the World Keeps Changing. Literally.

by Odd Arne Westad

Image via Shutterstock.Excerpted from "The History of the World, Sixth Edition" by J.M. Roberts and Odd Arne West. Copyright © 2013 Odd Arne Westad. All rights reserved.

Remembering "Letter from a Birmingham Jail"

by Randal Maurice Jelks

Martin Luther King in Birmingham Jail.Originally posted on the UNC Press Blog.When the Southern Christian Leadership Council (SCLC) staff received the handwritten “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” and publicized it, the letter became almost instantly canonical. Long before the advent of social media, SCLC’s marketers swiftly put the letter before the wider public through the auspices of the Friends Service Committee, which initially wanted to title Martin Luther King Jr.’s missive “Tears of Love.” But the Reverend Wyatt T. Walker, SCLC’s chief strategist, insisted that it be titled in New Testament epistle fashion “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.”

Historians React to Chaos in Boston

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Waco: The City Where the Waco Siege Didn't Actually Happen

by John Willingham

Today, April 19, 2013, is the twentieth anniversary of the bloody end to the "Waco" Siege at the Branch Davidian's Mount Carmel compound -- a forlorn place that is, in fact, 13.8 miles east of the city of Waco.I do not know who was the first person to assign the name of "Waco" to the terrible events that took place 20 years ago. What I do know is that he or she did a great disservice to Waco, often pronounced "Wacko," as I have heard repeatedly whenever I tell someone that I was born and raised in the city.Let me be quick to own that Waco has had its share of problems, one of them a so-called act of God, a 1953 tornado that killed more than 100 people and blew away much of downtown. As a young boy, I watched from the picture window of my father's real estate office about one and a half miles from the eye of the storm. The day turned completely dark, almost black, and downtown was never the same.Then the feds closed a big Air Force base and a tactical fighter wing, and the people and the real estate market went, if not altogether south, then off to Austin, Houston, or Dallas.

"Cities are the Living Embodiments of Past Decisions"

by Robin Lindley

 Children in wading pool at Cascade Playground, Seattle, 1939. All photos credit Seattle Museum of History and Industry.Stories about place are makeshift things. They are composed with the world’s debris.--Michel de CerteauIn most undergraduate history classes, students are required to take tests and write a paper or two.But University of Washington history professor Dr. Margaret O’Mara wanted to tap into her students’ curiosity and their relationship with the web and technology for her history of U.S. Cities course last winter.To bring urban history to life for her students and encourage them to explore and see their world in new ways, Dr. O’Mara created an innovative project that focused on Seattle’s dynamic South Lake Union neighborhood, now an area of high-tech businesses, medical clinics, trendy eateries, and pricey real estate.

Tough Times to Be Lobbying for History on Capitol Hill

by David Austin Walsh

Image via Shutterstock.Lee White, executive director of the National Coalition for History, was unequivocal in his presentation Saturday at the Organization of American Historians annual meeting in San Francisco: history is in trouble on Capitol Hill.White has been the head of the NCH, the face of history in Washington, D.C. officialdom as the only dedicated advocacy for history and historical research, since 2007. With a law degree from the Catholic University of America, a master’s in history from George Mason University, and over twenty years of experience as a lobbyist, he’s no stranger to the machinations of Washington politics.

Towards a New History of the Civil Rights Movement

by Gary May

LBJ signs the Voting Rights Act while Martin Luther King, Jr. looks on.Hilary Rodham Clinton awoke on the morning of January 3, 2008, exhausted and depressed. The New York Senator had started her quest for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination believing in its inevitability, only to be surprisingly blindsided by Barack Obama, a forty-six year old first term Senator. Only a few hours earlier, Obama had crushed Clinton in the Iowa caucus and now her advisors feared defeat in the upcoming New Hampshire primary. She was stunned while her husband, former President Bill Clinton, was furious. “[Obama’s] a phony,” Clinton insisted, “…he has no experience…What has he really done?”

Are We Still in the Dead Grip of a Premodern Conception of Time?

by George E. Marcus

Image via Shutterstock.

Highlights from the 2013 Annual Meeting of the Organization of American Historians

by David Austin Walsh

Related LinksPast OAH/AHA Annual MeetingsNewsDavid Austin Walsh: Tough Times to Be Lobbying for History on Capitol Hill David Austin Walsh: Turnout Middling at OAH Meeting in San FranciscoDispatches from the OAH Annual MeetingDay 1Day 2Day 3Day 4Videos

Turnout Middling at OAH Meeting in San Francisco

by David Austin Walsh

FROM SAN FRANCISCO -- San Francisco. Steep hills, charming cable cars, rolling breezes off the ocean, and people so friendly, strolling through Golden Gate Park at 9:00am on a Thursday morning will net an amiable young visitor in a tweed jacket no less than two offers for high-quality drugs.

OAH 2013 Survival Guide

by David Austin Walsh

Trains, planes, and automobiles are going to be packed with historians over the next two weeks – the Organization of American Historians kicks off its 2013 Annual Meeting in San Francisco this Thursday, April 11, and the National Council on Public History opens its conference in Ottawa next Wednesday, April 17.As always – even with the slow-motion jobs crisis in history and the humanities in general – young men and women crazy enough to pursue (or dream of pursuing) advanced degrees in history will flock to the conferences for the first time, with starry-eyed hopes of meeting the rock stars in their fields, making connections (hopefully of a non-scandalous nature), presenting their first paper in front of an academic audience, or maybe even closing the deal on that juicy tenure-track position (after all, the phone interview went really well!).

The Chaotic and Bloody Aftermath of WWII in Europe

by Robin Lindley

On May 8, 1945, Germany surrendered to the Allies and the Second World War in Europe ended officially. But in reality, the war continued in various guises for several years.British author and historian Keith Lowe details the cruel aftermath of the war in his acclaimed book Savage Continent: Europe in the Aftermath of World War II (St. Martin’s Press). His  careful study of the postwar years in Europe reveals widespread anarchy, famine, crime, pestilence and violent conflict, with millions of uprooted people wandering the ruined lands. Often, Mr. Lowe writes, the bloody conflicts were a continuation of the war that had left 30 million dead and destroyed the infrastructure of most of the warring nations, including political institutions, law enforcement, transportation, media and social services. 

Escaping Slavery in Washington Territory

by Robin Lindley

When we think of the cruel legacy of slavery and the bloody Civil War that ended this vile institution, it’s unlikely that images of the verdant, sparsely populated Washington Territory soon come to mind. But settlers brought the seeds of the war with them, and issues of slavery, race, secession, and civil rights divided communities and loyalties in the Pacific Northwest. Seattle public historian Dr. Lorraine McConaghy and co-author Judy Bentley uncover and detail a fascinating story of this era in Washington Territory in their new book Free Boy: A True Story of Slave and Master (University of Washington Press). Based on extensive research, they chronicle the odyssey of a young slave, Charles Mitchell, who escaped from slavery in Olympia to freedom in Victoria, Canada.

How to Write a Book Dedication

by Vaughn Davis Bornet

Image via Shutterstock.Let’s fantasize for a moment. That book draft, the one calling on you to sacrifice so much, is on the verge of being finished. Hooray! But wait:  shouldn’t there be a dedication -- to somebody or something? Researching and writing it was a highly personal act; nobody would blame you if you think, “The act of creation is mine -- all mine." The moment is one for euphoria! Every author owes a debt to somebody. ... If you believe the final product turned out, well, brilliantly, maybe it’s dedication time.