Historians in the News

Assessing the "Feminine Mystique" Fifty Years On

When the proposal for a book about the plight of the American housewife by a little-known journalist named Betty Friedan began circulating at the publishing house W. W. Norton in early 1959, not everyone was convinced that it was a world-changing blockbuster....“The Feminine Mystique” tends to be hailed simply as “the book that started second-wave feminism,” said Lisa M. Fine, a historian at Michigan State University and a co-editor of the first annotated scholarly edition, just published by Norton. “But it’s a much more complicated text.”

Robert Caro wins N-YHS American History Book Prize

Robert Caro will add yet another item to his groaning literary trophy cabinet in April when he collects the New-York Historical Society’s American History Book Prize...

Should British Politicians Apologize for Colonialism?

On Wednesday, Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain appeared in Amritsar, in the Indian state of Punjab, where he laid a commemorative wreath at Jallianwala Bagh, the site of a 1919 massacre of Indian protesters by British forces that killed about 1,000, according to the Indian government....Here’s what a few historians and political science experts had to say:...Basudev Chatterji, professor of history at University of Delhi:It is something he is doing as a representative of a country. It is a diplomatic and human gesture.It is, of course, a shameful thing to fire at unarmed people.I personally don’t believe in correcting historical wrongs, but it is a perfectly decent thing to do on the part of the British prime minister....

Culinary exhibitions add life to museums' period rooms

The period rooms in art museums have the mustiest, dustiest of reputations. They are often seen as the cultural equivalent of grandma’s overstuffed couch that smelled like a fleet of cats....The traditional period-room model has been the dollhouse, but without Colonial Dame Barbie. Furniture and objects were arranged just so to set the scene for a particular era and then cordoned off for years. Museumgoers did not stumble over one another to take a peek.But some museums have discovered at least one secret ingredient to make their potentially snooze-inducing rooms more palatable to the public: a chef of sorts. Meet Ivan Day, a British food historian who is helping museums satisfy the public’s growing interest in food in all of its cultural manifestations. And why food? That’s because the hardware of cooking and dining usually make up a big part of museums’ decorative arts collections....

LISTEN: Ed Baptist w/ Insider Higher Ed on antebellum America

Paul Krugman apologizes -- sorta -- to Niall Ferguson

So, several people, including NF himself, have written in to say that Ferguson actually did concede that I was right about deficits and interest rates. Indeed he did; I missed it.Unfortunately, there’s a very disturbing aspect to this sort-of concession; even while admitting that he had been wrong, Ferguson completely misrepresented his own earlier position, in an attempt to make it sound more defensible. Here’s his 2012 version:FERGUSON: I think the issue here got a little confused, because Krugman wanted to portray me as a proponent of instant austerity, which I never was. My argument was that over ten years you have to have some credible plan to get back to fiscal balance because at some point you lose your credibility because on the present path, Congressional Budget Office figures make it clear, with every year the share of Federal tax revenues going to interest payments rises, there is a point after which it’s no longer credible. But I didn’t think that point was going to be this year or next year.But here’s what he actually said in our original 2009 debate:

Iconic Japanese Film Historian Donald Richie Passes Away

While the film world may in many ways still be reeling from the loss of legendary film critic Andrew Sarris this past summer, another iconic film critic and historian has left us. Author/critic Donald Richie, arguably one of the most influential voices in expanding the reach of Japanese culture (particularly cinema) has passed away. He was 88.Best known for books like The Japan Journals, the writer’s imprint on the overall culture has been his aiding in growing the breadth with which Japanese culture reaches. He had been influential in discussing the works of such directors as Ozu and Kurosawa, and has since become an absolute legend in a movement that has lasted ever since....

Starr Center Announces Finalists for 2013 George Washington Book Prize

Chestertown, Md — George Washington as a feisty young frontier soldier, the U.S. as an infant world power, the founding era as seen through the eyes of Thomas Jefferson’s favorite daughter, and Jefferson himself as an American nationalist – these are the subjects of four exciting new works named finalists for the 2013 George Washington Book Prize, a $50,000 award that recognizes the best recent book on the nation’s founding era.Washington College today announced this year’s finalists as Stephen Brumwell’s George Washington: Gentleman Warrior (Quercus), Eliga H. Gould’s Among the Powers of the Earth: The American Revolution and the Making of a New World Empire (Harvard), Cynthia A. Kierner’s Martha Jefferson Randolph, Daughter of Monticello: Her Life and Times (UNC) and Brian Steele’s Thomas Jefferson and American Nationhood (Cambridge). All four books were published in 2012.Co-sponsored by Washington College, the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History and George Washington’s Mount Vernon, the award is the largest nationwide for a book on early American history, and one of the largest literary prizes of any kind. It recognizes the past year’s best books on the nation’s founding, especially those that have the potential to advance broad public understanding of American history....

Mary Beard stirring up trouble again--and loving it

JANUARY was a busy month for Mary Beard, a Cambridge academic who is the closest thing, if it exists, to a celebrity classics professor. In just a few weeks, Ms. Beard, who has helped popularize the study of antiquity through television and a lively blog, A Don’s Life, turned 58; finished a draft of her book on Roman laughter; became an officer of the Order of the British Empire; and attended the funeral of a lifelong friend and editor, Peter Carson. But little could have prepared her for the furor she faced after she appeared on a weekly BBC debate show last month and, while discussing immigration, expressed the unpopular view that Britain’s social services would not be overburdened when restrictions on Bulgarian and Romanian movement around Europe are lifted next year. Her remarks, made on Jan. 17, unleashed a torrent of vicious, crude and personal online attacks, many targeting her unadorned style and her long, unkempt gray hair. Anonymous attackers also superimposed a picture of her face on a pornographic image. But rather than retire to her fainting couch (it is in her Newnham office, should she need it), or accept what happened as the cost of being a public figure in the Internet age, Ms. Beard decided to fight back....

Kenneth W. Thompson, director of University of Virginia’s Miller Center, dies

Kenneth W. Thompson, 91, a scholar of foreign relations and U.S. government who directed the University of Virginia’s Miller Center for two decades, died Feb. 2 at an assisted living facility in Charlottesville.He had double pneumonia, said his daughter-in-law Pamela Thompson.Dr. Thompson led the Miller Center, a nonpartisan institute for the study of the presidency, public policy and governance, from 1978 until his retirement in 1998.In a statement announcing his death, U-Va. credited him with helping create and expand the institute’s speaker series known as the Forum program, the Presidential Oral History Program and bipartisan commissions on national issues. He continued to lead the Forum program until 2004....

History of early Christianity named best scholarly book in arts and sciences

It may be easier for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven than for an 800-page, heavily footnoted scholarly book about early Christianity to enter the best-seller list.But since its release in August, “Through the Eye of a Needle,” Peter Brown’s sweeping study of the changing attitudes towards wealth among Christians of late antiquity, has become something of a commercial hit, selling about 13,000 copies and becoming Princeton University Press’s top-selling book of 2012. Last last week it added another feather to its cap, claiming the R.R. Hawkins Award, the Association of American Publishers’ top honor for a scholarly book in the arts and sciences....

House of Representatives Historian Launches Website

Imagine it is Dec. 8, 1941.  President Franklin D. Roosevelt has just addressed Congress in order to request declaration of war after Japan's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor.Which congressman fought in favor of war and who was vehemently against it?You don't need to head to a museum to find out.  A new website allows history buffs to hear the arguments and first-hand accounts of these events in the comfort of their own living rooms.The Office of the House Historian and Clerk of the House's Office of Art and Archives together launched the website, which provides a roundup on the nearly 11,000 members who've served in the House, on Dec. 28.  The website contains nearly 1,000 items in its database that consists of everything House-related -- from wonky photos to vintage furniture to congressional baseball cards....

Micronesia historian Dirk Ballendorf dies at 73

Historian Dr. Dirk Ballendorf passed away in his sleep on Monday morning, according to the University of Guam. He was 73.Ballendorf, a professor of Micronesian Studies at the University of Guam for 30 years, authored 11 books and more than 200 articles on Micronesian History and Culture. His works include the co-authoring of “A Secret Guam Study,” which required him to sue the Departments of State, Interior, and Defense for documents relating to the political status of Guam....

Historian correctly predicted location of Richard III

Historian David Baldwin is feeling very pleased with himself after making a startling prediction 27 years ago regarding the Greyfriars project.In 1986, he wrote an article claiming the remains of Richard III would be found in the northern part of the Grey Friars church and that the discovery would take place in the 21st century.The historian, from Oadby, used scores of medieval accounts of the Battle of Bosworth.He correctly theorised the final resting of place of Richard was buried close to New Street, in the choir of the church – the area between the nave and the sanctuary – and would be found after about 30 years....

Historian Charles Glatfelter dies after brief illness

Gettysburg historians come and go, but when it comes to the deep-seeded narrative of Adams County, the community has lost its iconic historian.Dr. Charles H. Glatfelter, a 40-year history professor at Gettysburg College and long-time local historian passed away Wednesday evening. He was 88 years old. He leaves behind his daughter, Christina E. Glatfelter of Aspers, his son, Philip H. Glatfelter of Hallam, and his half brother, Roger G. Krout of Boynton Beach, Fla....

Historian David McCullough on Work and the Pursuit of Happiness

Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David McCullough is author of popular biographies such as Truman and John Adams, and at 79 years old, he’s still going strong. When asked by Harvard Business Review whether he is ready to retire, McCullough offered some interesting perspective on how he views his work through the American founders’ understanding of the “pursuit of happiness” (HT):

Pope Benedict XVI Never Aspired to Be Pope: Historian

...Pope Benedict XVI was the oldest pope to be elected at age 78 on April 19, 2005, but according to a Catholic historian, the now 85-year-old pontiff never aspired to become pope.Writer and historian Michael Hesemann spent months interviewing Monsignor Georg Ratzinger at his home in Regensburg to capture the intimate details of his life with the pope, from childhood to papacy. The two brothers have always been close.These interviews became Ratzinger’s memoirs in a book titled “My Brother, The Pope,” which came out last March....

Swiss rejected fewer Jews, Nazi tracker says

Serge Klarsfeld, known along with his wife, Beate, for documenting details of the Holocaust and for racking down former Nazis, maintains that 3,000 Jews were stopped from entering Switzerland. Klarsfeld’s claim, recorded in an interview with German-language weekly newspaper Der Sonntag, contrasts with the previous estimate of 25,300 made in a report issued in 1999 by the Bergier Commission. “Since 1999, we have made progress with our research,” Klarsfeld, 77, told the newspaper....

The dos and don’ts of live-tweeting at an academic conference: a working draft

Vanessa Varin is assistant editor, web and social media at the American Historical Association Live-tweeting at conferences is growing in popularity, but should there be limits? While at the annual meeting this year, I had the opportunity to talk with bloggers and self-described “Twitterstorians” who expressed concern over the lack of live-tweeting etiquette. Not sure what live-tweeting is or why historians are concerned? Here is a quick rundown of the issue:

Historian Judith Stein appointed CUNY distinguished professor

The University's Board of Trustees appointed City College of New York historian and author Dr. Judith Stein a University Distinguished Professor at its January 28 meeting. The appointment recognizes Professor Stein's outstanding scholarship over the past four decades, which has helped shape the study of 20th century U.S. history, labor history, African-American history and political economy. The title of Distinguished Professor is conferred on an individual by the University Board of Trustees after completion of reviews at the campus level and the University level in recognition of exceptional scholarly achievement....