This page features brief excerpts of stories published by the mainstream
media and, less frequently, blogs, alternative media, and even obviously
biased sources. The excerpts are taken directly from the websites cited in
each source note. Quotation marks are not used.
Source: NYT
3-13-12
Peter Novick, a history professor at the University of Chicago who stirred controversy in 1999 with a book contending that the legacy of the Holocaust had come to unduly dominate American Jewish identity, died on Feb. 17 at his home in Chicago. He was 77.The cause was lung cancer, his wife, Joan, said.Dr. Novick — “a nonobservant Jew,” according to his wife — was the author of “The Holocaust in American Life,” in which he asked why the Nazi genocide had “come to loom so large” and “whether the prominent role the Holocaust has come to play in both American Jewish and general American discourse is as desirable a development as most people seem to think it is.”He was skeptical that it was, and 10 years of research, he added, “confirmed the skepticism.”Dr. Novick did not deny the enormity of the Holocaust or suggest that it should be forgotten. But he contended that at a time of increasing assimilation, intermarriage and secularization, it had become “virtually the only common denominator of American Jewish identity in the late 20th century.”...
Source: Forbes
3-13-12
“Well behaved women rarely make history” ~Laurel Thatcher UlrichI often wear a t-shirt bearing historian Ulrich’s advice because people react with a chuckle and it starts conversations. Conversations we need because women’s history is rarely given its due.March is Women’s History Month, so designated because history has largely been framed through the male lens, recorded by male pens, and thus not surprisingly showcases men as the protagonists and the leaders; women, if noticed at all, play supporting roles (unless of course they take “male” personas, such as generals)....
Source: Michael Berenbaum for the Jewish Daily Forward
3-13-12
Michael Berenbaum is a professor of Jewish Studies and director of the Sigi Ziering Institute: Exploring the Ethical and Religious Implications of theHolocaust, at the American Jewish University in Los Angeles.Peter Novick argued that the Holocaust had been overemphasized in American culture and manipulated by prominent Jewish organizations to preclude any criticism of Israel’s policy toward the Palestinians. He asserted that it was used to strengthen Jewish identity by making a long-defeated enemy central to that identity at precisely the point when Jews have gained full acceptance in American national life. Novick saw this as a fixation that allowed Jews to see themselves as oppressed when they have, in fact, become privileged.Novick, who died on February 17 at age 77, held views on the Holocaust that were antithetical to everything to which I have devoted my professional life. But Novick was my friend as well as my opponent. This was so because he embodied the best in American intellectual life, offering others a model of what it means to be a serious scholar.
Source: Lakes Mail (AU)
3-13-12
GUNNER Albert (Neil) Cleary was a brave victim of the most appalling atrocities by Japanese guards in Borneo during World War II, agrees military historian Lynette Silver.But Silver insists Cleary should never have been given the posthumous distinction of being mentioned in dispatches in 2011, still less be now considered by this week's Defence Honours and Awards Tribunal for a posthumous Victoria Cross.She says the evidence being used to support Cleary's elevation to the pantheon of Australian war heroes is based on perjured testimony given by two of Cleary's fellow POWs, Private Keith Botterill and Lance Bombardier Bill Moxham.Silver says Botterill and Moxham - frustrated by what they viewed as lenient punishments being handed out to their Japanese torturers - lied under oath at the War Crimes Trials held in Papua New Guinea in 1946 about how Cleary died on May 20, 1945, at Ranau.
Source: News.am
3-12-12
The Turkish authorities assisted in the anti-Armenian demonstration, which was held in Istanbul’s Taksim Square on February 26 and under the pretense of commemorating the Khojaly incidents, the renowned Turkish historian Taner Akcam said in an interview with Taraf daily of Turkey.Akcam also noted that there were anti-Armenian slogans even before the actual demonstration.“Large posters that read: ‘Don’t believe in the Armenian lies!’ were posted in Istanbul streets continuously for ten days. Subsequently, the instilling of enmity toward the Armenians was spread during demonstration itself, in which partook the Minister of Internal Affairs....
Source: Daily Princetonian
3-9-12
Like many American fathers, after Wilson School professor Julian Zelizer wakes up in the morning, he takes his kids to school and then heads to the gym. But instead of watching sports highlights or listening to music while he lifts weights, Zelizer mulls over ideas for his weekly CNN column.It is rare for professors to appear in mass media as much as Zelizer does. In addition to teaching HIS 583: Readings in American Political History this semester, Zelizer has appeared 18 times on Bloomberg television in the past month. On Sept. 10, he authored a column in The New York Times about the history of one-term presidents. Two days later, he was back in his home outlet, penning away on the political legacy of 9/11....
Source: WaPo
3-9-12
Marion G. Merrill, 97, a civil rights activist and writer, died of heart ailments Feb. 16 at Cokesbury Village retirement community in Hockessin, Del., where she had lived since 1988. The death was confirmed by Donald A. Ritchie, a friend of the family.Mrs. Merrill was the widow of Horace Samuel Merrill, a professor of history at the University of Maryland. She was co-author with him of a 1971 book, “The Republican Command, 1897-1913.” They had been married for 53 years when he died in 1996. Mrs. Merrill also helped her husband in the mentoring of graduate students....
Source: University of Chicago News
3-2-12
Peter Novick, a University of Chicago historian whose specialty was the study of history itself, or historiography, died Feb. 17 at the age of 77. Novick, professor emeritus of history, used his formidable skills to explain how different views of the past can shape the retelling of history and establish narratives that have a power of their own.Early success suggests Novick might have had a career as an historian of 20th-century France. His Columbia University doctoral thesis, awarded the Clark M. Ansley Award, was published in 1968 as The Resistance Versus Vichy: The Purge of Collaborators in Liberated France. In response to a vigorous national debate about the role of Vichy in wartime France, the book was translated and published in 1985 as L’Epuration Française, 1944-1949, a popular “Le Grand Livre du Mois” book club selection. But Novick’s interest in how the past is talked, thought and written about led to the two landmark books that followed: That Noble Dream: The ‘Objectivity Question’ and the American Historical Profession (1988) and The Holocaust in American Life (1999).
Source: Boston.com
3-6-12
For businesses wanting to increase sales, Bonnie Hurd Smith of Ipswich, historian and author of the book, We Believe in You, thinks National Women’s History Month might be the answer. Featuring women’s history in your business, she says, can attract women clients, members, and donors, and Smith sees history as the key to success personally and professionally.As a result in 2010, Smith founded History Smiths, a public relations and marketing agency that incorporates history in service to organizations, businesses, communities, and individuals on the North Shore.She says every business or organization—for profit or not-for-profit—wants to attract customers and their loyalty as well as media attention while also developing a positive reputation. Many also want to make a difference in their communities.“Getting involved with history can do all of that for you,” Smith said. “Studying women’s history makes us feel less alone. We can see the experience of women who succeeded and how they achieved their goals.”...
Source: Russia Today
3-6-12
Russia’s ambassador to Latvia has blasted the country’s move to declare two Russian historians persona non grata after presenting an exhibition on war crimes committed by Nazis and their Latvian collaborators.Blacklisting Russian historians Aleksandr Dyukov and Vladimir Simindey is a non-friendly step on Latvia’s side, Ambassador Aleksandr Veshnyakov has told the press. The official added that he learned about the incident from the media and promised to discuss the issue with Latvian Foreign Minister on Wednesday. The ambassador also noted that Russia reserved the right for retaliatory action, even though such steps would not assist with historical research in any way.The Latvian Foreign Ministry declared Dyukov and Simindey personae non grata on March 2, banning them from entry in Latvia and other states of the Schengen zone. The Foreign Ministry spokesman explained the move by the fact that the historians’ actions “were harming Latvia and its citizens”. The move followed the opening of the "Stolen Childhood" exhibition dedicated to the inmates of Nazi concentration camps in Latvia....
Source: Fitzrovia News
3-6-12
A book about Charles Dickens’ life in Cleveland Street written by a Cambridge historian and published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in February has been criticised after it failed to acknowledge previously published works.In Dickens & the Workhouse Dr Ruth Richardson uncovers new material about Charles Dickens’ life in nineteenth-century London. She discovers that many of the characters in Dickens’ books were based on real people living in and around Cleveland Street in what is now Fitzrovia. In the book she provides historical material that for the first time shows how the workhouse in Cleveland Street was the inspiration for Dickens’ novel Oliver Twist.Dr Richardson’s work has been credited with being the main reason why the former Strand Union Workhouse was given listed status by the government last year and subsequently saved from demolition. She was internationally recognised for her work....
Source: Robert B. Townsend at the AHA Blog
3-5-12
Robert B. Townsend is deputy director of the American Historical Association.The American Historical Association is pleased to announce the expansion of the William Gilbert Award for the Best Article on History Teaching. Starting this year, the award will be conferred annually and the winning author of the article as well as the journal that publishes it will each receive $1,000. These changes will (we hope) encourage journals to accept more articles on the teaching of history.Edwyna Gilbert, a professor of English at the University of Kansas, established the award in the memory of her late husband, a historian, in 1995. Her goal was both to promote history teaching and to encourage journals to seek essays on pedagogy for publication. She passed away last May, leaving an additional $110,000 to supplement the original $10,000 bequest for the award. After due consideration, the AHA’s Teaching Division decided to expand the award in a way that seems consistent with her original wishes. And in recognition of her very generous support of the award, the Division and the AHA Council agreed to change the name to the “William and Edwyna Gilbert Award.”
Source: Telegraph (UK)
3-6-12
A leading historian and Cambridge academic has outlined all the key events in British history that teenagers should learn.The dates range from the Anglo-Saxon conquest in 500 A.D to the appointment of Winston Churchill as Prime Minister in 1940.The Battle of Agincourt, the Magna Carta, the Abolition of slavery and the King James Bible are included in the chornology that shows how Britain was shaped over 1,500 yearsProfessor David Abulafia, professor of Mediterranean history at Gonville and Caius College, said pupils were too often required to interpret sources instead of studying history itself. This had ‘deadened interest in the past among students’....
Source: Paul Hockenos in the Chronicle of Higher Ed
3-4-12
Paul Hockenos is a journalist and political analyst in Berlin. His books include Joschka Fischer and the Making of the Berlin Republic: An Alternative History of Postwar Germany (Oxford University Press, 2008).
Source: Stanford University News
3-5-12
There are no orderly rows of desks in Valerie Ziegler's high school history class – students sit in groups of three or four at small tables around the room. There also is no lectern because there are no lectures. And perhaps most striking, there are no textbooks.The 11th-grade class at Abraham Lincoln High School in San Francisco learns about the Vietnam War, women's suffrage, civil rights, the Great Depression and other major events in U.S. history by analyzing journal writings, memoirs, speeches, songs, photographs, illustrations and other documents of the era."I always tell my students they're historians-in-training, so the work we do in here is that of a historian," Ziegler said.The nontraditional curriculum Ziegler uses, called Reading Like a Historian, was designed at Stanford and is among the projects of the Stanford History Education Group.The curriculum was introduced in 2008 at five schools in the San Francisco Unified School District as part of a study by Abby Reisman, who was the head curriculum designer while completing her doctoral work at Stanford.
Source: Houston Chronicle
3-3-12
In a quest worthy of Indiana Jones, official Rice University historian Melissa Kean braves menacing cobwebbed recesses on her campus that few others even know exist. In search of historic gems - Rice turns 100 this year - the intrepid researcher has discovered vacuum tube-studded remnants of an early computer, old student scrapbooks, the first school president's black top hat and boxes brimming with relics of ancient gridiron battles lost and won.In a typical day, the lawyer-turned-academic explores, gathers and interprets for 10 hours or more. Then she retreats to her home, where, in a chatty university history blog, www.ricehistorycorner.com, she shares her discoveries with the world.
Source: Winnipeg Free Press
3-5-12
A history professor at the University of Winnipeg is asking residents to search their basements and attics for hidden treasure.But Prof. Alexander Freund, the chair in German-Canadian studies at the university, isn't looking for gold or jewels -- he's hoping to find tapes of interviews with refugees who came to Manitoba after the Second World War and during the Cold War.Freund is leading a project to digitize and archive the history of refugees in the province."We're very convinced there are interviews out there," he said in an interview. "We don't know how many."...
Source: WaPo
3-5-12
DALLAS — A Dallas conference to explore the power and mystique of first ladies that will culminate with a panel featuring Laura Bush and her mother-in-law, Barbara, began Monday with a discussion on the influence of the women who have held the post throughout history.“The thing to me that is so remarkable about the women who have assumed this position is how much guts they have, how much brains they have, stamina that is beyond imagination and a willingness to rise above it and just do it,” said Allida Black, a research professor of history and international affairs at The George Washington University....In a morning panel, historians discussed several first ladies including Dolley Madison, whose influence in Washington went far beyond her time as first lady, and Lady Bird Johnson, who had the hard task of taking on the role after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.“It wasn’t like when anybody else came into the White House,” said Bess Abell, who was White House social secretary for the Johnsons....
Source: Rachel Donadio for the NYT
2-25-12
Rachel Donadio is the Rome bureau chief of The New York Times, who has been reporting from Greece....Where is the line between a weak state and a failed state?I posed the question to Thanos Veremis, a reform-minded historian and a supporter of Prime Minister Lucas Papademos, the former European Central Bank official who is now attempting to govern Greece ahead of elections expected this spring. “Greece is a strong failed state,” he answered almost cheerily. I looked around the room. We were drinking Earl Grey tea in the elegant Grande Bretagne Hotel in Syntagma Square. Across the tiled mosaic floor, the other tables were filled with politicians, former politicians, one long-bearded priest in black robes and several smartly dressed men doing business over their laptops. If this was a failed state, it functioned remarkably well....
Source: Wicked Local
2-27-12
Harvard University Prof. Maya Jasanoff is one of three finalists for the $50,000 George Washington Book Prize. Administrators of the prize at Washington College announces that Jasanoff earned the honor with “Liberty’s Exiles: American Loyalists in the Revolutionary World,” published by Knopf.The prize, which is co-sponsored by Washington College, the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History and George Washington’s Mount Vernon, recognizes the past year’s best books on the nation’s founding era, especially those that have the potential to advance broad public understanding of American history. Three distinguished historians served as jurors for the 2012 prize -- Richard Beeman, the John Welsh Centennial Professor of History at the University of Pennsylvania and the 2010 winner of the George Washington Book Prize; Thomas Fleming, distinguished historian and author; and Marla R. Miller of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst....
