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: HNN Staff
6-19-08
The conservative NY Sun has published two reviews of Rick Perlstein's Nixonland. The first review, published at the end of May, was glowing:
You don't have to agree with everything in this monumental account of politics in the 1960s and 1970s to find Rick Perlstein's"Nixonland" (Scribner, 896 pages, $37.50) interesting and even engrossing. The book is a masterful retelling of t
Source: Michael Oren in an op ed in the WSJ
6-19-08
... The Egyptian-brokered cease-fire yields Hamas greater benefits than it might have obtained in direct negotiations. In exchange for giving its word to halt rocket attacks and weapons smuggling, Hamas receives the right to monitor the main border crossings into Gaza and to enforce a truce in the West Bank, where Fatah retains formal control.
If quiet is maintained, then Israel will be required to accept a cease-fire in the West Bank as well. The blockade will be incrementally lift
Source: http://www.af.mil/news
6-17-08
Air Force History and Museums Program officials annually recognize excellence in history programs, historical publications and heritage projects, and award commendable work by military and civilian personnel for outstanding performance or achievement, both as individuals or teams.
Two Excellence in Wing History Program Awards recognize historians who have provided superior historical services to their units and have submitted an outstanding periodic history during the past calendar
Source: IHT
6-18-08
French linguist and historian Tzvetan Todorov has won a social sciences prize in Spain. The Prince of Asturias Foundation says it is honoring Bulgarian-born Todorov for his work on such issues as development of democracy, understanding among cultures and the impact of violence on collective memory.The social sciences award is one of eight that the Prince of Asturias Foundation hands out each year. Others include letters, communication, sports and scientific research.
Source: Allen Weinstein, archivist of the US, at SMU (NYT)
6-15-08
Begin with the Salem witchcraft trials of the 1690s. Move forward to the Alien and Sedition Acts of the early Republic, and from there to the suspension of habeas corpus during the Civil War. Turn then to the arbitrary political arrests of the First and Second World Wars, the many abuses of the cold war McCarthy era, and from there to the civil liberties climate in our own time. Find your conscience and hold it close.
One of the pivotal connective links from earliest repressive effo
Source: Times (UK)
6-17-08
For some it was a chance to audition as the President’s ghostwriter after he leaves office. For others it was an opportunity to ponder how future generations might see the 43rd incumbent of the White House. For a minority it was all about the Churchillian menu of beef, trifle and 1934 brandy.
Only the fancy dress was missing from Sunday night’s history-themed party inside 10 Downing Street, thrown as a final send-off for George Bush before he leaves Europe for the final time as Pres
Source: http://news.enquirer.com (Cincinnati)
6-17-08
Jane Acomb Leake, professor emerita of medieval history at UC's Raymond Walters College, died June 6 at the Alois Alzheimer's Center here.
She was 79.
"She was one of the most intelligent people I've ever known," her husband, Lowell, said. "She loved to teach."
Dr. Leake started out as an instructor of historic literature at UC's College of Design, Art and Architecture in 1959, her husband said. "She taught there for about three yea
Source: http://www.israelnationalnews.com
6-16-08
Historian Dr. Rivka Shpak-Lissak has embarked on an ambitious project, detailing the history of Jewish towns in the Land of Israel that are now known as Arab. Seven of her articles in this series have appeared on the Omedia website, and she has many more coming.
The bottom line, Dr. Lissak told Israel National News, is that the Arabs have not been here for thousands of years, as they claim, and that in fact most of the formerly Jewish towns of the Galilee were populated by Arabs on
Source: http://www.startribune.com
6-14-08
CALLAO, PERU
'Somewhere in La Mancha, in a place whose name I do not care to remember, a gentleman lived not long ago."
Simple enough, right? But not for Demetrio Tupac Yupanqui.
Instead, he regales visitors to his home in this gritty port city on Lima's edge with his Quechua version of the opening words of "Don Quixote": "Huh k'iti, la Mancha llahta suyupin, mana yuyarina markapin, yaqa kay watakuna kama, huh axllasqa wiraqucha."
Source: Graham Earnshaw at China Beat (Blog)
6-15-08
Jonathan Spence is of course one of the great authorities on Chinese history, but the value of history is in its relevance to the present, so at a time of such huge volatility in the affairs of China, there is great curiosity as to how he views current trends. We have the means to find out in his current series of Reith Lectures being given one per week in England and broadcast through the BBC's websites, currently non-blocked in China.
Source: CNN
6-12-08
CNN spoke to Rykwert about how buildings and spaces act as a metaphor for society, our transition from citizens to customers and the challenges facing the built environment in the 21st century.
CNN: What do you mean exactly when you talk about the city and its buildings as a metaphor for society?
Joseph Rykwert: One of the obvious things is that when a new big building goes up people immediately find nicknames for it -- the "gherkin" [30 St Mary Axe] and the &
Source: Chicago Tribune
6-14-08
Doctoral students are known for taking a long time to finish their dissertations, but one of this spring's University of Chicago graduates broke the curve and then some.
Thirty-four years after beginning his graduate studies in history, Mark Horowitz finally received his doctorate Friday, his thinning gray hair tucked under a black velvet graduation beret.
His family, especially his wife, Barbi, who endured more than three decades of listening to arcane facts about King
Source: Paul Kuhn at the website of Politico.com
6-15-08
One week into the general election, the polls show a dead heat. But many presidential scholars doubt that John McCain stands much of a chance, if any.
Historians belonging to both parties offered a litany of historical comparisons that give little hope to the Republican. Several saw Barack Obama’s prospects as the most promising for a Democrat since Roosevelt trounced Hoover in 1932.
“This should be an overwhelming Democratic victory,” said Allan Lichtman, an American
Source: http://chronicle.uchicago.edu
6-13-08
Ramón Gutiérrez, a historian of race and ethnic relations in American life, has been named Director of the Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture.
Gutiérrez, the Preston & Sterling Morton Distinguished Service Professor in History and the College, will begin a three-year term Tuesday, July 1, succeeding Waldo Johnson, Associate Professor in the School of Social Service Administration.
Gutiérrez, one of the nation’s leading Latino scholars, has received n
Source: The Nation
6-13-08
Historians divide history into epochs. The Gilded Age and the Great Depression, for example, are familiar to most Americans. Our current epoch, however--a period that has seen soaring grand fortunes for a new American superrich and a fading American Dream for nearly everyone else--lacks a label. That's why The Nation is joining the Institute for Policy Studies in a new contest. We invite you to help us Name Our Epoch! Send an e-mail toNameOurEpoch@ips-dc.o
Source: Chronicle of Higher Ed
6-13-08
Controversial faculty reassignments and resignations in March of this year, following other disputes, have left the Middle East Center at the University of Utah in turmoil. The tumult comes only a year before the university must reapply for the grant from the U.S. Department of Education that supports the center, which is among the oldest such academic units in the country.
In mid-March, Robert D. Newman, dean of the College of Humanities, removed two professors from joint appointme
Source: News Story by Damion Pechota, HNN intern
6-13-08
A six-and-a-half year prison term for mail fraud and obstruction of justice is not keeping Conrad Black, a Canadian born media mogul and member of the British House of Lords, away from writing.
Besides his now infamous role at Hollinger International Inc., Black is also the author of biographies on Franklin Roosevelt and Richard Nixon. With prison on his itinerary, the fate of Black’s writing was in question.
According to The Canadian Press, the Florida low-security prison, where Blac
Source: History Today
6-12-08
Books on Empire and the Gothic architect Pugin have won the Wolfson History Awards announced this week. Revealed at a ceremony at Claridge’s in London on June 10th, the prizes went to Rosemary Hill for God’s Architect and John Darwin for After Tamerlane. The winners of the annual Wolfson Prize, which was established in 1972, both receive £20,000. The judges were Sir Keith Thomas, Dame Averil Cameron, Professor Richard Evans and Professor David Cannadine. Books, which should be scholarly but attr
Source: Independent (UK)
6-12-08
Richard David Greenfield, historian: born London 10 January 1931; Professor of History, University of Asmara, Eritrea 1999-2007 (Emeritus); Senior Consultant, Eritrean Research and Documentation Centre 1999-2008; died Oxford 1 June 2008.
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Richard Greenfield had an unparalleled grasp of the history and politics of the countries of the Horn of Africa, and will perhaps be best remembered for his 1965 book Ethiopia: a new political history.
From 1999 until 2
Source: http://www.newswise.com
6-12-08
University of Saskatchewan history professor James Miller has been awarded $1.4 million from the federal Canada Research Chair (CRC) program to advance his study of how churches and the federal government have attempted to make amends with residential school victims.
As a leading expert on residential school abuse, Miller’s CRC renewal comes as no surprise. His research is receiving national media attention as he has become a valuable source for thoughtful commentary on today’s fede
