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: news.wisc.edu
11-1-06
As an historian, Susan Lee Johnson finds few subjects of American history more irresistible than the California Gold Rush, a movement that unfolded so fast and furiously that it must seem like watching history get shot from a cannon.
"Almost nothing draws people as quickly as the possibility of digging cash out of the earth," says Johnson, a professor of history and Chicana/o and Latina/o Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. "The California Gold Rush was no
Source: delawareonline.com
11-5-06
Newark-based prolific historian and biographer Stanley Weintraub has published his latest book, "11 Days in December: Christmas at the Bulge, 1944" (Free Press, $25).
Weintraub has written more than 50 books on subjects ranging from George Bernard Shaw to the Victorian era to 20th-century military history. His books include "Silent Night: The Story of the World War I Christmas Truce," "Long Day's Journey Into War" and "A Stillness Heard Round the W
Source: lawweekly.org
11-2-06
Professor Tomiko Brown-Nagin, who permanently joined the law faculty this semester, emphasizes special relationships with mentors and colleagues as key in her education, professional life and advice to current students.
Brown-Nagin knew early in her academic career that she aspired to become a professor, but she has taken a relatively scenic route toward that goal, which has augmented her strength as a teacher and scholar. Her path began with five years spent moving between Duke and
Source: Charlotte.com
11-5-06
William Powell wanted to write a book about North Carolina in the fifth grade.
Rich material surrounded him.
Stories from his community in Statesville. Family stories like those his grandmother told about living through the Civil War.
Powell listened. And took notes.
That first book didn't work out, but Powell kept trying.
Now, at 87, Powell is known as the dean of N.C. historians and is getting ready for his first book tour. It to
Source: graphic.pepperdine.edu
11-2-06
It’s not every day that Pepperdine University is granted the privilege of having a Pulitzer Prize winner in its presence. However, at the beginning of the 2006 school year Pepperdine University welcomed 1998 Pulitzer Prize winner, Dr. Edward Larson.
The Pulitzer Prize is regarded as the highest national honor the prizes are awarded in April of every year and are administered by Columbia University. There are 21 different categories and each winner receives a $10,000 cash reward.
Source: Economist
11-2-06
SO IS it to be 1967 or 1948? For watchers of the Middle East this question is shorthand for two different ways to think about the origins of, and solutions to, the long conflict between Israel and the Arabs of Palestine. In the eyes of the 1967 crowd, Israel was entitled to the borders it had before its abrupt expansion in the six-day war of that year. To make peace, the trick is therefore to create circumstances in which Israel will give up most or all of that land and allow an independent Pale
Source: Chronicle of Higher Ed
11-10-06
To the Editor:
I read with personal interest Christopher Phelps's "Herbert Aptheker: the Contradictions of History"; (The Chronicle Review, October 6). I was a freshman at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1963 when Herb Aptheker was invited to speak at the student union. Alerted that Aptheker was a Communist, and spurred to action by a Raleigh TV journalist named Jesse Helms, the
Source: Bruce Craig in the newsletter of the National Coalition for History
11-3-06
Each year, the National Coalition for History nominates individuals for the Paul Peck Presidential Awards. Two awards are presented -- one for "Service to the Presidency" and the other for "Portrayal of the Presidency." This year, our nominee won in the "Portrayal" category -- Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.
During a black-tie event held at the newly restored Patent Office Building that houses the Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture, Sc
Source: FrontpageMag.com
11-2-06
Frontpage Interview’s guest today is Robert Spencer, a scholar of Islamic history, theology, and law and the director of Jihad Watch. He is the author of six books, seven monographs, and hundreds of articles about jihad and Islamic terrorism, including Islam Unveiled: Disturbing Questions About the World’s Fastest Growing Faith and the New York Times Bestseller The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades). He is the author of the new book, The Truth About Muhammad.
FP
Source: A Conversation with James Loewen by Mike Jetty at the website of Phi Delta Kappa
11-2-06
JAMES Loewen is an author, historian, and professor. Through Lies My Teacher Told Me, he has helped to reconstruct the way history is viewed and taught in public schools all across America. During a recent conversation, he shared his views on how American Indian topics and events are traditionally taught and offered his insights into what we can do to accommodate multiple perspectives in our examination of history. Below, I present his comments and insights as he told them to me.
My
Source: Scott McLemee at the website, Insider Higher Ed
11-1-06
... A memory of that cringe-inducing moment on CSPAN [during which a noted historian disparaged the writing of history from below] flooded back to mind a few days ago, upon news of the death of Lawrence W. Levine, a professor of history emeritus at the University of California at Berkeley. (He also served as president of the Organization of American Historians and, after retiring from Berkeley, taught in the history and cultural studies programs at George Mason University.) The headline of
Source: http://www.pestiside.hu
10-30-06
Sometime in the next few days or weeks, a lowly staffer or student on work-study at Central European University will likely perform a small and simple bit of administrative housekeeping that may have more meaning than some of the densest lines written by the George Soros-funded institution's most celebrated social scientists. They will erase or modify the page on the university's website currently found at www.ceu.hu/hist/antohi_cv.htm, which li
Source: Aljazeera
11-1-06
An Istanbul court judge on Wednesday said Muazzez Ilmiye Cig's writings had not insulted religious honour nor incited hatred and enmity as charged by the prosecution.
Turkey is an overwhelmingly Muslim, but officially secular, country and a candidate for European Union membership.
Dozens of intellectuals, notably the Nobel literature prize winner Orhan Pamuk, have been prosecuted over the past year for insulting concepts held dear by Turks, such as the ''Turkish identity'' or the
Source: Joshua Holland in AlterNet
9-27-06
... Clearly, there are differences between Reagan's wars in El Salvador and Nicaragua two decades ago and Bush's debacle in Iraq today. But there are also threads that bind the two.
In his new book, Empire's Workshop: Latin America, the United States, and the Rise of the New Imperialism, historian Greg Grandin pulls those threads together and argues that U.S. intervention in Latin America, especially during the 1980s, served as a laboratory in which a group of neocons -- many of who
Source: Manan Ahmed at HNN blog, Cliopatria
10-30-06
William Montgomery Watt, Professor (Emeritus) of Arabic and Islamic Studies at the University of Edinburgh - unarguably one of the key historians of Islam in the West - died on October 24, 2006 at the age of 97. He was educated at the Universities of Edinburgh, Jena, and at Balliol College, Oxford. He held the post of Assistant Lecturer in Moral Philosophy at Edinburgh from 1934 to 1938, Lecturer in Ancient Philosophy 1946-1947, and successively Lecturer, Senior Lecturer and Reader in Arabic 194
Source: Email from historian Mark Grimsley to John J. Miller of National Review. Posted at Cliopatria, the HNN blog
10-31-06
I've finally gotten the more or less definitive word on the background and status of the Ambrose-Hesseltine Chair at Wisconsin. According to the university's development office, quite a few parties have been involved in this fundraising drive since Stephen Ambrose kicked it off in 1997. He was, of course, the main donor to the Chair.
The files contain no formal document outlining an agreement between the other donors and the University of Wisconsin Foundation. But it seems fair to s
Source: Chronicle of Higher Ed
10-31-06
Hours before the New York University historian Tony Judt was scheduled to give a talk at the Polish Consulate in New York on "The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy," the event was called off. In an e-mail message to friends, colleagues, and the news media, Judt charged that "the talk was canceled because the Polish Consulate had been threatened by the Anti-Defamation League." For its part, the ADL, which has been critical of Judt's previous writings on Israel, acknowledged
Source: Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
10-28-06
A $1 million gift by a University of Pittsburgh professor, including his private collection on World War II, helped the school raise $1 billion and establish it as a leading source of information on the Good War.
The collection of military historian Donald M. Goldstein was appraised in February at $890,000, and he kicked in $110,000 to raise his gift to $1 million. But he told Pitt's board of trustees Friday, "It may be a billion dollars in terms of knowledge."
His
Source: CBS Evening News
10-30-06
... "When Ronald Reagan was elected governor, he blew everybody's expectations of him losing out of the water," says historian Douglas Brinkley, a CBS News consultant.
Brinkley is writing a book based on Reagan's presidential diaries.
"That this Hollywood actor could ... win the biggest state in the country and use that as the springboard for the conservative movement has become the stuff of political lore," Brinkley says.
The lore an
Source: FrontpageMag.com
10-30-06
Frontpage Interview’s guest today is H. W. (Harry) Crocker III, who has worked as a journalist, a speechwriter for the governor California (Pete Wilson, in his first term and reelection campaign), and as Vice President and Executive Editor of Regnery Publishing. He is the author of Triumph: The Power and the Glory of the Catholic Church, A 2,000-Year History, and Robert E. Lee on Leadership: Executive Lessons in Character, Courage, and Vision, as well as the prize-winning comic novel The Old Li
