Things Noted Here and There

Notre Dame's loss is Oxford's gain. You recall that Tariq Ramadan, the distinguished Muslim scholar, was unable to take residency at Notre Dame last year because the Department of Homeland Security refused to approve his admission to the United States. Ramadan will become a Visiting Fellow at St. Anthony's College, Oxford, in October.

Have history professors been sidelined from helping to shape the nation's public school curriculum or have we sidelined ourselves? Christopher Shea,"History Lessons," Boston Globe, 28 August, explores the matter, following publication of Robert Orrill and Linn Shapiro's"From Bold Beginnings to an Uncertain Future: The Discipline of History and History Education," AHR, June 2005. Thanks to Sepoy at Chapati Mystery for the tip.

Pauline Maier,"The Founding Revisited," Washington Post, 28 August, reviews Edward Lengel's General George Washington: A Military Life and Gary Nash's The Unknown American Revolution: The Unruly Birth of Democracy and the Struggle to Create America. Maier is fairly critical of Nash's work, as Gordon Wood was in"Colonial Correctness," TNR, 6 June, and a half dozen Cliopatricians were in"America's Unfinished Revolution: A Symposium," 7 July 2005.

The Financial Times has an amusing piece, Virginia Marsh's"Lunch with the FT: The History Wars," 26 August. Ms. Marsh and pudgy, white, and self-satisfied Keith Windschuttle discuss his work and stuff themselves on a $139 lunch of oysters, kingfish salad, and blue eye cod. Windschuttle's blog, by the way, is The Sydney Line. Thanks to Alfredo Perez at Political Theory Daily Review for the tip.

Finally, Kevin Drum at Political Animal has a helpful map and explanation of the circumstances under which New Orleans could experience a catastrophic hit this morning from hurricane Katrina.