Wednesday Notes
George Meyer,"My Undoing," New Yorker, 28 May, is must reading for the conference-addicted.
Sophie Harrison,"Clean," Times Online, 20 May, reviews Virginia Smith's A History of Personal Hygiene and Purity.
Adam Gopnik,"Ages and Angels: Lincoln's Language and its Legacy," New Yorker, 28 May, looks at Lincoln's speech, underlying assumptions, and influence.
John Gapper,"The Invention of America," Financial Times, 11 May, reviews Neal Gabler's Walt Disney: The Biography and Michael Barrier's The Animated Man: A Life of Walt Disney. Hat tip.
Berny Morson and Kevin Vaughn,"Churchill's Backers Misrepresented Sources, Relied on Faulty Books," Rocky Mountain News, 18 May, is the latest update on the Ward Churchill saga. It has now dragged on for 28 months. In the case of Michael Bellesiles, Emory University acted with prudent dispatch in 12 months.
Niall Ferguson,"The World as Shakespearean Tragedy," LA Times, 21 May."Judging by the body count, modern global politics look headed for the bloody final act of a Bard tragedy." There's more on the Ferguson-front in Clive Thompson's"Why a Famous Counterfactual Historian Loves Making History with Games," Wired, 21 May.