Thursday Notes

Scott Jaschik,"Academic Fallout from the Middle East," IHE, 31 May, looks at growing tensions in the Anglo-American academic community over issues in the Middle East. Great Britain's academic community moves closer to a boycott of Israel; and American scholars view Iranian detention of western scholars with alarm. See also: Alisha Labi,"British Faculty Union's Vote Will Lead to Debate on Academic Boycott of Israel," CHE, 31 May.

Lynne Duke,"The Shackles in the Shadows of History," Washington Post, 30 May, looks at the place of slavery in a national narrative.

Rick Perlstein,"Rigging the Marketplace of Ideas," TomPaine.com, 30 May, mines Elizabeth Fones-Wolf's Selling Free Enterprise: The Business Assault on Labor and Liberalism, 1945-60 to illuminate recent developments involving the National Association of Manufacturers and the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Günter Grass,"How I Spent the War: A recruit in the Waffen S.S.," New Yorker, 4 June, continues Grass's self-revelation. Hat tip.

Janice Turner,"Man v God," London Times, 30 May, is an excellent piece about Christopher Hitchens. Hat tip.

Finally, farewell to Berkeley's distinguished classicist, W. K. Pritchett. He died on Tuesday at 98.