Jul 16, 2007

Things Noted Here and There

by Cliopatria

Tunku Varadarajan,"Happy Blogiversary," WSJ, 14 July, celebrates the blogosphere's 10th anniversary with a symposium of a dozen authorities, including Tom Wolfe who blames bloggers for Wikipedia's including a fictoid in an article about the man in the white suit.

Dave Meadows' Classicarnival is up at Rogue Classicism.

Alissa de Carbonnel,"Bringing the Past to Life," Moscow Times, 29 June, is an excellent report on a re-enactment of the Battle of Friedland. There, in 1807, Napoleon routed the Russian army. Oleg Sokolov, a St. Petersburg historian of Napoleon's Russian campaign, organized the re-enactment and played the commanding French general. Hat tip.

Josef Joffe,"A Cold Warrior and His Contradictions," WSJ, 6 July, reviews John Lukacs' George Kennan: A Study of Character. Hat tip.

Wil Haygood,"The Man from Jet," Washington Post, 15 July. Simeon Booker reported on the civil rights movement when it wasn't safe to report on the civil rights movement. Thanks to Manan Ahmed for the tip.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown's proposal for a new school curriculum, including a major shift of priorities in history, is controversial. See, for instance: Brown,"We Need a United Kingdom," Telegraph;"The Madness of Brown," Sunday Express; and"Be Brave, Mr. Brown, in the Classroom," Guardian.

More Comments:

Lee H. Edwards - 7/20/2007

I read your blog and I thought you might like to take a look at Ann Hagedorn's SAVAGE PEACE:
Hope and Fear in America, 1919 (Simon & Schuster).

Terrorist-generated paranoia, racial unrest, immigration raids, government intrusion into the private lives of citizens, controversial forms of marriage, a contested U.S. intervention abroad, and hotly-debated scientific advances are issues that polarized our nation long before 2007. In SAVAGE PEACE, acclaimed author and journalist Hagedorn offers a riveting account of the year in U.S. history that directly influenced and uncannily reflects modern day controversies.

The Chicago Tribune calls it, a fast-paced an engaging study ..SAVAGE PEACE is a potent reminder of the fragility of civil liberties and the power of conspiratorial fantasies propagated by true believers and opportunists alike during times of war and uncertainty. Hagedorn tells this important, complicated and often unsettling story well, conveying effectively the drama and intensity of the year's events as well as their contemporary and longer-term significance.

Check out her website www.savagepeace.com