Cliopatria

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• Jan 19, 2012
  

  More Noted Things

  by Cliopatria

  The Giants' Shoulders #43, the history of science carnival, is up at The Dispersal of Darwin.

  Steven Pearlstein reviews Niall Ferguson's Civilization: The West and the Rest for the Washington Post, 13 January. It's a book in search of an editor, he says; even, in search of an author.

  Patricia Cohen, "A Grim Aspect of Modernity (and a Breezy Tour)," NYT, 18 January, reviews Cullen Murphy's God's Jury: The Inquisition and the Making of the Modern World. Elizabeth Lowry, "Visions of the Arabian Nights," TLS, 18 January, reviews Robert Irwin's Visions of the Jinn: Illustrators of the Arabian Nights.

  

• Jan 16, 2012
  

  Things Noted Here & There

  by Cliopatria

  Bethany Nowviskie, "It Starts on Day One," ProfHacker, 12 January, prompts contrasting responses from two Cliopatria alum: Tim Burke, "I endorse these messages," Easily Distracted, 13 January; and Caleb McDaniel, "Methods in U.S. Cultural History," Offprints, 13 January.

  John Ray, "A tomb of one's own," TLS, 11 January, reviews the expansion of Oxford's Asmolean Museum's collections of Ancient Egyptian and Nubian artifacts.

  

• Jan 12, 2012
  

  Modern History Notes

  by Cliopatria

  Avner Shapira previews Eli Friedlander's Walter Benjamin: A Philosophical Portrait for Haaretz, 30 December. This year marks the 120th anniversary of Benjamin's birth. Michael O'Donnell, "The Last Days of Hugh Trevor-Roper," Washington Monthly, Jan/Feb, reviews Adam Sisman's An Honourable Englishman: The Life of Hugh Trevor-Roper.

  Jeff Stier, "Modern-Day Prohibition, Reason, January, reviews Christopher Snowdon's The Art of Suppression: Pleasure, Panic and Prohibition Since 1800.

  

• Jan 9, 2012
  

  Things Noted Here & There

  by Cliopatria

  The Biblical Studies Carnival for 1 January 2012 is up at Dr. Jim's Thinking Shop. The Carnival of Genealogy, 113th edition, is up at Creative Gene.

  

• Jan 5, 2012
  

  The Cliopatria Awards, 2011

  by Cliopatria

  In conjunction with the AHA annual meeting in Chicago, here are the seventh annual Cliopatria Awards for History Blogging, including our inaugural awards for Best Twitter Feed and Best Podcast Episode. Thanks to the judges this year: Manan Ahmed, Kelly Baker, Jonathan Dresner, Mary Dudziak, Katrina Gulliver, Andrew Hartman, Brett Holman, Sharon Howard, Shane Landrum, Randall Stephens, Karen Tani, and David Weinfeld. They have done a fine job, making difficult decisions to choose the best work from strong fields. Here are the winners and brief explanations of the judges' rationale for their decisions:

  

• Jan 4, 2012
  

  Midweek Notes

  by Cliopatria

  Daisy Banks interviews "Emma Rothschild on Economic History," The Browser, for her recommendation of five essential books on the subject.

  Elaine Sciolino, "Leonardo Painting's Restoration Bitterly Divides Art Experts," NYT, 3 January, features the controversy among art historians over the restoration of Leonardo da Vinci's "Virgin and Child With Saint Anne."

  Michael Kimmelman, "The Grid at 200: Lines That Shaped Manhattan," NYT, 2 January, reviews "The Greatest Grid: The Master Plan of Manhattan, 1811-2011," an exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York.

  

• Jan 3, 2012
  

  More Noted Things

  by Cliopatria

  Scott Jaschik, "Reprieve for Oral History," IHE, 3 January, reports the most recent developments in the case of Boston College and the Irish Republican Army oral history interviews. See also: "Circuit Breaker," Chris Bray, 30 December.

  Gary Rosen, "How to Think About How to Live," WSJ, 27 December, reviews Luc Ferry's A Brief History of Thought.

  Michael Patrick Brady for the Boston Globe, 7 November, and Christopher Tyerman, "The Crusaders' Favorite Muslim," WSJ, 31 December, review Anne-Marie Eddé's Saladin.

  

• Jan 2, 2012
  

  Things Noted Here & There

  by Cliopatria

  Books to look forward to in 2012:

  Faramerz Dabhoiwala's The Origin of Sex: A History of the First Sexual Revolution. Its Oxford historian/author claims it's both a good read and will improve your sex life. I'll take a money-back guarantee on that.

   

  Robert A. Caro's The Years of Lyndon Johnson: The Passage of Power. Volume 4 of Caro's massive biography takes LBJ to the vice presidency, through the Kennedy assassination, and to the presidency.

   

  D. J. Taylor, "Mean Streets," The Book, 2 January, reviews John Marriott's Beyond the Tower: A History of East London.

  

• Dec 31, 2011
  

  Weak Endnotes

  by Cliopatria

  Adam Hochschild, "Haiti's Tragic History," NYT, 29 December, reviews Laurent Dubois' Haiti: The Aftershocks of History.

  Joyce E. Chaplin, "Roger Williams: The Great Separationist," NYT, 30 December, reviews John M. Barry's Roger Williams and the Creation of the American Soul: Church, State, and the Birth of Liberty. See also: Barry, "God, Government and Roger Williams' Big Idea," Smithsonian, January.

  

• Dec 30, 2011
  

  Friday's Notes

  by Cliopatria

  Mary Beard, Mike Dash, Helen Castor, John Morrill, and Timothy Garton Ash recommend the "Best of FiveBooks on History," The Browser, 29 December.

  Colin Burrow reviews Stephen Greenblatt's The Swerve: How the Renaissance Began for the Guardian, 23 December.

  Suzanne Gamboa, "Scholars want help identifying slaves' origins," Guardian, 29 December, examines the project of Emory's David Eltis, York's James Walvin, and others.

  

• Dec 29, 2011
  

  More Noted Things

  by Cliopatria

  Colin Thubron, "Apocalypse City," NYRB, 12 January, reviews Simon Sebag Montefiori's Jerusalem: The Biography.

  "How Luther went viral: Five centuries before Facebook and the Arab spring, social media helped bring about the Reformation," Economist, 17 December, sees precedent for social change.

  Mark Lilla, "Republicans for Revolution," NYRB, 12 January, reviews Corey Robin's The Reactionary Mind: Conservatism from Edmund Burke to Sarah Palin.

  

• Dec 27, 2011
  

  Errol Morris on Photography

  by Cliopatria

  "Writer and Oscar-winning documentary maker Errol Morris talks about the nature of truth, art and propaganda in photography. Drawing examples from the photographs of Abu Ghraib and the Crimean war, cited in his book Believing is Seeing, he argues we've often underplayed the link between photgraphs and the physical world." Hat Tip
  

• Dec 26, 2011
  

  Things Noted Here & There

  by Cliopatria

  Tom Shippey, "Arthurian Glories Renewed," WSJ, 24 December, reviews Peter Ackroyd's The Death of King Arthur and Simon Armitage's The Death of King Arthur.

  Drew Gilpin Faust, "Much, But Not Everything," The Book, 25 December, reviews David Reynolds's Mightier Than the Sword: Uncle Tom's Cabin and the Battle for America.

  

• Dec 25, 2011
  

  Notes: Ancient & Early Modern

  by Cliopatria

  In "The Book of Books: What Literature Owes the Bible," NYT, 22 December, Marilynne Robinson takes up an issue close to her heart.

  Michael Mewshaw reviews Robert Hughes's Rome : A Cultural, Visual, and Personal History for the Washington Post, 23 December. The review is more in the vein of Mary Beard's and Peter Stothard's than of Simon Schama's and others'.

  

• Dec 23, 2011
  

  Friday's Notes

  by Cliopatria

  Mary Beard responds to the question, "Do the Classics Have a Future?" NYRB, 12 January.

  Adam Kirsch, "Mysteries and Masterpieces," Harvard Magazine, Jan/Feb, investigates "the latest stage in the ‘American conquest of the Middle Ages'."

  

• Dec 22, 2011
  

  Modern History Notes

  by Cliopatria

  G. W. Bowersock, "The Tremendous, Ferocious Bentley," NYRB, 24 November, reviews Kristine Louise Haugens's Richard Bentley: Poetry and Enlightenment.

  William Feaver reviews Steven Naifeh's and Gregory White Smith's Van Gogh: The Life for the Guardian, 21 December.

  Jenna Weissman Joselit, "Blessings," The Book, 21 December, reviews Stephanie Deutsch's You Need a Schoolhouse: Booker T. Washington, Julius Rosenwald, and the Building of Schools for the Segregated South

  

• Dec 20, 2011
  

  More Noted Things

  by Cliopatria

  Xavier Marquez, "Flattery Inflation," Abandoned Footnotes, 14 December, looks at competitive flattery in tyrannies, ancient and modern.

  Allan Mallinson, "Servants To Masters," WSJ, 20 December, reviews Allan Massie's The Royal Stuarts: A History of the Family that Shaped Britain. Jonathan Lopez, "A Peaceable Canvas," WSJ, 17 December, reviews Anthony Bailey's Velázquez and the Surrender of Breda.

  

• Dec 19, 2011
  

  Things Noted Here & There

  by Cliopatria

  The Giant's Shoulders #42, the history of science carnival, is up at PACHSmörgåsbord.

  Sean Carroll, "Unwinding Time," WSJ, 17 December, reviews Allen Everett's and Thomas Roman's Time Travel and Warp Drives and Brian Clegg's How to Build a Time Machine.

  Anne Fadiman, "The Oakling and the Oak," Lapham's Quarterly, 18 December, considers fathers and sons in the example of Samuel Taylor Coleridge and his son, David Hartley Coleridge.

  

• Dec 17, 2011
  

  Boston College: Final Post

  by Cliopatria

  Or, "The Logical (and Unconstitutional) Conclusion of the Government’s Assertions"

  In a decision released on Friday morning (entire document is below; orders are on pg. 48), a federal judge rejected the effort by Boston College to quash subpoenas for confidential oral history materials regarding the Troubles in Northern Ireland. The subpoenaed materials will first go to the court for in camera review, an opportunity for the judge to draw some boundaries around the release of particular portions of the records. But this review seems unlikely to mean very much, for reasons that I'll explain in a few paragraphs.

  

• Dec 16, 2011
  

  Friday's Notes

  by Cliopatria

  Michael Dirda reviews Adam Sisman's An Honourable Englishman: The Life of Hugh Trevor-Roper for the Washington Post, 14 December.

  Tom Wright, "The Pope's Life of Jesus," TLS, 14 December, reviews Joseph Ratzinger's Jesus of Nazareth. Holy Week: From the entrance into Jerusalem to the Resurrection, Maurice Casey's Jesus of Nazareth: An independent historian's account of his life and teaching, and Bruce N. Fisk's A Hitchhiker's Guide to Jesus: Reading the gospels on the ground.

  Sophie Roell interviews "Lynn Hunt on the French Revolution," The Browser, 15 December, for her recommendation of five essential books on the subject.