This page features brief excerpts of stories published by the mainstream
media and, less frequently, blogs, alternative media, and even obviously
biased sources. The excerpts are taken directly from the websites cited in
each source note. Quotation marks are not used.
Source: Lee White at the website of the National Coalition for History (NCH)
Nov 6, 2009
On November 6, the United States Senate voted unanimously to confirm David Ferriero as the 10th Archivist of the United States. Mr. Ferriero was the Andrew W. Mellon Director of the New York Public Libraries. Mr. Ferriero, who was nominated by President Obama on July 28, 2009, will succeed Professor Allen Weinstein who resigned as Archivist in December 2008 for health reasons.
On October 1, the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs held a hearing to consider
Source: Cleveland Jewish News
Nov 6, 2009
Investigative author and reporter Edwin Black is zero for 40 and proud of it. That’s 40 years of writing about corporate greed, genocide, academic fraud, philanthropic abuse, and other delicate topics without a single retraction, error or threat of litigation.
Google “Edwin Black errors” or “Edwin Black sued” if you don’t believe him. Go ahead … the author of a half-dozen non-fiction books and numerous articles and essays says he has nothing to hide, unlike the powerful people and c
Source: Bueno Aires Herald
Nov 6, 2009
Argentine historian Félix Luna died today at the age of 84, losing a battle to a long illness, his family reported.
Luna, also a writer and university professor, was born in Buenos Aires to a family originally from La Rioja Province, in 1925. A grandfather had founded the La Rioja chapter of the newly-established centrist Radical Civic Union (UCR) in 1892, and an uncle, Pelagio Luna, had been Vice President of Argentina for President Hipólito Yrigoyen, between 1916 and 1919.
Source: Prague Daily Monitor
Nov 5, 2009
Czech President Vaclav Klaus highlighted the issue of the post-war Benes decrees in a discussion on the EU reform Lisbon treaty only because he is more and more ending up in isolation, Czech historian Ondrej Matejka said in Vienna on Wednesday, the APA Austrian agency reports Thursday.
"He (Klaus) put the dirtiest card he had available on the table to re-gain support of the Czech public," APA quotes Matejka, from the Antikomplex NGO, as saying in a debate at the Vienna Uni
Source: Cape Cod Day (MA)
Nov 5, 2009
BREWSTER —
There are very few retired Chinese human rights activists in our vicinity, which makes 90-year-old Gu Chang-Sheng’s new memoir all the more interesting. He is the author of several histories and biographies in Chinese, but “Awaken: Memoirs of a Chinese Historian” is his first book in English. Half history of twentieth century China, and half personal journey, it’s a book as confounding as it is gripping.
Gu’s story begins and ends with the author’s censorship
Source: NewLeader.com
Nov 5, 2009
Burns, an assistant history professor at the University of Virginia, has just published "Goddess of the Market: Ayn Rand and the American Right," a peer-reviewed study of the controversial author/philosopher/atheist/libertarian.
"So much of what was written about her was either pro or con and written by people who had known her," Burns said. "There was no academic book on this important topic."
As a graduate student in history at the Univer
Source: Cape Coral Daily Breeze
Nov 5, 2009
A Florida Gulf Coast University professor and wartime historian discussed the war in Afghanistan and Iraq at the Rotary Club of Cape Coral's weekly meeting Wednesday.
Guest speaker Dr. Peter Bergerson has been an educator for 42 years. Before becoming a professor at FGCU eight years ago, he taught at Southwest Missouri State University for 34 years.
Paul Sanborn, Rotary Club speaker chairman, said he chose Bergerson because of his resume. He added that Bergerson is a wa
Source: World News Australia
Nov 5, 2009
Threatened, verbally abused and told to leave Fiji or else, Professor Brij Lal says being an Australian citizen may have saved his life.
But back on home soil after a turbulent 12 hours, the long-serving Australian National University academic and Fiji expert has refused to sever his ties with the troubled Pacific nation.
He's vowed to return - and to see an end to the military regime which has ruled Fiji since the December 2006 coup, although he admits that may still t
Source: Ralph Luker at HNN blog, Cliopatria
Nov 4, 2009
A year after his election, historians assess President Obama: Walter Isaacson, Michael Kazin, Rick Perlstein,
Source: The Grio
Nov 4, 2009
Eric Foner is DeWitt Clinton professor of history at Columbia University. He sat down with msnbc.com's Cynthia Joyce to discuss Obama's place in history one year in to his presidency. Q: As a close observer of history, were you personally surprised by the outcome of the 2008 election?Eric Foner: I wasn't surprised. I couldn't imagine anyone voting Republican after eight years of Bush. I wrote an article in the
Source: This is South Devon
Nov 4, 2009
A PROMINENT memorial in the heart of Totnes which honours a famous explorer of Australia appears to be disappearing down under itself.
The Wills Memorial near to the Brutus Bridge was set up to honour the ill-fated explorer of Australia John Wills but it is shrinking, according to one historian.
Over the last century the 22ft high granite monument which sits on The Plains has shrunk by around 18 inches.
It also appears to have begun to lean a couple of inch
Source: Bi-College News
Nov 4, 2009
On Thursday night Bryn Mawr welcomed Dr. Edward Luttwack, a military historian and strategist, to campus.
In addition to teaching, Luttwack has written numerous books including, "Strategy: The Logic of War and Peace" (1987, rev. ed. 2002), and "Coup d’etat: A Practical Handbook" (1968; rev. ed. 1979). His newest book, "The Grand Strategy of the Byzantine Empire," was the main focus of Thursday night’s lecture, “Attila the Hun and Roman Strategy: A Compa
Source: SSRC
Nov 4, 2009
November 13-14, 2009 (Friday and Saturday)
34th Annual Social Science History Association Meeting, Long Beach, CA, 12-15 November 2009, on the Queen Mary. Conference Theme: “Agency and Action”
The 2009 SSHA conference features a presidential panel series of 4 panels and over 20 speakers devoted to Charles Tilly’s and Louise Tilly’s work and legacy. The conference also features the Tilly Fund’s inaugural presentation of the Charles and Louise Tilly Prize for the Best Gra
Source: Truthdig
Nov 4, 2009
George McGovern has some advice for President Barack Obama: Get U.S. troops out of Afghanistan.
“I’m convinced that war is going to turn sour. I’m convinced we’re not going to prevail there,” McGovern, the 1972 Democratic presidential nominee, said Sunday at a Truthdig event in West Los Angeles.
The former U.S. senator from South Dakota noted that “some of the best reporters over there are telling us that the Taliban are getting stronger and we’re getting weaker in the
Source: University of Guelph
Nov 3, 2009
When Eglantyne Jebb started Save the Children, the world's first international child-welfare agency in 1919, she inspired a generation of women to use their skills and minds to make a difference as volunteers.
Three years later, Jebb drafted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, a series of children's rights proclamations that eventually evolved into the famous United Nations Rights of the Child that were adopted in 1959.
Yet history has largely overlooked this im
Source: WTRF Channel 7
Nov 3, 2009
WEIRTON -- A $2,500 grant will help a Pittsburgh historian research the former summer home of steel magnate E.T. Weir.
Historian Carol Peterson will prepare a historical profile of the property and make suggestions of possible uses, as well as identify any needed improvements.
The business development corporation won the grant for the property, which is now owned by Williams Country Club.
Source: The Daily News (NY)
Nov 3, 2009
Historians, museums, historical societies and related organizations are in the process of creating a countywide federation, the Genesee County Human Service Committee was told Monday.
"We're going to try to pool in our resources. It's trying to do more with what we've got," County Historian Susan Conklin said.
Conklin discussed the new organization, which has yet to be named, while giving an update on her department to the Human Service Committee.
Source: Montreal Gazette
Nov 3, 2009
Lisa Jardine, author of Going Dutch: How England Plundered Holland's Glory, has been awarded the Cundill International Prize in History, described as the world's largest historical literature award for non-fiction.
Jardine collected a prize of $75,000 U.S. at the Mount Royal Club in Montreal Sunday night.
"It is humbling to be chosen as this year's winner from such a stellar list of historians," Jardine said. "The Cundill prize is the most important histo
Source: NZ City
Nov 3, 2009
A treaty historian says the repeal of the Foreshore and Seabed Act puts the Maori Party in a powerful position.
The Government has signaled the Act will be repealed by the end of next year and hopes for political consensus on its replacement.
Historian Paul Moon says the move puts the Maori Party in a strong position, considering it came into being to fight the legislation. He says the party can now say to its electorate that it has achieved what it set out to do and ha
Source: Voice of America
Nov 2, 2009
November 9 marks the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. We spoke with British historian Frederick Taylor, an expert on the Berlin Wall, author of the book The Berlin Wall - A World Divided 1961-1989, about what prompted East German authorities to build the wall in the first place.
Under the terms of the 1945 Yalta Agreement, the victorious allies of World War II divided Germany into four sectors, or zones of occupation: the American, British, French and Soviet zones.
