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: Cinnamon Stillwell at the website of Campus Watch
Feb 15, 2008
Georgetown professor John Esposito, director of the Saudi-financed Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding has a reputation as an apologist for radical Islam. And it's one he lived up to with a
Source: The Hindu
Feb 14, 2008
A French historian writing a book on the ties between his country and the erstwhile kingdom of Kapurthala, today expressed "unhappiness" at the dilapidated condition of several historical buildings.
Jean Marie Lafont, who along with four others, on Thursday visited this town famous for its French architecture, said they were impressed to see the old monuments but "unhappy" over their dilapidated conditions.
Comparing the old monuments, especially the
Source: James McPherson in the NY Review of Books (subscription only)
Feb 14, 2008
In 1992 Mark E. Neely Jr. won the Pulitzer Prize in History for his book The Fate of Liberty: Abraham Lincoln and Civil Liberties.[1] In the same year that the book came out he published an influential article in the journal Civil War History titled "Was the Civil War a Total War?"[2] His answer to that question was no. The concept of "total war" had arisen as a way of describing the horrifying destruction of lives and resources in World War II. The generation of historians w
Source: NY Review of Books
Feb 14, 2008
[HNN Editor: Some 600 people have signed the following statement (originated by the New
York-based Campaign for Peace and Democracy), among them historians: Howard Zinn, Thomas Harrison, Jesse Lemisch, Martin Duberman, Eileen Boris, Rusti Eisenberg, Adam Hochschild, Temma Kaplan, Nelson Lichtenstein, Ervand Abrahamian, David Applebaum, Mike Davis, Rozanne Dunbar-Ortiz, Joan Hoff, Christopher Phelps, Peter Rachleff, Carl Schorske.]
The statement below was delivered by a delegation
Source: http://www.artsjournal.com
Feb 13, 2008
An architectural historian who taught for 20 years at Columbia University (where she was professor of art history and archaeology), and who was also curator of last year's well received three-part exhibition, Robert Moses and the Modern City, Ballon is now associate vice chancellor for academic programs and campus planning for NYU Abu Dhabi, scheduled to open in 2010.
She co-authored with Westermann the recent report, Art History and Its Publications in the Electronic Age. Westerman
Source: http://www.moneyweb.co.za
Feb 13, 2008
MONEYWEB: You're with the Moneyweb Power Hour and it's a warm welcome now to the former professor from UCT and from Stellenbosch University, Hermann Giliomee, one of our great historians in South Africa. Hermann, you wrote a piece last week for Die Burger and Die Beeld newspapers, and it's elicited a whole lot of interesting reaction. Let's just go back to it a little bit. As a historian you've been looking at South Africa and saying that we're now in the third major crisis of modern times, the
Source: http://www.catholicnewsagency.com
Feb 13, 2008
In an article published by L’Osservatore Romano, Italian historian Francesco Guglietta, an expert on the life of Pius IX, revealed how the Pontiff decided to consult with the bishops of the world to proclaim the dogma of the Immaculate Conception on December 8, 1854.
Guglietta points out that the revolution that ended with the proclamation of the “Roman Republic” in 1848 and that forced the Pope to take up residence for nine months in Gaeta, south of Rome, had a profound effect on t
Source: Sean Wilentz in the New Republic (subscribers only)
Feb 13, 2008
Few historians write personal journals that deserve publication, which is not surprising. How much interest can there be in the academic controversies and petty jealousies that dominate the lives of working historians, much less in the archives, the private libraries, and the lecture halls where they spend so much of their time? Novelists, poets, and literary critics--Alfred Kazin is a recent example--have the gifts, and the sensibilities, required to dramatize their inner lives and the world ar
Source: Robert Townsend at the AHA blog
Feb 12, 2008
The AHA is now offering an Archives Wiki as a free resource for historians and other researchers. This project is described in greater detail in the February issue of Perspectives on History, but in general terms, we hope that by harnessing this (relatively) new technology for collaboration on the web, we can draw on the collective interests of thousands of researchers and archivists to develop a rich resource for anyone venturing into new archives for the first time....
Source: Press Release--Gettysburg College Media Relations
Feb 12, 2008
Two books offering new insights into the lives of three of the Civil War era's most compelling figures will share the 2008 Lincoln Prize, which is endowed by Richard Gilder and Lewis Lehrman and administered by Gettysburg College.
For their books about Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass and Robert E. Lee, the winners are James Oakes, a professor at the City University of New York, for "The Radical and the Republican: Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, and the Triumph
Source: http://www.thestate.com
Feb 12, 2008
Daniel Walker Hollis, author of the definitive history of the University of South Carolina from its origin in 1801 to the early 1950s, died Thursday at age 85.
When he retired in 1985, Hollis described to a writer for The State a 47-year “love affair” with USC, including 38 years on its history faculty.
Hollis was buried Sunday at Elmwood Cemetery and Gardens in Columbia.
His contribution for the ages was his two-volume history of the university, which was
Source: Press Release
Feb 12, 2008
The Constitutional Sources Project, creator of ConSource.org, the only free, fully-indexed online library of Constitutional sources, will partner with The History Channel, the New York Historical Society, Ustream.TV and Verizon Thinkfinity.org in hosting an online President's Day event with David McCullough February 13, 2008 webcast at www.ConSource.org from 2:00-3:00 p.m. EST. This event will mark the addition of approximately 20,000 letters, speeches, and
Source: HNN Staff (Click here to read Mr. Lehrman's article.)
Feb 12, 2008
In today's NY Sun there's an op ed by Lewis Lehrman, one half of the duo behind the Gilder Lehrman Institute.
The topic is an extended discussion of Lincoln's run for president in 1860.
Not until the reader reaches the end of the article does it become clear why Mr. Lehrman, who is known for his generous donations to history projects, is writing about Lincoln.
The answer is supplied in his bio line:
Mr. Lehrman, co-chairman of the Gilder Lehrman Institute of Am
Source: Anne Mitchell Whisnant in the Chronicle of Higher Ed
Feb 12, 2008
"I thought I'd read a few passages from my book," I told the young man, as he arranged the chairs, tested the mike, and set out a bottle of water before my first book-signing event at a small bookstore in the North Carolina mountains.
A surprised look crossed his face. "I guess that would be OK," he replied earnestly, "but usually only our fiction writers read from their books."
A few weeks earlier, I had spent an evening with 45 such write
Source: Press Release
Feb 12, 2008
In a rare departure from tradition, the 2008 Lincoln Prize has been awarded to a book devoted to a leader of the Southern Confederacy, Elizabeth Brown Pryor’s Reading the Man: A Portrait of Robert E. Lee through his Private Letters (Viking). The award was announced today by the Lincoln & Soldiers Institute at Gettysburg, which administers the prize. The Lincoln Prize is one of the most generous and prestigious awards in the field of American history. It is customarily given for the year’s be
Source: Max Holland at his website, WashingtonDecoded
Feb 11, 2008
[HNN Editor: This is a review of the Philip Shenon's new book, The Commission: The Uncensored History of the 9/11 Investigation. The book focuses on the role historian Philip Zelikow played as executive director of the 9-11 Commission. As we reported in early February when news of the book first broke, Zelikow has had a difficult relationship with both Shenon and Max Holland, the author of this review. Zelikow and Shenon crossed swor
Source: Secrecy News, written by Steven Aftergood, is published by the Federation of American Scientists
Feb 11, 2008
"Senior investigators on the 9/11 Commission believed their work was
being manipulated by the executive director to minimize criticism of
the Bush Administration," according to a new book on the Commission."Investigative staffers at the Commission believe [executive director]
Philip Zelikow repeatedly sought to minimize the administration's
intelligence failures in the months leading up to 9/11, which had the
effect of helping to ensure President Bush's re
Source: http://www.benningtonbanner.com
Feb 11, 2008
A lack of emphasis in the Army educational system and a promotion system that does not allow dissident views is what is keeping the United States Army from producing another Gen. George Marshall, according to an expert on U.S. diplomatic and military history who spoke at the Pownal Solomon Wright Library on Sunday.
Marshall, a military leader that went on to become Secretary of State, the third Secretary of Defense and win a Nobel Peace Prize, had a real understanding of authority and how
Source: NYT
Feb 10, 2008
Dan H. Laurence, a noted scholar, editor and bibliographer who devoted nearly every waking moment of his professional life to compiling the voluminous works of George Bernard Shaw, died on Tuesday at his home in San Antonio. He was 87.
Mr. Laurence died of natural causes, his niece, Jo Fielder, said.
For many years the official literary adviser to Shaw’s estate, Mr. Laurence was considered one of this country’s leading authorities on Shaw (1856-1950), the distinguished
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
Feb 10, 2008
Historian Howard Zinn's "A People's History of the United States? is being adapted into a feature documentary. Called "The People Speak" the documentary will feature dramatic readings and live musical performances from the likes of Josh Brolin, Viggo Mortensen, David Strathairn, Marisa Tomei Jasmine Guy, John Legend, Q'Orianka Kilcher, Michael Ealy and Kerry Washington.Four performances in Boston at Emerson's Cutler Majestic Theater have already been shot and
