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: http://www.worldpress.org
Nov 28, 2007
Michael Byers recently released Intent for a Nation: What Is Canada For? He recently spoke with journalist Am Johal from Vancouver. [Michael Byers holds the Canada Research Chair in Global Politics and International Law at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.]
Johal: I just read your book over the weekend. How did you come up with the idea to write a contemporary response to George Grant's iconic Lament for a Nation?
Byers: The motivation was intensely perso
Source: http://marshallfoundation.org
Nov 28, 2007
Dr. Larry I. Bland, editor of The Papers of George Catlett Marshall, historian, author, and teacher, died Tuesday, November 27, in Lexington, Virginia. He was 67 years old.
Generally recognized as one of the world’s foremost authorities on the life and career of George Catlett Marshall, Bland was working on the sixth volume of the Marshall Papers when he died. The Marshall Papers is the principle publications project of the George C. Marshall Foundation in Lexington.
In addit
Source: HNN Staff (research by HNN intern Lee Winningham)
Nov 28, 2007
More than fifty historians have now signed a statement in support of the candidacy of Barack Obama, which was posted at HNN on Monday. But they aren't the only historians to have come out early in support of a presidential candidate. Two weeks ago Princeton historian Sean Wilentz announced in an interview with a bl
Source: Chronicle of Higher Education (CHE)
Nov 28, 2007
Political-science and history professors throughout Iowa, New Hampshire, and even in states without early causes and primaries, are mining the real-life political lessons of the 2008 election season for class assignments, projects, and reading lists.
In Iowa, Rachel P. Caufield, an associate professor of politics and international relations at Drake University, has made the 2008 presidential race a key topic in her honors class about satire.
Her students, for instance,
Source: http://www.hps.cam.ac.uk
Nov 27, 2007
Peter Lipton, the first Hans Rausing Professor of the History and Philosophy of Science, and long-serving head of the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge died on 25 November 2007. Lipton collapsed after a squash game; his wife was with him when he died.
Professor Lipton was recognized as one of the leading philosophers of science and epistemologists in the world. Born in New York in 1954, he studied physics and philosophy at Wesleyan Univer
Source: Eric Alterman at his blog, Altercation
Nov 27, 2007
Speaking of
me, I often have trouble deciding which attacks on me in the blogosphere demand
responses and which I am elevating to an importance they do not deserve by
doing so (in addition to wasting my time). But I see that in the past few days,
I've been attacked as an anti-Japanese
racist by a right-wing blogger, attacked as an anti-black racist by a left-wing
blogger, quoted favorably by right-wing anti-Semites, attacked by Naderites,
and attacked in Commentary by"Jamie
Source: Japan Today
Nov 27, 2007
Researchers of the 1945 Battle of Okinawa agree that the Japanese military "forced and steered" civilians in Okinawa to commit mass suicide during the only full-scale ground battle in Japan during World War II, an authority on modern Japanese history said Tuesday.
Hirofumi Hayashi, professor at Kanto Gakuin University in Yokohama, said he conveyed the view in a statement submitted to the Japanese government's textbook-screening panel, which is considering requests by publi
Source: Jaime Antúnez at http://www.zenit.org
Nov 27, 2007
When a society loses its religion, sooner or later it loses its culture. This is one of the reflections of English historian Christopher Dawson, highlighted in a book on his philosophical contribution to the study of history.
Jaime Antúnez Aldunate, editor of the Chile-based review Humanitas, is the author of "Filosofía de la historia en Christopher Dawson" (Philosophy of History in Christopher Dawson), a man he says was the best Catholic historian of the 20th century. The
Source: Inside Higher Ed
Nov 27, 2007
In the weeks approaching the 2004 and 1992 elections, among others, groups of educators issued formal statements of support for the Democratic nominees for president, taking public stands as members of their profession. In recent elections, groups of scientists have also weighed in — after the party nominations were settled.
But in a move that is unusually early and specific, a group of prom
Source: AHA Blog
Nov 26, 2007
Devoted C-SPAN watchers probably already know that each Sunday night the channel airs their Q & A series, showcasing interviews with “interesting people who are making things happen in politics, the media, education, and science & technology.” But non-devotees and casual watchers alike may be pleased to learn that past episodes of this series can be viewed online
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Nov 26, 2007
A group of protesters have broken through a security cordon and forced their way into the Oxford Union where BNP leader Nick Griffin and controversial historian David Irving were due to speak about the limits of free speech.
After pushing and shoving their way through the doors into the hall, around 20 demonstrators staged a sit down protest and began chanting at the debating table.
The two controversial speakers had arrived early, accompanied by bodyguards, in a bid to
Source: Martin E. Marty in Sightings, the newsletter of the Martin Marty Center at the University of Chicago Divinity School.
Nov 26, 2007
Torture, including torture by Americans: Who could have predicted that this would be a live topic here in the twenty-first century? We know how to associate torture with the accused and accusing other, with Inquisitors and witch hunters five centuries ago, or with far-away twentieth century totalitarian regimes and religious terrorists. But today the theological, humanistic, and tactical themes connected with torture have appeared close to home, giving new significance to those distant times,
Source: Nikki Keddie & Joyce Appleby at the website of Inside Higher Ed
Nov 26, 2007
[Joyce Appleby and Nikki Keddie are emerita professors of history at the University of California at Los Angeles.]
The World War II slogan, “Is this trip necessary?,”, should be revived for all Americans now that we know the disastrous effects of air travel on global warming. Just as patriotic Americans then cut back on unnecessary trips, so should we now limit ours.
Such a commitment should come from nearly all organizations and individuals, but would be especially app
Source: Chronicle of Higher Education (CHE)
Nov 26, 2007
These three excerpts are from articles featured in this week's Chronicle of Higher Education.Marcus B. GriffinMarcus B. Griffin is an assistant professor of anthropology and sociology at Christopher Newport University. He is serving with the Second Brigade of the First Infantry Division in Baghdad.
When I arrived in Baghdad in August, I became the first Human Terrain System anthropologist to serve in Iraq. HTS is an innovative new program that embeds social scien
Source: Reuters
Nov 26, 2007
The New York Public Library has acquired the papers of historian Arthur Schlesinger, the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and confidant to President John Kennedy who died in March at 89.The library announced on Monday it had bought some 250 boxes, or nearly 300 linear feet in library parlance, from Schlesinger's estate for an undisclosed amount, safeguarding his journals and correspondence with world leaders for use by researchers and historians.
The price has b
Source: NYT
Nov 25, 2007
HENRY LOUIS GATES JR., whose PBS special “African American Lives” explores the ancestry of famous African-Americans using DNA testing, has done more than anyone to help popularize such tests and companies that offer them. But recently this Harvard professor has become one of the industry’s critics.
Mr. Gates says his concerns date back to 2000, when a company told him his maternal ancestry could most likely be traced back to Egypt, probably to the Nubian ethnic group. Five years lat
Source: Peter Steinfels in the NYT
Nov 24, 2007
At this moment, there may be no more important story than the one Europeans and Americans proudly tell themselves about the rise of religious toleration. So please take note of Benjamin J. Kaplan’s argument that the story may be dangerously flawed.
Mr. Kaplan makes that argument in “Divided by Faith,” just published by Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. The book’s subtitle is “Religious Conflict and the Practice of Toleration in Early Modern Europe.” The crucial word is “pra
Source: BBC
Nov 24, 2007
The Oxford Union has voted to allow the British National Party (BNP) leader and a controversial historian to speak at a free speech event on Monday.
Despite opposition, the Oxford Union Debating Society members voted by a margin of 2 to 1 to continue to extend an invite to the BNP's Nick Griffin.
David Irving, who was jailed for Holocaust denial, will also be invited.
The move was opposed by the Oxford Student Union and the university's Muslim and Jewish societie
Source: http://www.newscientist.com
Nov 24, 2007
DANIEL SMAIL is a relatively new history professor at Harvard University. So it is appropriate that his On Deep History and the Brain was inspired by a bothersome question for historians: when exactly does history begin?
For scholars embedded in what he calls "western civ", the answer was simple for nearly 2000 years: begin with Creation, dated by Bishop James Usher at 4004 BC, or with the Flood. Then modern naturalists such as the Comte de Buffon, Charles Lyell and Charle
Source: Martin Kramer at his blog: Sandbox
Nov 23, 2007
Ira N. Forman, executive director of the National Jewish Democratic Council, has taken a whack at my recent op-ed on Hillary Clinton's Foreign Affairs
