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 9, 2007
This week, the continuing controversy over the release of records from the William J. Clinton Presidential Library concerning Senator Hillary Clinton’s (D-NY) time as First Lady moved to the courts. The conservative public interest group Judicial Watch filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit in federal court against the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) seeking to force the release of records related to the National Task Force on Health Care Reform, chaired by then Fi
Source: USA Today
Nov 9, 2007
Former president George H.W. Bush forcefully defended his son's handling of the Iraq war Thursday, saying critics of the current president have forgotten the "extraordinary brutality" of deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
"Do they want to bring back Saddam Hussein, these critics?" the elder Bush told USA TODAY in a rare interview. "Do they want to go back to the status quo ante? I don't know what they are talking about here. Do they think life would be bet
Source: Chronicle of Higher Education (CHE)
Nov 9, 2007
The University of Kentucky would like you to know that it is not afraid to teach students about the Holocaust, no matter what a widely circulated e-mail message claims.
A digital chain letter, which first surfaced earlier this year, castigates the institution for allegedly eliminating the Holocaust from its curriculum in deference to a vocal Muslim community that denied the tragedy ever took place. “This is a frightening portent of the fear that is gripping the world and how easily
Source: http://www.bizjournals.com
Nov 9, 2007
The Sen. John Heinz History Center has acquired the archival materials and artifacts of the George Westinghouse Museum in a merger of the nonprofits, the groups said Friday.
The Westinghouse Museum, in Wilmerding, Pa., is now closed and its one employee, an independent consultant, will join the History Center, said Betty Arenth, senior vice president.
Volunteers at the Westinghouse Museum will also be invited to work at the History Center, Arenth said.
No f
Source: Globe & Mail
Nov 9, 2007
Fewer than half of young Canadians can name the country's first prime minister and only one in four know the date of Confederation, according to a study to be released today.
Despite efforts to educate young people about Canadian history, the Dominion Institute report found that little has changed since 1997, the last time the survey was conducted - prompting the organization to call on provinces to organize a national citizenship exam that would be a requirement for high-school gra
Source: BBC
Nov 9, 2007
The World War I archives look at first glance like little more than a series of glass cases, containing some very dusty and dilapidated file cards.
But look closer, and the true terrible scale of World War I is revealed.
There are rows of boxes, from floor to ceiling, whole shelves with the same surname: Smith, Smith, Smith, Smith. Muller, Muller, Muller, Gautier, Gautier, Gautier, Gautier... and on it goes.
Each box contains thousands of file cards, and ea
Source: LA Daily News
Nov 9, 2007
Federal auditors on Thursday downplayed a recently concluded investigation that found that thousands of mementos belonging to former President Ronald Reagan may be missing.The investigation found that the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley suffers from a shoddy accounting system and said officials were able to locate only 20,000 of about 100,000 Reagan items.
"This does not automatically mean the approximately 80,000 remaining items are missi
Source: Der Spiegel
Nov 8, 2007
When the Taliban destroyed two Buddhist statues in Afghanistan in the spring of 2001, there was an international outcry. But similar incidents are now occurring in northwest Pakistan, where radical Islamists recently blew up a sculpture of Buddha in broad daylight.
Source: Irish Times
Nov 8, 2007
Former president of the Coca-Cola corporation Donald Keough has warned that Ireland is becoming more "mentally distant" for Irish-Americans and may have to consider a looser, Israeli-type citizenship test for people of Irish origin.
Mr Keough, who is also the former chairman of Columbia Pictures, said the world's focus on a successful, peaceful Ireland is waning.
"The global white light of attention is finding new stages in eastern Europe, Brazil, China a
Source: AP
Nov 8, 2007
Barbara West Dainton, believed to be one of the last two survivors from the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, has died in England at age 96.
Dainton died Oct. 16 at a nursing home in Camborne, England, according to Peter Visick, a distant relative. Her funeral was held Monday at Truro Cathedral, Visick said Thursday.
Elizabeth Gladys "Millvina" Dean of Southampton, England, who was 2 months old at the time of the Titanic sinking, is now the disaster's only remai
Source: Seattle PI
Nov 8, 2007
Jack Carver was a third-year history major at Washington State University in 1945 when he got an assignment that would put him in the front row at one of the century's most historic events -- the Nuremberg trials.
World War II was in its final months when Carver headed to France to serve as an infantry platoon leader with the 3rd Division. When the war ended, many of his fellow soldiers headed home, but Carver, then 24, was tapped to stay and assigned guard duty at the prison attach
Source: http://www.economist.com
Nov 8, 2007
"RUSSIA'S past was admirable, its present is more than magnificent and as for its future—it is beyond anything that the boldest mind can imagine.” Thus Count Alexander Benckendorff in the 1830s, on how Russia's history should be viewed and written. This advice from the head of the country's first secret police is now being heeded in the Kremlin, where a new Russian history is being forged.
The decade after the collapse of communism was notable for the absence of any official id
Source: AP
Nov 8, 2007
India's Defense Research Laboratory has published a list of its completed humanitarian projects, such as "Removal of Arsenic From water." It concludes with the proud item: "Identified World's Hottest Chili."
"What they plan to do with it is, I'm sure, top secret," comments food historian Michael Krondl at the end of "The Taste of Conquest," his book on the history of the spice trade. "Suffice it to say, it should probably be banned from hand lu
Source: WSJ
Nov 8, 2007
The Kremlin has dusted off the events of four centuries ago to help cast Vladimir Putin as a "father of the nation" who will remain influential after his presidential term ends next year.
A Kremlin-inspired blockbuster film, titled "1612," now hitting theaters around the country, sets the tone for the campaign. Produced by a personal friend of Mr. Putin, it focuses on a popular uprising in 1612 that drove a Polish-Lithuanian army from Moscow.
The dar
Source: LAT
Nov 8, 2007
The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library is unable to find or account for tens of thousands of valuable mementos of Reagan's White House years because a "near universal" security breakdown left the artifacts vulnerable to pilfering by insiders, an audit by the National Archives inspector general has concluded.
Inspector General Paul Brachfeld said that his office was investigating allegations that a former employee stole Reagan memorabilia but that the probe had been hampere
Source: Der Spiegel
Nov 7, 2007
A unique traveling Holocaust exhibition sets off on a six-month journey Friday. The 'Train of Commemoration,' which is dedicated to the Nazi deportation of children and young people, will visit 30 cities between Frankfurt and its final destination of Auschwitz.
A unique traveling train-mounted Holocaust exhibition will leave Frankfurt railway station Friday and begin its six-month-long journey through Germany to Auschwitz in Poland. The exhibit commemorates the fate of the estimated
Source: Sydney Morning Herald
Nov 7, 2007
For the few surviving inmates of Mauthausen concentration camp, one visitor in the autumn of 1941 left an indelible memory.
Tall and athletic, Aribert Heim was the camp doctor for only two months and the 27-year-old enjoyed his time in the Austrian town.
On one occasion, he picked out a prisoner passing his office. After checking his teeth, Heim persuaded him to take part in a medical experiment with the vague promise of release.
Heim killed the man with an
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Nov 7, 2007
The Berlin Philharmonic, widely considered the world's greatest orchestra, has finally opened up about its Nazi past after decades of silence.
The British-born conductor Simon Rattle has been at the forefront of the move, leading a concert featuring works banned as "degenerate" by Hitler. The concert, marking the orchestra's 125th anniversary, was applauded this week by a packed house in Berlin, where Sir Simon's predecessor, Wilhelm Furtwängler, led birthday concerts for
Source: BBC
Nov 6, 2007
The part played by people in Northern Ireland in the abolition and promotion of the slave trade is being marked.
In Belfast's Linenhall Library rare documents and artefacts have gone on display as part of the Hidden Connections exhibition marking the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the African slave trade.
Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness opened the display on Tuesday, describing the trade as a "manifestation of racism and greed".
Source: Editor & Publisher
Nov 6, 2007
For almost two years, President Bush has been threatening to unseat Richard M. Nixon as the most unpopular president in the history of the Gallup poll, and it finally happened this week.
The latest USA TODAY/Gallup survey finds Bush with a 31% approval rating -- and for the first time ever in the polling history, 50% say they "strongly disapprove" of a president.
The previous high (or low?) was a 48% strong disapproval rating for Nixon at the worst moments of
