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: Cyprus Mail
Jan 9, 2011
WHAT is believed to be the most ancient house in Paphos has been uncovered amid excavations to discover the extent of walls of the ancient city of Nea Paphos.
For Dr Claire Balandier, the head of the French archaeological team which uncovered the house, complete with wall paintings, last year’s find was one of her most exciting during 20 years of excavating in Cyprus.
She believes the house is probably the oldest known of in Paphos, along with the first phases of the ho
Source: The Age (Australia)
Jan 9, 2011
WHEN an old sewerage pipe near the centre of Ballarat needed replacing last year, archaeologists were called in for what was expected to be a routine dig of the surrounds.
But what they uncovered surprised and delighted heritage experts - a trove of more than a thousand gold rush artefacts, many once belonging to members of Ballarat's mid-19th century Chinese community. As well as European pottery and bottles, they found medicine vials stamped with Chinese characters, intact fig jar
Source: Anchorage Daily News (Alaska)
Jan 9, 2011
A series of free public lectures spotlighting different aspects of the Aleutian campaign in World War II will unfold on Thursday nights for the next month at the Anchorage Museum.
Most Alaskans are aware, to some degree, of the history. In 1942, the Japanese military invaded and occupied two islands at the western end of the Aleutian Chain. American and Canadian forces mounted massive counter-attacks. Thousands died.
By the time the shooting stopped, a civilian populati
Source: Washington Post
Jan 9, 2011
Dick Winters, a decorated Army officer whose World War II service was recounted in the best-selling book and HBO mini-series "Band of Brothers," died Jan. 2. News reports listed his age at 92.
Based on the 1992 book by historian Stephen E. Ambrose, the HBO mini-series came out in 2001 and was produced by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg.
The story follows the tragedies and triumphs of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 2nd Battalion, E Company.
Source: The First Post (UK)
Jan 9, 2011
Historians are divided over plans for a luxury, eight-day package tour of sites relating to Adolf Hitler, with some saying it will turn into a "perverse pilgrimage".
The trip, scheduled for June, will visit the Munich beer cellar where the future Fuhrer launched his ill-fated 1923 putsch, Berchtesgaden where Hitler had his 'Eagle's Nest' castle and Berlin where he committed suicide.
The tour's British organisers - historians and writers - are at pains to point out t
Source: BBC
Jan 9, 2011
England's first purpose-built public art gallery has been celebrating its 200th anniversary.
The Dulwich Picture Gallery opened its doors in 1811 when Sir Francis Bourgeois bequeathed his collection "for the inspection of the public".
On Sunday, the south London gallery was putting on live musical performances, a falconry show and a fireworks display.
Twelve paintings from some of the world's most famous galleries will go on show at the gallery th
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Jan 9, 2011
American and German intelligences services knew where Adolf Eichmann – the logistical mastermind of the Nazi Holocaust – was hiding almost a decade before he was kidnapped and brought to trial, documents being released in Munich show.
Critics believe the inaction on the part of both countries was to protect both German officials and pro-Nazi clergy in the Vatican who helped him escape.
The newspaper Bild reported on Saturday that it had gained access to some of the fi
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Jan 9, 2011
A hidden clue in Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa identifies the exact location of the landscape which provides the background to the world's best known painting, an Italian art historian claims.
Carla Glori believes that a three-arched bridge which appears over the left shoulder of the woman with the enigmatic smile is a reference to Bobbio, a village which lies in rugged hill country south of Piacenza, in northern Italy.
Her theory is based on the recent discovery by an
Source: AP
Jan 8, 2011
CHARLESTON, S.C. -- Gray-clad cadets from South Carolina's historic military college fired cannons Saturday on a barren, wind-swept island on Charleston Harbor to re-enact the 150th anniversary of a key episode leading up to the Civil War.
The event recalled what some consider the first shots of the war - the 1861 firing on the steamship Star of the West that was trying to reach Fort Sumter with supplies and 200 federal troops. Cadets manning a battery on Morris Island hit the ship
Source: NYT
Jan 8, 2011
More than any other continent, Africa is wracked by separatists. There are rebels on the Atlantic and on the Red Sea. There are clearly defined liberation movements and rudderless, murderous groups known principally for their cruelty or greed. But these rebels share at least one thing: they direct their fire against weak states struggling to hold together disparate populations within boundaries drawn by 19th-century white colonialists....
Voters are expected to approve independence,
Source: Huma Today
Jan 8, 2011
Bones found in the basement of a Gibson home last year could be more than 700 years old and likely came from the Indian mound on which the house was built, state officials said.
The bone fragments were found Nov. 21, 2009, amid the remains of a cardboard box in the basement of 234 Fandall St. by a real-estate agent showing the house to potential buyers.
The bones are likely those of American Indian inhabitants of the area and could be more than 700 years old, archeologi
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Jan 8, 2011
A new biography of Joseph Goebbels, the limping Nazi propaganda chief, shows him to be a serial seducer who kept detailed notes of his affairs.
On the streets of Nazi Germany his club foot and feeble, polio-weakened frame earned him the scathing nickname, the "poison dwarf".
But now a new academic biography has shown how Joseph Goebbels, despite his physical shortcomings, was an unlikely Casanova - recording his sexual conquests on 30,000 sheets of paper tha
Source: Salon
Jan 8, 2011
Saturday’s shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was so startling in part because of how rare it is that an attempt it made on the life of a major American political figure. Four presidents in history have been assassinated (Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, William McKinley and John F. Kennedy), with several others (including Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan) targeted.
Even though they aren’t protected by nearly as much security, attacks on members of Congress are, statistically speaking
Source: Hollywood Reporter
Jan 7, 2011
In a surprise move, A&E Television Networks has canceled plans to broadcast The Kennedys, the ambitious and much-anticipated miniseries about the American political family that was set to air this spring on the History channel.
our editor recommends
Greg Kinnear, Katie Holmes in History's 'Kennedys'
“Upon completion of the production of The Kennedys, History has decided not to air the 8-part miniseries on the network,” a rep for the network tells The Hollywood Rep
Source: Daily Mail (UK)
Jan 7, 2011
Henry V NPG wiki bigger The BBC World News was getting pretty excited tonight about the discovery by British Professor Paul Davis -- the man who invented the pregnancy test -- that bandages inspired by the chemistry of honey could make wounds heal more quickly.
Well done, Professor. But maybe you would have got there sooner if you'd been reading more history and less science.
In particular, the history of Henry V and how he became the man to lead the English and the Wel
Source: Fredericksburg.com
Jan 7, 2011
Wilderness battlefield defenders fight for the heritage of all Americans
Historians claim that the Battle of the Wilderness began on May 5, 1864, and ended on May 7, 1864. They're right, with one exception.
For the people of Orange County, the Battle of the Wilderness didn't end in May 1864. While Gens. Grant and Lee--and their respective armies--moved on, the people of Orange did not. They, like Americans in battlefield communities across all parts North and South,
Source: Wired
Jan 7, 2011
A deep-sea treasure-hunting company in Florida says that diplomatic cables recently released by WikiLeaks have exposed the U.S. government’s backdoor interference in a lawsuit over $500 million in silver and gold coins recovered from a Spanish galleon.
According to Odyssey Marine Exploration, based in Florida, the U.S. State Department cables show that the U.S. ambassador to Spain made a quid pro quo deal to assist that country in its battle with Odyssey for the treasure.
Source: BBC News
Jan 7, 2011
A team of divers have said they have discovered the remains of the USS Revenge, a ship commanded by the US Navy's famed Oliver Hazard Perry that wrecked near Rhode Island in 1811.
Mr Perry is known for having later defeated the British in a battle near Ohio during a conflict in 1813.
The ship helped shape the war because Mr Perry would not have gone to Ohio if it had not wrecked, the divers said.
Sunday marks the 200th anniversary of the Revenge running agr
Source: WaPo
Jan 7, 2011
Fairfax school officials have decided to pull a textbook in which historians have found dozens of errors.
Fairfax County Public Schools Superintendent Jack D. Dale said that fourth-grade history will be taught using supplemental materials until errors in "Our Virginia, Past and Present" are corrected in a subsequent edition.
The Washington Post reported in October that the textbook included a controversial assertion that thousands of African American soldiers
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Jan 7, 2011
The family of dictator Francisco Franco are being sued by the family of Spain's first heart transplant patient, claiming the failed operation more than 40 years ago was carried out for political reasons.
Within a year of Christian Barnard performing the world's first human to human transplant in South Africa, a Spanish surgeon and the son-in-law of Spain's fascist dictator sought to repeat the feat and boost the country's international standing.
But the patient, a 41
