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: NYT
Aug 23, 2010
In February 2007, Alberto R. Gonzales, the attorney general under President George W. Bush, issued a stern warning to those who murdered blacks with impunity during the civil rights era: “You have not gotten away with anything. We are still on your trail.”
He noted that time was short. The window of opportunity to solve racially motivated crimes more than 40 years old was closing. Families of the victims had waited decades for resolution.
More than three years later, th
Source: AP
Aug 23, 2010
MADISON, Wis. – University of Wisconsin student Leo Burt approached his former journalism instructor at the student union one day in August 1970.
The intense 22-year-old thanked the man for encouraging him to write for a left-wing student newspaper, where he covered the Vietnam War protests raging on campus and where his politics had become radicalized. And he said goodbye because he was planning to live underground in Canada for reasons he wouldn't share.
"Only 10
Source: New York Magazine
Aug 22, 2010
ean Wilentz, a Princeton history professor and author of Bob Dylan in America, has agreed to lead a tour of Dylan’s Greenwich Village, a place he knows better than any other. We visit the singer’s former apartment on West 4th Street, above what’s now a sex shop; the clubs he played along Macdougal Street; the building where he first encountered Allen Ginsberg. “This whole neighborhood has such a long history that there is a sense—for some of us, anyway—of revenants, of ghosts,” says Wilentz, bet
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer
Aug 22, 2010
A few months ago, one of our nation's most famous landmarks was deteriorating badly. Independence Hall had a roof leak and needed numerous expensive repairs. The city's historical commission met in April with the National Park Service to determine a course of action and on June 9, the park service announced that $4.4 million would be provided for a restoration of Independence Hall. The funding came from the stimulus bill.
A few short blocks from Independence Hall there is another ic
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Aug 22, 2010
The secret of how Leonardo da Vinci produced the optical effects that created the Mona Lisa's enigmatic smile can be revealed for the first time.
Scientists have discovered how the artist managed to achieve his trademark smoky effect, known as sfumato, on the painting; by applying up to 40 layers of extremely thin glaze thought to have been smeared on with his fingers.
The glaze, mixed with subtly different pigments, creates the slight blurring and shadows around the m
Source: NYT
Aug 22, 2010
For almost three decades beginning in 1936, many African-American travelers relied on a booklet to help them decide where they could comfortably eat, sleep, buy gas, find a tailor or beauty parlor, shop on a honeymoon to Niagara Falls, or go out at night. In 1949, when the guide was 80 pages, there were five recommended hotels in Atlanta. In Cheyenne, Wyo., the Barbeque Inn was the place to stay.
leader named Victor H. Green conceived the guide in response to one too many accounts o
Source: Yomiyuri (Japan)
Aug 22, 2010
A team of specialists led by the president of Tokyo's Sophia University has excavated the severed upper halves of six Buddhist statues from the Angkor ruins in northwestern Cambodia.
The Sophia University Angkor International Mission, headed by university President Yoshiaki Ishizawa, excavated the statues from a circular moat at the ruins of Banteay Kdei temple on Friday.
About 60 centimeters tall, the statues are believed to have been produced in the late 12th or early
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Aug 22, 2010
Supporters and opponents of a proposed Muslim cultural centre and mosque near the World Trade Center site rallied in downtown Manhattan on Sunday, kept blocks apart by a heavy police presence.
The dispute has taken on national political significance, with Republicans using the issue to attack President Barack Obama ahead of midterm elections where his Democrats are fighting to retain control of Congress.
The rallies were held near the location of the proposed Muslim c
Source: NYT
Aug 22, 2010
Since 1869, the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society has made its name helping New Yorkers understand their roots. But the more the society pondered its future, the more the people at its helm became convinced that it needed to break with its past.
Making what they called a “forward-looking decision,” the trustees hung a for-sale sign on the society’s longtime home at 122 East 58th Street several years ago. Then — to the shock of the society’s own members, who were still
Source: NYT
Aug 22, 2010
Housing will eventually recover from its great swoon. But many real estate experts now believe that home ownership will never again yield rewards like those enjoyed in the second half of the 20th century, when houses not only provided shelter but also a plump nest egg....
For the first half of the 20th century, he said, expectations followed the opposite path. Houses were seen the way cars are now: as a consumer durable that the buyer eventually used up.
The notion of h
Source: NYT
Aug 22, 2010
CARACAS, Venezuela — Some here joke that they might be safer if they lived in Baghdad. The numbers bear them out.
In Iraq, a country with about the same population as Venezuela, there were 4,644 civilian deaths from violence in 2009, according to Iraq Body Count; in Venezuela that year, the number of murders climbed above 16,000....
Venezuela is struggling with a decade-long surge in homicides, with about 118,541 since President Hugo Chávez took office in 1999, accordi
Source: WSJ
Aug 21, 2010
SIMI VALLEY, Calif.—Locked in a war room with military officials shouting at each other about the impending invasion of Grenada, Gen. John Vessey, President Ronald Reagan's Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, rose from his chair.
"People! People!" he shouted. "Gen. Vessey has a request: I am super thirsty."
His military commanders rolled their eyes and resumed the debate. Gen. Vessey—who outside this room was 13-year-old Christian Graves—slumped i
Source: The Boston Globe
Aug 21, 2010
In the early 19th century, Bostonians largely had two options if they got sick: house calls from expensive private physicians or an overcrowded poorhouse.
So two centuries ago yesterday, in a 2,677-word petition, two of the city’s top doctors called on the city’s gentry to help establish the state’s first public general hospital.
Eleven years after Warren and Jackson spurred the city to action, Massachusetts General Hospital opened in 1821 in the Bulfinch Building. Yest
Source: AP
Aug 21, 2010
Thieves broke into a museum in central Cairo and made off with a painting by Vincent van Gogh valued at $50 million, officials said Saturday.
Egypt's minister of culture, Farouk Hosni, said police have launched an investigation into the theft from the Mahmoud Khalil Museum and authorities at all the country's airports and seaports have been notified and are on alert.
This is the second time the painting by the Dutch-born postimpressionist has been stolen from the Cairo
Source: AOL News
Aug 21, 2010
The U.S. Treasury has released a $1 coin commemorating former President James Buchanan. And people aren't happy about it.
To understand why, some background is helpful. In 2007, thanks to a bill promoted by then-Sen. John Sununu of New Hampshire, the Treasury began minting $1 coins with the likenesses of former Presidents, starting with George Washington.
The coins -- which have been appearing ever since, featuring a new President every three months -- are meant to impr
Source: Lee White at the National Coalition for History
Aug 20, 2010
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) recently announced $31.5 million in grants for 201 humanities projects.This funding will support a wide variety of projects, including the production and development of radio and television programs, digital scholarly resources, professional development for teachers and college faculty, and the developme
Source: National Coalition for History
Aug 20, 2010
The Library of Congress recently announced the formation of the National Digital Stewardship Alliance (NDSA), a partnership of institutions and organizations dedicated to preserving and providing access to selected databases, web pages, video, audio and other digital content with enduring value.The alliance is an outgrowth of the National Digital Informati
Source: Lee White at the National Coalition for History
Aug 20, 2010
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) recently announced the first in a series of Bridging Cultures grants, awarding a total of $1.7 million that will enable humanities experts to launch public discussions addressing two pressing concerns: the role of civility in democracy and the understanding of Muslim contributions to world cultures.Eight cultural and educational institut
Source: Lee White at the National Coalition for History
Aug 20, 2010
In July, the National Coalition for History (NCH), and ten other NCH members joined forces with over 20 educational organizations representing other K-12 academic disciplines in issuing a statement to Congress and the Administration calling for the continued robust funding of core academic subjects including history. This includes maintenance of discrete budget lines—such as the Teaching American History grants—f
Source: Lee White at the National Coaliton for History
Aug 20, 2010
On August 31, the Pennsylvania Gaming Board will hold a public hearing on a proposal to license a casino located one-half mile from the Gettysburg National Military Park. The Civil War Preservation Trust is asking historians and other concerned citizens to contact the Gaming Board (click here) in advance of the hearing to express their opposition to this misguided use of land so close to the hallowed ground of Gettysb
