Perspectives

Congratulations to Ralph Luker and Manan Ahmed for their well-written and useful articles about blogging in the latest issue of the AHA magazine Perspectives . Ralph gives a capsule history of historians' blogs, while Manan provides aspiring bloggers a Guide to the Perplexed (Maimonides would have loved it!). The highlight of Ralph's article is the extended narrative by Timothy Burke as to why he became a blogger. This still leads to the question of what is particular about historians' blogs. Obviously, we bring in historical research and past questions to many of our entries. In others, where the subject is teaching or academic systems, we have a professional interest and connection. Still, a significant chunk of CLIOPATRIA--sometimes the most entertaining part--is devoted to political and other current-day questions. We can say that history touches all we do, or that we speak from viewpoints that are identifiably flavored by our knowledge of the historical context. I find that a bit too easy. Instead, I would frankly admit that sometimes I speak not from my expertise as a historian but in my role as a public intellectual, and there I take positions in immediate issues without the benefit of historical research. I would add, though, that it is difficult to separate the two completely.