POLITICAL HIGHLIGHTS:

This Week’s Political Highlights

BIGGEST NEWS STORIES: 2009 IN REVIEW

• Elizabeth Cobbs Hoffman “9/11 to climate change: Historians look back on the decade”: “The new century began on a bang, and it was a shot heard ’round the world,” Elizabeth Cobbs Hoffman, a history professor at San Diego State University, said, speaking of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001… “It’s something that’s really solidified in the past decade,” noted Hoffman, who’s also the author of “In the Lion’s Den: A Novel of the Civil War.” “All kinds of people who were either eager to believe or eager to disbelieve all came to stand at the same spot to realize this is something we have to take seriously.” – AP, 12-7-09
• Bruce Schulman “9/11 to climate change: Historians look back on the decade”: “People are going to think that 9/11 is a significant historical turning point no matter what happens, because it certainly altered the international order,” said Bruce Schulman, who teaches history at Boston University…. “If in 2004 you told me that in the next election we would elect a black president, I would have said, ‘You’re crazy. That’s not happening maybe for my lifetime,'” Schulman said. “Now…could you imagine that ever again, at least ever again at least in the next 16 or 20 years, we would have two tickets that would be all white males? I don’t think we’ll ever see that again.” AP, 12-7-09
• Brian Balogh “9/11 to climate change: Historians look back on the decade”: Brian Balogh, a history professor at the University of Virginia, pointed out that 9/11 demonstrated the power of non-state actors and has kept us talking about “homeland security,” a term not widely used before the attacks. Hoffman said 9/11 revealed that the U.S. didn’t have a post-Cold War strategic vision…. Balogh added that the 2000 election contributed to political partisanship because the close race caused each side to use “any weapon in their arsenal.” Nowadays there are fewer political moderates and fewer legislative compromises — a trend exemplified in the current debate over health care reform. Bills emerged from Congress with the support of just one Republican. In the 1960s, Balogh noted, Democrats got more GOP support to pass landmark civil-rights legislation…. “The most dramatic change [of the decade] is, in essence, expecting to have all the information in the world at our fingertips and to be constantly in touch with people whenever we want to be, however we want to be,” said Balogh, who also cohosts a radio show called “BackStory with the American History Guys.” “We’re increasingly connected by what we buy, by what we read, by lifestyles. I think we’re less connected by geography and by our allegiances and attachments to nations.”…. – AP, 12-7-09
• Julian Zelizer “9/11 to climate change: Historians look back on the decade”: As a result of 9/11, the political polarization was amplified, said Julian Zelizer, a history professor at Princeton University and author of “Arsenal of Democracy: The Politics of National Security — From World War II to the War on Terrorism.” Zelizer said he thinks evolving media technology — and the development of the 24/7 news cycle, thanks in part to the rise of Internet blogging and social-networking sites — has helped increase partisan bickering this decade…. – AP, 12-7-09
• Daryl Michael Scott “9/11 to climate change: Historians look back on the decade”: “Diversity is leading to a different America,” said Daryl Michael Scott, a history professor at Howard University. “African-Americans have been the largest minority in the country since its founding, and I think it takes place within the 2000s, this formal passing of the guard.”… – AP, 12-7-09
• 100 Notable Books of 2009: The New York Times Book Review selects outstanding works from the last year – NYT, 11-09
• The 10 Best Books of 2009 By THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW NYT, 12-09
• The ’00s: Goodbye (at Last) to the Decade From Hell Time, 11-24-09

THIS WEEK IN HISTORY:

On This Day in History….

This Week in History….

• 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor far from forgotten: Harold O’Connor, 88, was a Navy Fireman First Class on the USS Thornton, a destroyer seaplane tender, in Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, when the Japanese attacked. “All the torpedo planes were coming right off our fantail,” O’Connor recalls. “I watched the West Virginia go up from two torpedoes that were dropped. All hell was breaking loose. I saw the bombs that hit the Arizona.”… – USA Today, 12-7-09
• Historian Finds John Brown’s Link To Vermont: To some – 19th century abolitionist John Brown was a folk hero. To others he was a violent terrorist. To this day Brown is considered one of the more controversial figures of the 1800s. December 2, marks the 150th anniversary of Brown’s execution following his failed raid at Harper’s Ferry Virginia…. – Vermont Public Radio (12-1-09)

IN THE NEWS:

• House uncovered in Nazareth dating to the time of Jesus: Archaeologists in Israel say they have discovered the remains of a home from the time of Jesus in the heart of Nazareth. The Israeli Antiquities Authority said the find “sheds light on the way of life at the time of Jesus” in the Jewish settlement of Nazareth, where Christians believe Jesus grew up…. – CNN, 12-21-09
• Stanford technology helps scholars get ‘big picture’ of the Enlightenment – Cynthia L. Haven in the Stanford News (12-17-09)
• Bill to Increase the NHPRC’s Reauthorization is Derailed in the Senate: What was expected to be a non-controversial committee markup of legislation (S. 2872) to reauthorize the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) resulted instead in the elimination of a proposed significant increase in the Commission’s spending level over the next five years… – Lee White at the website of the National Coalition for History (NCH) (12-18-09)
• Congress maintaining history budgets – Lee White at the website of the National Coalition for History (NCH) (12-14-09)
• Historians seek $1.5M for Tecumseh memorial: A group of historians in Thamesville, Ont., say they’ll need $1.5 million to upgrade a memorial for a native American chief who played a key role in the War of 1812…. – CBC News (11-12-09)
• The John Hope Franklin File: FBI Looked At Esteemed Historian For Communist Ties: The celebrated historian John Hope Franklin was scrutinized by the FBI in the 1960s for supposed links to communists, particularly his opposition to the House Committee on Un-American Activities and his vocal support for W.E.B. Du Bois…. – TPM (Liberal blog) (12-15-09)
• Stanford history professor questions role of historians as researchers for the defense in such a lawsuit: Four University of Florida graduate students who did research for a tobacco company’s legal defense have been caught in a debate over the role of historians in such cases. The controversy stretches from Gainesville to Palo Alto, Calif., where Stanford University history professor Robert Proctor has publicly identified and criticized historians who work for the tobacco industry. Proctor’s discovery that UF graduate students in history were working for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. attorneys led him to e-mail objections to a UF professor, Betty Smocovitis…. – The Gainesville Sun (12-8-09)
• A plainer view of our past: Howard Zinn and ‘The People Speak’ TV special – The Philadelphia Inquirer (12-8-09)
• Maciej Kowalczy: Historian Finds Red Baron’s Death Certificate: A Polish historian says he made a surprising find when poring through World War I archives — the death certificate of Manfred von Richthofen, the German fighter ace known as the “Red Baron.”… – AP (12-7-09)
• Conservative viewpoint: Doris Kearns Goodwin’s cross into partisan politics – Charlotte Conservative News (12-6-09)
• Student finds letter ‘a link to Jefferson’: An 1808 letter from Thomas Jefferson turns up during archiving by a University of Delaware graduate student. Student uncovers letter among archives of mementos of elite Delaware family… Thomas Jefferson’s 1808 letter part of archives gift to University of Delaware… “This letter was like a link to Jefferson himself,” student says Library official says, “To hold it in your hands is really quite thrilling”
  In a nondescript conference room tucked inside the library at the University of Delaware, a graduate student found a historian’s equivalent to a needle in a haystack. Amanda Daddona said she discovered a personal letter from Thomas Jefferson amid one of 200 boxes of legal documents, minutes from meetings and day-to-day correspondence of a prominent Delaware family…. – CNN, 12-4-09
• There has been a rare and surprising archaeological discovery dug up in Tel Dor, Israel: a gemstone engraved with the portrait of Alexander the Great…. – Netscape News
• Residents, historians work for landmarks in Harlem: Michael Henry Adams, a local historian and graduate of Columbia’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation, agreed, saying, “Harlem is grossly under-landmarked, and so is every black neighborhood in the city.” He added, “If you look at the Upper East Side and Upper West Side, all the places where the richest people live, there’s the most landmarking.”…. – Columbia Spectator (12-3-09)
• Joy Damousi: Historian examines the lives of war generation (Australia): A prominent Melbourne academic is researching the impact of memories of WWII in Greece and the Civil War on Greek-Australians…. – Greek Reporter (11-30-09)
• Historians seeks to capture and preserve 100-year farm heritage: For 100 years Henry Armstrong’s family has farmed the same patch of central Montana land, hanging on through the Depression, low wheat prices and the ever-present risk that the next generation would move on… – Google News (11-27-09)
• Historians are at war over ‘old-fashioned’ flagship series: TELEVISION historian Neil Oliver has been likened to a “pygmy on a giant’s territory” by a leading academic as the bitter row over the BBC’s flagship A History of Scotland series intensifies…. – The Herald Scotland (11-26-09)

OP-EDs & BLOGS:

• Vikki Bynum vs. John Stauffer: The debate turns ugly: Professor Stauffer is angry at me; I mean really angry. He’s furious that I don’t think more highly of his and Sally Jenkins’s book, State of Jones, but especially that I have the temerity to publicly say so. To get it all off his chest, he just let off more steam on page 2 of the December 10th issue of the Jones County ReView… – Victoria Bynum at the Renegade South blog (12-10-09)
• Howard Zinn’s show has been “hyped” says Ron Radosh in a highly critical review… – Historian Ron Radosh at his blog (12-12-09)
• Historian David Reynolds says Obama should pardon John Brown: IT’S important for Americans to recognize our national heroes, even those who have been despised by history. Take John Brown. Today is the 150th anniversary of Brown’s hanging — the grim punishment for his raid weeks earlier on Harpers Ferry, Va. With a small band of abolitionists, Brown had seized the federal arsenal there and freed slaves in the area. His plan was to flee with them to nearby mountains and provoke rebellions in the South. But he stalled too long in the arsenal and was captured. He was brought to trial in a Virginia court, convicted of treason, murder and inciting an insurrection, and hanged on Dec. 2, 1859…. – NYT (12-1-09)

REVIEWS & FIRST CHAPTERS:

• Monica’s back – says Clinton lied: Now the first definitive history of the Clinton scandal is about to arrive — and neither man can be completely happy about his portrayal in its pages… “The Death of American Virtue,” due out in February, asserts that Clinton had yet another extramarital affair, with Susan McDougal of Whitewater fame. Also in the book, Monica Lewinsky tells author Ken Gormley that she believes the president lied under oath when he described their encounters…. – Politico, 12-17-09
• Stein Tonnesson: Norwegian historian writes about war in Vietnam Vietnam 1946 – VOV News (12-9-09)
• WSJ book review of Robert E. Sullivan’s “Macaulay: The Tragedy of Power” WSJ (12-7-09)
• BEVERLY GAGE on John Milton Cooper Jr. “He Was No Wilsonian” WOODROW WILSON A Biography : When historians rank the American presidents, Woodrow Wilson almost always secures a place in the top 10. This seems to be an honor accorded successful wartime leaders; in the last C-Span Presidents Day poll, the highest three spots belonged to Lincoln, Washington and Franklin Roosevelt, two war presidents and a general. Yet compared with the reputations of other members of that august pantheon, Wilson’s lags far behind. George W. Bush was described as “Wilsonian” after 9/11, but that was hardly meant as a compliment. Barack Obama, like Wilson a scholar, political neophyte and Nobel Peace Prize winner, prefers to be compared to Lincoln and the second Roosevelt, or even to Truman and Reagan — practically any other member of the top ranks. Today, the only major public figure who seems to be interested in Wilson is the Fox News host Glenn Beck, who traces the roots of our current “socialist” predicament back to the dark era of Wilsonian income taxes, war propaganda and obscure monetary symbols…. – NYT, 12-13-09
• Beth Bailey: Historian’s new book considers America’s all-volunteer Army America’s Army: Making the All-Volunteer Force – Temple University (12-3-09)
• We join a movement in progress: a review of Cynthia Griggs Fleming’s “Yes We Did?’ If Barack Obama’s 2008 election is history’s answer to Martin Luther King’s 46-year-old “I Have a Dream” speech, then African Americans must be on the cusp of . . . what, exactly? In “Yes We Did?” historian Cynthia Griggs Fleming offers an academic overview of the civil rights movement’s triumphant past and uncertain future…. – The Washington Post (12-4-09)
• Historian’s says Hudson’s ‘did not discover anything’: Four-hundred years ago, Henry Hudson set sail from Europe in an attempt to discover a new route to Asia by heading east. His mission was not successful, but he traveled along what has become the Hudson River between New York and New Jersey. River Edge resident and local historian Kevin Wright explores the quadricentennial of Hudson’s voyage in his new book, “1609: A Country That Was Never Lost: 400th Anniversary of Henry Hudson’s Visit with North Americans of the Middle Atlantic Coast.”… – North Jersey (11-26-09)

PROFILED & FEATURED:

• Word for Word, First Couplets A History of Odes to the Chief: MUSES Lincoln fares best with poets. Hayes, on the other hand, was remembered for his “unrecorded remarks.”…. – NYT, 12-13-09
• Vietnam historian Stanley Karnow plans his memoir: Stanley Karnow, the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and longtime foreign correspondent, is trying to think of a good title for a planned memoir…. – SF Chronicle (12-8-09)
• Dusan Batakovic: A Historian of the Present: Dusan Batakovic, 52, a Serbian historian and diplomat, has been handed the most demanding role of his life – to lead the Serbian team at the International Court of Justice in the Hague, in an attempt to dispute the legality of Kosovo’s unilateral proclamation of independence on February 17, 2008… – Balkan Insight (12-7-09)
• Scholars Nostalgic for the Old South Study the Virtues of Secession, Quietly – The Chronicle of Higher Education (12-6-09)
• Filmmaker Mike Barber inspired by James Loewen examines ‘White Man’s Burden’ Huffington Post (12-3-09)
• Horse racing was best before British, says historian: Dr Natalie Zacek, from The University of Manchester says the 1861–1865 Civil War changed American racing forever, by forcing it to modernise using the English model… – The University of Manchester (12-1-09)
• Historian unearthes Civil War war criminal: Her breath quickened as she caught sight of a name engraved in stone. Could it possibly be him? As Carolyn Stier Ferrell stepped closer, she could see that, yes, she had found her man! At the Odd Fellows Home Cemetery atop Boot Hill in New Providence, Ferrell found the final resting place of Thomas Pratt Turner…. – The Leaf Chronicle (11-29-09)

QUOTED:

• Ivan the Terrible film ‘slanders Russia’ and should be banned, historian says: Vyacheslav Manyagin has asked Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to outlaw the film, which he claims is an insult to Russian statehood. … “Imagine that they made a film in America about George Washington in which the first US president was portrayed as a bloodthirsty maniac,” Mr Manyagin said. “This film slanders the Russian people and state.”… – Telegraph (UK) (11-28-09)

INTERVIEWED:

• 20 questions: Historian Thomas Fleming: The Intimate Lives of the Founding Fathers, historian Thomas Fleming examines the personal lives of six familiar names in history: George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. Fleming examines how their relationships with their wives and families affected their roles in founding the country. Fleming, an author of numerous books, spoke to The Hill about his latest tome…. – The Hill
• Barbara Berg: Inequality the new normal, historian says: Women’s rights are under attack, says historian Barbara Berg. Yes, women have made tremendous strides but many of their rights have eroded since feminism’s second wave in the 1970s and 1980s, she writes in her new book, Sexism in America: Alive, Well, and Ruining our Future…. – The Star (12-9-09)
• Jamie Glazov interview with Victor Davis Hanson: The Palin Wonder – Frontpagemag.com
• Interview with D.N.Jha, eminent historian: “Historians who come in proximity to power change their secular lines” DWIJENDRA NARAYAN JHA, an eminent historian, has campaigned extensively against the communalisation of history. His book Myth of the Holy Cow,wherein he dispelled popular misconceptions that Muslims introduced beef-eating in India, created ripples in political circles. – Frontline (Volume 26) (12-1-09)

HONORED, AWARDED &APPOINTED:

• Turkish parliament awards renowned historian: Turkey’s internationally-acclaimed historian Prof. Kemal Karpat has received Turkish parliament’s honorary award…. – World Bulletin (12-9-09)
• OAH selects new executive director: It is my great pleasure to inform you that the OAH has a new Executive Director. After an extensive process that resulted in 54 applications, Katherine (Kathy) Finley has been selected by the OAH Executive Board at its Fall board meeting…. – Press Release (12-8-09)
• Mihailo Pantic, Srdjan Pirivatric: Bulgarian president awards Serbian writer and historian: At the awarding ceremony in the Bulgarian Presidency, Pantic was presented with the Holly Brothers Cyril and Methodius award for his contribution to the popularization of the Bulgarian culture in Serbia and promotion of relation between the Bulgarian and Serbian people. Bsanna News (12-4-09)
• Historian one of 10 human rights award winners (Toronto): Most Torontonians are not familiar with the black experience in Canada, but for Adrienne Shadd, African-Canadian history is in her blood. Shadd is the great-great-grandniece of Mary Ann Shadd Cary, the first black women to publish and edit a newspaper in North America…. – The Toronto Observer (11-26-09)
• UK diplomat questions post of Jews on Iraq panel: A British diplomat has criticized the appointment of two leading Jewish academics to the UK’s Iraq Inquiry panel, stating it may upset the balance of the inquiry. Sir Oliver Miles, a former British ambassador to Libya, told The Independent newspaper this week that the appointment of Sir Martin Gilbert, the renowned Holocaust historian and Winston Churchill biographer, and Sir Lawrence Freedman, professor of war studies and vice-principal of King’s College London, would be seen as “ammunition” that could be used to call the inquiry a “whitewash.”… – The Jerusalem Post (via OpEdNews) (11-25-09)
• The re-emergence of historian Richard Hofstadter: Hofstadter, who died in 1970, was at one time amongst America’s pre-eminent historians. He documented the evolution of the country’s political culture and its populist underpinnings from the Revolution to the post- Kennedy-assassination era. It’s no surprise that his work is still generally relevant, but his landmark 1964 essay, The Paranoid Style in American Politics, is Cassandra-like in its prescience. – John Moore in the National Post (11-26-09)

SPOTTED:

• Rebuttal of Decade-Old Accusations Against Researchers Roils Anthropology Meeting Anew: The annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association opened here on Wednesday, and its official theme is “The End/s of Anthropology.” But people here might suspect that one thing will never end: the controversy surrounding Darkness in El Dorado, a 2000 book that accused two prominent scholars of misdeeds in their work with an indigenous community in South America Darkness in El Dorado: How Scientists and Journalists Devastated the Amazon (W.W. Norton), was written by Patrick Tierney… – The Chronicle of Higher Education (12-3-09)
• Carpentersville students chat with renowned historian Howard Zinn (Illinois): Between preparing for the premiere of his documentary and promoting it with the likes of Matt Damon and Viggo Mortensen, historian and activist Howard Zinn found some time to speak with students at Dundee-Crown High School on Tuesday…. – The Daily Herald (12-2-09)

ANNOUNCEMENTS & EVENTS CALENDAR:

• Royal Society papers provide science, history resources: The 350th anniversary of Britain’s Royal Society (making it the world’s oldest scientific institution) will be marked by the release of a vast library of papers online from the likes of Sir Isacc Newton and Benjamin Franklin. This isn’t just science nerd stuff, though. This is a treasure trove of history that is easily connected to modern scientific thought. The library itself can be found at trailblazing.royalsociety.org and is remarkable in its extensiveness… – ZD Net, 11-29-09

ON TV:

• ‘NOVA’ looks at Japanese midget sub in Pearl Harbor attack: The PBS science series “NOVA” plans to broadcast a documentary presenting evidence that a torpedo fired from a Japanese midget submarine may have struck the USS Oklahoma during the Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor. “Killer Subs in Pearl Harbor” premiers Jan. 5. AP, 12-7-09
• C-SPAN2: BOOK TV Weekend Schedule
• PBS American Experience: Mondays at 9pm
• History Channel: Weekly Schedule

BEST SELLERS (NYT):

• NYT Non-Fiction Best Sellers List – December 20, 2009
• NYT Non-Fiction Best Sellers List – December 13, 2009
• NYT Non-Fiction Best Sellers List – December 6, 2009

COMING SOON BOOKS:

• Anthony Haden-guest: Last Party: Studio 54, Disco, and the Culture of the Night (Paperback), December 8, 2009
• Len Colodny: The Forty Years War: The Rise and Fall of the Neocons, from Nixon to Obama, December 8, 2009
• Alice Morse Earle: Child Life in Colonial Times, (Paperback), December 18, 2009
• C. S. Manegold: Ten Hills Farm: The Forgotten History of Slavery in the North, December 21, 2009
• A. N. Wilson: Our Times: The Age of Elizabeth II, December 22, 2009
• Rudy Tomedi: General Matthew Ridgway, December 30, 2009
• Alison Weir: The Lady in the Tower: The Fall of Anne Boleyn, January 5, 2010

DEPARTED:

• Yosef H. Yerushalmi, Scholar of Jewish History, Dies at 77: Yosef Haim Yerushalmi, a groundbreaking and wide-ranging scholar of Jewish history whose meditation on the tension between collective memory of a people and the more prosaic factual record of the past influenced a generation of thinkers, died on Tuesday in Manhattan. He was 77 and lived in Manhattan. NYT (12-10-09)
• Historian Shearer Davis Bowman dies at the age of 60 – Richmond Times-Dispatch (8-12-09)
• Resolute academic who looked into Switzerland’s soul: Jean-François Bergier remembered – Financial Times (12-5-09)
• Remembering Jean-François Bergier: Swiss historian: “You have to be responsible for your past,” the Swiss historian Jean-François Bergier once said. And he knew exactly how challenging that could be for his country… – Times Online (11-30-09)
• Studs Terkel: Democracy Now! Tribute – Democracy Now (11-27-09)

HANUKKAH 2009:

IN HISTORY NEWS….

• Chanukah II: Obama’s Revenge: After being assailed for just about every imaginable trivial deviation from Bush-era Chanukah celebrations, the Obama White House not only headed off the critics, the organizers managed to go their predecessors a couple better. First, there was the souvenir program, with its front-page welcome: “The President and Mrs. Obama welcome you to the White House in celebration of Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights.”… – JTA, 12-17-09
• Obama: Hanukkah struggle inspires us: During the ceremony, attended by Jewish community leaders, friends and White House staff, the president promoted ideals of freedom, tolerance and justice. Emphasizing the historical story of Jewish revolt, the president said, “It was more than 2,000 years ago, in the ancient city of Jerusalem, that a small band of believers led by Judah Maccabee rose up and defeated their foreign oppressors – liberating the city and restoring the faith of its people,” according to the White House blog…. – JPost, 12-17-09
• In the Nation Emanuel lights nation’s menorah: White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel lit the National Menorah yesterday in celebration of Hanukkah. The ceremony marked the 30th anniversary of the first National Menorah lighting in 1979. President Jimmy Carter attended that ceremony…. – Philly Inquirer, 12-14-09
• Maccabean era correspondence discovered: Some 2,200 years after the Maccabees’ revolt, historians and archaeologists are uncovering new information about their era.
  This year’s biggest discovery is a correspondence between Seleukes IV, whose brother and heir was Antiochus IV Epiphanes of the Chanukah story, and one of Seleukes’ chiefs in Judea found on parts of an ancient stele.
  Professor Dov Gera of Ben-Gurion University, who studied the stone’s inscription, said it confirms the account by the Jewish historian Josephus regarding the tightening grip of the Greek-Syrian empire over its subjects’ religious practices.
  “[The text reveals] Seleukes appointed one of the members of his court as an official to oversee worship in the area and equate religious services throughout the empire,” Gera said. “Such an appointment might have been considered by the Jews to be offensive.”… – Jewish Telegraph Agency (12-10-09)
• A Senator’s Gift to the Jews, Nonreturnable: The canon of Hanukkah songs written by Mormon senators from Utah just got a little bigger. Senator Orrin G. Hatch, a solemn-faced Republican with a soft spot for Jews and a love of Barbra Streisand, has penned a catchy holiday tune, “Eight Days of Hanukkah.” The video was posted Tuesday night on Tablet, an online magazine of Jewish lifestyle and culture, just in time for Hanukkah. NYT, 12-9-09
• DAVID BROOKS: The Hanukkah Story: Tonight Jewish kids will light the menorah, spin their dreidels and get their presents, but Hanukkah is the most adult of holidays. It commemorates an event in which the good guys did horrible things, the bad guys did good things and in which everybody is flummoxed by insoluble conflicts that remain with us today. It’s a holiday that accurately reflects how politics is, how history is, how life is…. – NYT, 12-10-09

OBAMA WHITE HOUSE & QUOTES

• President Obama “By Spirit Alone”: It was more than 2,000 years ago, in the ancient city of Jerusalem, that a small band of believers led by Judah Maccabee rose up and defeated their foreign oppressors – liberating the city and restoring the faith of its people.
  And when it came time to rededicate the Temple, the people of Jerusalem witnessed a second miracle: a small amount of oil – enough to light the Temple for a single night – ended up burning for eight. It was a triumph of the few over the many; of right over might; of the light of freedom over the darkness of despair. And ever since that night, in every corner of the world, Jews have lit the Hanukkah candles as symbols of resilience in times of peace, and in times of persecution – in concentration camps and ghettos; war zones and unfamiliar lands. Their light inspires us to hope beyond hope; to believe that miracles are possible even in the darkest of hours.
  It is this message of Hanukkah that speaks to us no matter what faith we practice or what beliefs we cherish. Today, the same yearning for justice that drove the Maccabees so long ago inspires the protestors who march for peace and equality even when they know they will be beaten and arrested for it. It gives hope to the mother fighting to give her child a bright future even in the face of crushing poverty. And it invites all of us to rededicate ourselves to improving the lives of those around us, spreading the light of freedom and tolerance wherever oppression and prejudice exist.
  This is the lesson we remember tonight – that true acts of strength are possible, in the words of the prophet Zechariah, not by might and not by power, but by spirit alone. WH, 12-16-09
• Statement by President Obama on Hanukkah: Michelle and I send our warmest wishes to all who are celebrating Hanukkah around the world. The Hanukkah story of the Maccabees and the miracles they witnessed reminds us that faith and perseverance are powerful forces that can sustain us in difficult times and help us overcome even the greatest odds.
  Hanukkah is not only a time to celebrate the faith and customs of the Jewish people, but for people of all faiths to celebrate the common aspirations we share. As families, friends and neighbors gather together to kindle the lights, may Hanukkah’s lessons inspire us all to give thanks for the blessings we enjoy, to find light in times of darkness, and to work together for a brighter, more hopeful tomorrow…. – WH, 12-11-09
• Obama Issues Hanukkah Message in Hebrew: The White House is facing complaints in Israel that its Hanukkah party does not live up to the standards set by President Obama’s predecessor, George W. Bush. But with the Jewish festival of lights set to begin at sundown on Friday, President Obama has outdone Mr. Bush in at least one respect – he issued a Hanukkah message in Hebrew.
  The English version of the greeting sends “warmest wishes to all who are celebrating Hanukkah around the world,” from Mr. Obama and his wife, Michelle. It recalls the ancient story of the Maccabees, the Jewish rebels who triumphed in battle and rededicated the temple in Jerusalem – a reminder, the message says, that “that faith and perseverance are powerful forces that can sustain us in difficult times and help us overcome even the greatest odds.” Hebrew Message NYT, 12-11-09
• Israeli President Shimon Peres broadcasts YouTube Chanukah message: “Dear Friends: Yesterday I blessed my Arab citizens because they had their holiday which is called Eid-el Adha, a holiday of good will. Tomorrow, I am going to bless my Christian citizens; they are going to have Christmas. But now, it’s time of Chanukah, our own holiday; full of light, full of optimism, full of hope. Not that everything is so easy and promising, but it’s a clear declaration that finally light will win the day.
  We are going through a difficult period of time. There are many dangers, the Iranians; there are many difficulties, like the negotiations of peace, but I am in charge of optimism. I have the right to be one. Most of the things we have hoped for came true. We continue to hope they will come true as well. We would like to be a contributing people, we can be a contributing people; not only in science and technology, but also in peace and promise. The greatest of them is that all children, ours, the Arabs’, the Christians’ will arrive to a day when their mothers do not have to worry about their safety, which means peace. Light and peace are the two things on which Jewish heritage are based. Thank you. Happy Hanukkah, Chag Chanukah Sameah.” – You Tube
• A Very Emanuel Chanukah: Rahm Emanuel had a serious message about mutual responsibility to make, in a pithy, punchy speech before he helped light the “national menorah” this evening on the Ellipse in front of the White House. Still, the White House chief of staff being Rahm couldn’t resists a couple of one-liners. Rabbi Levi Shemtov, who directs American Friends of Lubavitch, rushed in a thanks to the performers before calling Emanuel to the stage.
  “The U.S. Air Force Band, the Three Cantors and Dreidl Man,” Emanuel said after taking the microphone, “sounds a little like the title of a Fellini movie.” Emanuel went on to make the lessons of Chanukah a paradigm for the collective responsibility for those not able to defend or care for themselves — Tikkun Olam. “Standing up for what is right, even when it is hard, is not a job for some other people, some other time,” he said. “It is a job for all of us.” And still, expounding on the holiday miracle, he couldn’t resist a dig at his former habitat, Congress. “The oil lasted longer than anyone expected, kind of like the health care debate,” he said… – JTA, 12-13-09

FEATURES

• CHANUKAH Heroes or rabble-rousers? The real story of the Maccabees: In 165 BCE, a group of warriors led by Judah Maccabee and his band of brothers ushered in a new era in Jewish history when they routed the soldiers of the Greek-Syrian empire and rededicated the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. That victory, and the miracle of the menorah that followed, is celebrated every year by Jews around the world at Chanukah. But if the same thing had happened today, would contemporary Jews hail the Maccabees as heroes?
  The place in Jewish history of the Maccabees — a nickname for the first members of the Hasmonean dynasty that ruled an autonomous Jewish kingdom — is much more complex than their popular image might suggest. “Historically it was much more complicated, as there were Jews on both sides,” Jeffrey Rubenstein, professor of Talmud and rabbinics at New York University, said of the Maccabee uprising. “Nowadays, historians look at the conflict more in terms of a civil war than a revolt.”… – JTA, 12-10-09
• Improving on the Latke: Joan Nathan, a well respected cookbook author and expert in Jewish foods, said she’s not surprised at the widespread resistance to making a traditional treat more healthful. When once asked to come up with baked latkes that tasted as good as fried, she tried. “But I ended up throwing all the recipes in the garbage,” she said.
  Another reason for the fried latke’s persistence: oil isn’t just a cooking ingredient, it’s central to the eight- day celebration of Hanukkah. After winning back their land in battle, the Jews needed to light a menorah as part of a rededication of their Temple. Although they only had enough oil for one day, the oil, miraculously, lasted for eight… – NYT, 12-10-09
• At Hanukkah, Chefs Make Kitchen Conversions: On holidays like Hanukkah, which begins this year on the night of Dec. 11, gentile chefs with Jewish spouses bring epicurean interpretations to simple dishes, but also enjoy culinary traditions they’ve taken to heart.
  Even since their divorce, the Austrian chef Wolfgang Puck, a Roman Catholic, continues to hold a charity Seder at his restaurant Spago in Los Angeles with his business partner and ex-wife, Barbara Lazaroff, who is Jewish. “The food is so similar,” Mr. Puck said. “My grandmother made potato pancakes, but they were rösti with cooked potatoes and then fried with onions. We had semolina dumplings like matzo balls.”… = NYT, 12-9-09

HISTORIANS’ COMMENTS

• Tevi Troy “Washington Fuss Over White House Hanukkah Party”: In an opinion article published by JTA, the Jewish news agency, Tevi Troy, a former Bush administration liaison to Jewish groups, warned that the Obama White House had given Jewish Americans “a number of reasons to fear that it takes its votes for granted.” Mr. Troy cited as examples the administration’s call for a freeze on Jewish settlements in the West Bank and the decision to honor Mary Robinson, the former president of Ireland, who has been accused by some Democratic lawmakers of anti-Israel bias. Mr. Troy said the reduced guest list created “a nagging sense that there may be a studied callousness at work here.” – NYT, 12-11-09
• Aaron Zelinsky: Judah the Maccabee’s Five Lessons for Barack Obama: Tonight is the first night of Chanukah. Modern celebrants (including Senator Hatch) focus on the miracle of the Menorah, which tradition tells us stayed lit for eight days on a single day’s oil. However, Chanukah is also the political story of a few determined Maccabees leading an uprising against the much stronger Seleucid Empire.
  Though the events Chanukah commemorates took place over 2,000 years ago, the historical story of the Maccabees provides useful lessons for our modern era. From the Seleucids, we see how not to fight a guerilla insurgency. From the Maccabees, we learn how to rally a people and a nation.
  Here are Chanukah’s five geopolitical lessons…. Huffington Post (12-11-09)
• Gil Troy: This Hannukkah, Let’s Teach Our Children How to Give: For the last few years I have lamented that Jews were preparing to celebrate Hanukkah, our festival of lights, during a particularly dark period. I am happy to say that this year was actually pretty good. Yes, the Iranian nuclear threat – to the United States not just to Israel – still looms. Yes, the crash, recession, and Madoff scheme crushed many individuals – and charitable foundations that do holy work. Yes, the high unemployment rate in the United States is a reminder of the misery many individuals are experiencing even during this holiday season. Yes, Islamic extremists declare war on the West, yet many Westerners, deny and dither, afraid to respond too assertively. And yes, Palestinian rejectionists get a free pass in the world court of public opinion while Israel is condemned for engaging in self-defense…. – 12-11-09
• Tevi Troy: Op-Ed: Obama must beware of the Chanukah snub: Officials in the Obama administration have decided that they will be cutting the guest list in half for this year’s Chanukah party at the White House. The Jerusalem Post, which first reported this development, suggested that this will be politically harder for Obama the Democrat than it would have been for Bush the Republican. As one of President Bush’s advisers for many of his Chanukah parties, I can assure you that it would not have been easy in the previous White House, either… – JTA, 11-23-09

POLITICAL HIGHLIGHTS:

This Week’s Political Highlights

BIGGEST NEWS STORIES: 2009 IN REVIEW

• 100 Notable Books of 2009: The New York Times Book Review selects outstanding works from the last year – NYT, 11-09
• The 10 Best Books of 2009 By THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW NYT, 12-09
• The ’00s: Goodbye (at Last) to the Decade From Hell Time, 11-24-09

THIS WEEK IN HISTORY:

On This Day in History….

This Week in History….

• Historian Finds John Brown’s Link To Vermont: To some – 19th century abolitionist John Brown was a folk hero. To others he was a violent terrorist. To this day Brown is considered one of the more controversial figures of the 1800s. December 2, marks the 150th anniversary of Brown’s execution following his failed raid at Harper’s Ferry Virginia…. – Vermont Public Radio (12-1-09)

IN THE NEWS:

• Student finds letter ‘a link to Jefferson’: An 1808 letter from Thomas Jefferson turns up during archiving by a University of Delaware graduate student. Student uncovers letter among archives of mementos of elite Delaware family… Thomas Jefferson’s 1808 letter part of archives gift to University of Delaware… “This letter was like a link to Jefferson himself,” student says Library official says, “To hold it in your hands is really quite thrilling”
  In a nondescript conference room tucked inside the library at the University of Delaware, a graduate student found a historian’s equivalent to a needle in a haystack. Amanda Daddona said she discovered a personal letter from Thomas Jefferson amid one of 200 boxes of legal documents, minutes from meetings and day-to-day correspondence of a prominent Delaware family…. – CNN, 12-4-09
• Residents, historians work for landmarks in Harlem: Michael Henry Adams, a local historian and graduate of Columbia’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation, agreed, saying, “Harlem is grossly under-landmarked, and so is every black neighborhood in the city.” He added, “If you look at the Upper East Side and Upper West Side, all the places where the richest people live, there’s the most landmarking.”…. – Columbia Spectator (12-3-09)
• Joy Damousi: Historian examines the lives of war generation (Australia): A prominent Melbourne academic is researching the impact of memories of WWII in Greece and the Civil War on Greek-Australians…. – Greek Reporter (11-30-09)
• Historians seeks to capture and preserve 100-year farm heritage: For 100 years Henry Armstrong’s family has farmed the same patch of central Montana land, hanging on through the Depression, low wheat prices and the ever-present risk that the next generation would move on… – Google News (11-27-09)
• Historians are at war over ‘old-fashioned’ flagship series: TELEVISION historian Neil Oliver has been likened to a “pygmy on a giant’s territory” by a leading academic as the bitter row over the BBC’s flagship A History of Scotland series intensifies…. – The Herald Scotland (11-26-09)

OP-EDs & BLOGS:

• Historian David Reynolds says Obama should pardon John Brown: IT’S important for Americans to recognize our national heroes, even those who have been despised by history. Take John Brown. Today is the 150th anniversary of Brown’s hanging — the grim punishment for his raid weeks earlier on Harpers Ferry, Va. With a small band of abolitionists, Brown had seized the federal arsenal there and freed slaves in the area. His plan was to flee with them to nearby mountains and provoke rebellions in the South. But he stalled too long in the arsenal and was captured. He was brought to trial in a Virginia court, convicted of treason, murder and inciting an insurrection, and hanged on Dec. 2, 1859…. – NYT (12-1-09)

REVIEWS & FIRST CHAPTERS:

• Beth Bailey: Historian’s new book considers America’s all-volunteer Army America’s Army: Making the All-Volunteer Force – Temple University (12-3-09)
• We join a movement in progress: a review of Cynthia Griggs Fleming’s “Yes We Did?’ If Barack Obama’s 2008 election is history’s answer to Martin Luther King’s 46-year-old “I Have a Dream” speech, then African Americans must be on the cusp of . . . what, exactly? In “Yes We Did?” historian Cynthia Griggs Fleming offers an academic overview of the civil rights movement’s triumphant past and uncertain future…. – The Washington Post (12-4-09)
• Historian’s says Hudson’s ‘did not discover anything’: Four-hundred years ago, Henry Hudson set sail from Europe in an attempt to discover a new route to Asia by heading east. His mission was not successful, but he traveled along what has become the Hudson River between New York and New Jersey. River Edge resident and local historian Kevin Wright explores the quadricentennial of Hudson’s voyage in his new book, “1609: A Country That Was Never Lost: 400th Anniversary of Henry Hudson’s Visit with North Americans of the Middle Atlantic Coast.”… – North Jersey (11-26-09)

PROFILED & FEATURED:

• Horse racing was best before British, says historian: Dr Natalie Zacek, from The University of Manchester says the 1861–1865 Civil War changed American racing forever, by forcing it to modernise using the English model… – The University of Manchester (12-1-09)
• Historian unearthes Civil War war criminal: Her breath quickened as she caught sight of a name engraved in stone. Could it possibly be him? As Carolyn Stier Ferrell stepped closer, she could see that, yes, she had found her man! At the Odd Fellows Home Cemetery atop Boot Hill in New Providence, Ferrell found the final resting place of Thomas Pratt Turner…. – The Leaf Chronicle (11-29-09)

QUOTED:

• Ivan the Terrible film ‘slanders Russia’ and should be banned, historian says: Vyacheslav Manyagin has asked Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to outlaw the film, which he claims is an insult to Russian statehood. … “Imagine that they made a film in America about George Washington in which the first US president was portrayed as a bloodthirsty maniac,” Mr Manyagin said. “This film slanders the Russian people and state.”… – Telegraph (UK) (11-28-09)

INTERVIEWED:

• Interview with D.N.Jha, eminent historian: “Historians who come in proximity to power change their secular lines” DWIJENDRA NARAYAN JHA, an eminent historian, has campaigned extensively against the communalisation of history. His book Myth of the Holy Cow,wherein he dispelled popular misconceptions that Muslims introduced beef-eating in India, created ripples in political circles. – Frontline (Volume 26) (12-1-09)

HONORED, AWARDED &APPOINTED:

• Mihailo Pantic, Srdjan Pirivatric: Bulgarian president awards Serbian writer and historian: At the awarding ceremony in the Bulgarian Presidency, Pantic was presented with the Holly Brothers Cyril and Methodius award for his contribution to the popularization of the Bulgarian culture in Serbia and promotion of relation between the Bulgarian and Serbian people. Bsanna News (12-4-09)
• Historian one of 10 human rights award winners (Toronto): Most Torontonians are not familiar with the black experience in Canada, but for Adrienne Shadd, African-Canadian history is in her blood. Shadd is the great-great-grandniece of Mary Ann Shadd Cary, the first black women to publish and edit a newspaper in North America…. – The Toronto Observer (11-26-09)
• UK diplomat questions post of Jews on Iraq panel: A British diplomat has criticized the appointment of two leading Jewish academics to the UK’s Iraq Inquiry panel, stating it may upset the balance of the inquiry. Sir Oliver Miles, a former British ambassador to Libya, told The Independent newspaper this week that the appointment of Sir Martin Gilbert, the renowned Holocaust historian and Winston Churchill biographer, and Sir Lawrence Freedman, professor of war studies and vice-principal of King’s College London, would be seen as “ammunition” that could be used to call the inquiry a “whitewash.”… – The Jerusalem Post (via OpEdNews) (11-25-09)
• The re-emergence of historian Richard Hofstadter: Hofstadter, who died in 1970, was at one time amongst America’s pre-eminent historians. He documented the evolution of the country’s political culture and its populist underpinnings from the Revolution to the post- Kennedy-assassination era. It’s no surprise that his work is still generally relevant, but his landmark 1964 essay, The Paranoid Style in American Politics, is Cassandra-like in its prescience. – John Moore in the National Post (11-26-09)

SPOTTED:

• Rebuttal of Decade-Old Accusations Against Researchers Roils Anthropology Meeting Anew: The annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association opened here on Wednesday, and its official theme is “The End/s of Anthropology.” But people here might suspect that one thing will never end: the controversy surrounding Darkness in El Dorado, a 2000 book that accused two prominent scholars of misdeeds in their work with an indigenous community in South America Darkness in El Dorado: How Scientists and Journalists Devastated the Amazon (W.W. Norton), was written by Patrick Tierney… – The Chronicle of Higher Education (12-3-09)
• Carpentersville students chat with renowned historian Howard Zinn (Illinois): Between preparing for the premiere of his documentary and promoting it with the likes of Matt Damon and Viggo Mortensen, historian and activist Howard Zinn found some time to speak with students at Dundee-Crown High School on Tuesday…. – The Daily Herald (12-2-09)

ANNOUNCEMENTS & EVENTS CALENDAR:

• Royal Society papers provide science, history resources: The 350th anniversary of Britain’s Royal Society (making it the world’s oldest scientific institution) will be marked by the release of a vast library of papers online from the likes of Sir Isacc Newton and Benjamin Franklin. This isn’t just science nerd stuff, though. This is a treasure trove of history that is easily connected to modern scientific thought. The library itself can be found at trailblazing.royalsociety.org and is remarkable in its extensiveness… – ZD Net, 11-29-09

ON TV:

• C-SPAN2: BOOK TV Weekend Schedule
• PBS American Experience: Mondays at 9pm
• History Channel: Weekly Schedule

BEST SELLERS (NYT):

• NYT Non-Fiction Best Sellers List – December 13, 2009
• NYT Non-Fiction Best Sellers List – December 6, 2009

COMING SOON BOOKS:

• Anthony Haden-guest: Last Party: Studio 54, Disco, and the Culture of the Night (Paperback), December 8, 2009
• Len Colodny: The Forty Years War: The Rise and Fall of the Neocons, from Nixon to Obama, December 8, 2009
• Alice Morse Earle: Child Life in Colonial Times, (Paperback), December 18, 2009
• C. S. Manegold: Ten Hills Farm: The Forgotten History of Slavery in the North, December 21, 2009
• A. N. Wilson: Our Times: The Age of Elizabeth II, December 22, 2009
• Rudy Tomedi: General Matthew Ridgway, December 30, 2009
• Alison Weir: The Lady in the Tower: The Fall of Anne Boleyn, January 5, 2010

DEPARTED:

• Remembering Jean-François Bergier: Swiss historian: “You have to be responsible for your past,” the Swiss historian Jean-François Bergier once said. And he knew exactly how challenging that could be for his country… – Times Online (11-30-09)
• Studs Terkel: Democracy Now! Tribute – Democracy Now (11-27-09)

POLITICAL HIGHLIGHTS:

This Week’s Political Highlights
• Historians assess Obama’s presidency, one year after his election: A year after his election, historians assess President Obama: Walter Isaacson, Michael Kazin, Rick Perlstein, Ted Widmer, and Garry Wills, Daily Beast, 2 November; and Doris Kearns Goodwin, Huffington Post, 3 November. – Ralph Luker at HNN blog, Cliopatria (11-4-09)

BIGGEST NEWS STORIES:

• 2009 AHA Election Results – AHA Blog (11-24-09)
• Berlin Wall Anniversary Sparks Look At History: November 9 marks the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. We spoke with British historian Frederick Taylor, an expert on the Berlin Wall, author of the book The Berlin Wall – A World Divided 1961-1989, about what prompted East German authorities to build the wall in the first place… – Voice of America (11-2-09)

THIS WEEK IN HISTORY:

On This Day in History….

This Week in History….

IN THE NEWS:

• Tim Miller: Presidential Historian Time to Release JFK’s Files – PR News Channel (11-18-09)
• Robert Proctor: Historian Can Keep His Manuscript on Tobacco Studies out of the hands of tobacco company R.J. Reynolds, which had subpoenaed it as evidence for an upcoming suit, Judge Rules – Science Insider (11-11-09)
• Antony Beevor: D-Day historian: ‘Ryan’ not best war film – CNN (11-11-09)
• Pulling hair and calling names, historians disagree about Scotland: According to Professor Tom Devine the scripts of A History of Scotland are “lame, boring and flaccid” and its “hapless, long-haired presenter”, Neil Oliver, suffers from “a sad lack of personal authority or presence”. – Times Online (11-9-09)
• For Canada’s war historians, every day is Remembrance Day – The Star (11-7-09)
• The Future of the Former Rosemont Manor in Weirton is About to be Uncovered (PA) – WTRF Channel 7 (11-3-09)
• Stanford Historian Robert Proctor vs. R.J. Reynolds – PR Watch.org (11-2-09)
• National Archives is under-resourced -historian: Historian Dr Melissa Ifill says important archival materials are no longer being presented to the National Archives due to a lack of confidence in the institution’s ability to preserve records, and that a lack of funding and adequate staffing has affected the res-toration work of the archives…. – Stabroek News (11-1-09)
• Humanities, Smithsonian, Library of Congress and Park Service budgets hold steady – Lee White at the website of the National Coalition for History (NCH) (10-30-09)

OP-EDs & BLOGS:

• Gordon S. Wood: Defending the academicians – The Washington Post (11-17-09)
• Drake Bennett: How historians are looking deeper at the fall of the Berlin Wall – Boston.com (11-15-09)

REVIEWS & FIRST CHAPTERS:

• 100 Notable Books of 2009: The New York Times Book Review selects outstanding works from the last year – NYT, 11-09
• JAY WINIK on Gordon Wood: A New Nation EMPIRE OF LIBERTY A History of the Early Republic, 1789-1815 – NYT, 11-29-09
• From Footnote to Fame in Civil Rights History – NYT, 11-26-09
• Shlomo Sand: Israeli historian calls Jewish people an invention–and reaps controversy The Invention of the Jewish People – NYT, 11-24-09
• Sean Wilentz on ROBERT W. MERRY: Into the West: ‘A Country of Vast Designs: James K. Polk, the Mexican War, and the Conquest of the American Continent’ – NYT, 11-22-09
• Conservatives go after Bruce Cumings new book on the American empire – Arthur Herman in the WSJ (11-19-09)
• Sarah Palin: Books of The Times Memoir Is Palin’s Payback to McCain Campaign GOING ROGUE An American Life – NYT, 11-15-09
• D.M. Giangreco: Author re-examines Truman’s controversial decision to drop atomic bombs on Japan “The Soldier from Independence: A Military Biography of Harry Truman” and “Hell to Pay: Operation Downfall and the Invasion of Japan, 1945-1947.” – Kansas City Star (11-7-09)
• U.Va. historian Jennifer Burns examines Ayn Rand’s life, philosophy – NewLeader.com (11-5-09)
• David Plouffe, Hendrik Hertzberg: Books of The Times The Obama the Campaign Knew: THE AUDACITY TO WIN The Inside Story and Lessons of Barack Obama’s Historic Victory, ¡OBÁMANOS! The Birth of a New Political Era – NYT, 11-3-09

PROFILED & FEATURED:

• Barbara Frale: Historian adds fuel to Turin Shroud debate: A Vatican researcher rekindled the age-old debate over the Shroud of Turin, saying that faint writing on the linen proves it was the burial cloth of Jesus…. – Times of Malta (11-21-09)
• Historian Adam Schor dives into Christianity’s early days – USA Today (11-20-09)
• Eric Flack: Historian investigates the ‘lost village’ of Garscadden (Scotland)… – STV (11-18-09)
• Matthew Kaminski: From Solidarity to Democracy (on Adam Michnik and the end of the Cold War) – WSJ (11-7-09)
• Edwin Black’s scrutiny of the powerful is a career pattern – Cleveland Jewish News (11-6-09)
• William B. Styple: Uncovering an Abraham Lincoln not often seen – The Philadelphia Inquirer (10-25-09)
• Historian Carleton Mabee chronicles Father Divine – Chronogram (10-29-09)

QUOTED:

• What Niall Ferguson thinks now: “I don’t think it’s possible to infer from the stock market rally anything resembling a sustained recovery,” the peripatetic professor says in an e-mail exchange. He rightly notes that at least half (and probably much more) of the third-quarter U.S. economic growth of 3.5 per cent stemmed from one-off government measures and that the consumer remains tapped out. “The stock market rally has been largely due to near-zero interest rates and a weaker dollar. In foreign currency terms there’s been no rally.” – Globe Investor (11-23-09)
• McGovern: Get Out of Afghanistan: George McGovern has some advice for President Barack Obama: Get U.S. troops out of Afghanistan. I’m convinced that war is going to turn sour. I’m convinced we’re not going to prevail there,” McGovern, the 1972 Democratic presidential nominee, said Sunday at a Truthdig event in West Los Angeles…. – Truthdig (11-4-09)

INTERVIEWED:

• Video link: Theodore H. White Lecture on Press and Politics by Taylor Branch – Link to video [1 hour, 20 minutes] Harvard University Institute of Politics (11-12-09)
• Interview With Rick Perlstein, author of “Nixonland” – Big Think (11-17-09)
• Taylor Branch: Interview: Clinton Historian Seeks To Dispel “Cartoon Images” – The Atlantic (11-2-09)

HONORED, AWARDED &APPOINTED:

• Balzan Prize 2009 for the History of Science Awarded – PR&D – Public Relations für Forschung & Bildung (11-20-09)
• Teachers, Paul Gross win Canadian history awards: Gov. Gen. Michaëlle Jean presented awards on Friday to seven Canadian history teachers as well as to actor Paul Gross and to writer Ian McKay for their efforts in promoting Canadian history. The annual Governor General’s Awards for Excellence in Teaching Canadian History was held at Rideau Hall in Ottawa…. – CBC News (11-20-09)
• 2009 National Book Award Finalist, Nonfiction: T. J. Stiles’s ‘The First Tycoon’ – National Book Foundation (11-19-09)
• Ferriero Confirmed by Senate as Archivist of the United States: On November 6, the United States Senate voted unanimously to confirm David Ferriero as the 10th Archivist of the United States… – Lee White at the website of the National Coalition for History (NCH) (11-6-09
• Web site clicks with historical group in N.H.: The Pelham Historical Society has earned special recognition for having the most modernized and informational historical Web site in the state. – TMC News (11-7-09)
• Lisa Jardine “British historian lands major prize”: Lisa Jardine, author of Going Dutch: How England Plundered Holland’s Glory, has been awarded the Cundill International Prize in History, described as the world’s largest historical literature award for non-fiction. – Montreal Gazette (11-3-09)

SPOTTED:

• Scholars Honored John Hope Franklin: Professor Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham Delivered the keynote address at the John Hope Franklin Memorial Conference on Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2009…. – Brooklyn College (11-23-09)
• Gordon Johnson: Indian democracy unique, it thrives in every state: Cambridge historian: Describing India as a fascinating federal system, Dr. Gordon Johnson, president, Wolfson College, Cambridge and the deputy vice–chancellor of the University gave an insightful peek into Indian history on Thursday on The Study of India: Half a century of intellectual enquiry and Universities and Society at Pune University….. – Indian Express (11-21-09)
• Leonard Marcus: Jones lecture features children’s book historian: Children’s book historian Leonard Marcus presented his lecture, “A New Deal for the Nursery: Golden Books and the Democratization of American Children’s Book Publishing,” yesterday as a part of the Jones Distinguished Lecture series. The lecture was sponsored by the Jones Institute for Educational Excellence and the Emporia State Archives…. – The Bulletin (Emporia State University) (11-19-09)
• Niall Ferguson: Harvard historian sees banks, China dragging down U.S. – Boston Herald (11-12-09)

ANNOUNCEMENTS & EVENTS CALENDAR:

ON TV:

• C-SPAN2: BOOK TV Weekend Schedule
• PBS American Experience: Mondays at 9pm
• History Channel: Weekly Schedule

BEST SELLERS (NYT):

• NYT Non-Fiction Best Sellers List – November 1, 2009
• NYT Non-Fiction Best Sellers List – November 8, 2009>
• NYT Non-Fiction Best Sellers List – November 15, 2009
• NYT Non-Fiction Best Sellers List – November 22, 2009
• NYT Non-Fiction Best Sellers List – November 29, 2009
• NYT Non-Fiction Best Sellers List – December 6, 2009

COMING SOON BOOKS:

• William Garrett Piston (Editor): Portraits of Conflict: A Photographic History of Missouri in the Civil War (New), November 28, 2009
• Holger H. Herwig: The Marne, 1914: The Opening of World War I and the Battle That Changed the World, December 1, 2009
• Anthony Haden-guest: Last Party: Studio 54, Disco, and the Culture of the Night (Paperback), December 8, 2009
• Len Colodny: The Forty Years War: The Rise and Fall of the Neocons, from Nixon to Obama, December 8, 2009
• Alice Morse Earle: Child Life in Colonial Times, (Paperback), December 18, 2009
• C. S. Manegold: Ten Hills Farm: The Forgotten History of Slavery in the North, December 21, 2009
• A. N. Wilson: Our Times: The Age of Elizabeth II, December 22, 2009
• Rudy Tomedi: General Matthew Ridgway, December 30, 2009
• Alison Weir: The Lady in the Tower: The Fall of Anne Boleyn, January 5, 2010

DEPARTED:

• Robert Jahn: Local author and historian 62, dies – APP (11-20-09)
• Obituary: Joe Levitt, Soldier, hero, historian – National Post (11-9-09)
• Historian Felix Luna dies at 84 – Bueno Aires Herald (11-6-09)

POLITICAL HIGHLIGHTS:

This Week’s Political Highlights

BIGGEST NEWS STORIES:

• Taylor Branch: Author, historian gives material for new Clinton book to UNC library – MyFox8.com (9-23-09)
• A Q&A with Taylor Branch, author of ‘The Clinton Tapes’ – GQ (9-16-09)
• Taylor Branch’s secret interviews add insight to Clinton presidency – USA Today (9-21-09)
• Taylor Branch about to publish secret project: The Clinton Tapes – Taegan Goddard’s Political Wire (9-19-09)
• Taylor Branch’s oral history with Clinton comes under attack – Ralph Luker at HNN blog, Cliopatria (9-30-09)
• Rosh Hashana, Circa 1919: Mrs. Shapiro is actually Barbara Ann Paster, one of the actors here at the Strawbery Banke restoration, a living museum in which over 350 years of Portsmouth homes, stores, churches and history have been preserved. It is in Puddle Dock, which was a decrepit neighborhood destined to be razed under urban renewal until a campaign in the 1950s and ’60s led by the town librarian saved 42 houses on 10 acres to create the museum…. – NYT, 9-17-09
• Dan Brown: Da Vinci author’s ‘uproar’ warning: The Lost Symbol is expected to make claims about the influence of secret organisation the freemasons on US leaders. And it is tipped to brand first President George Washington a TRAITOR.
  British historian and Masonic expert Ashley Cowie: “Dan Brown is about to make a huge controversy because he knows it sells. He’s going to create uproar in America. But it’s fiction, not fact.”
  But fellow historian David Shugarts said: “It’s true that some of the founding fathers were powerful Masons.”… – The Sun (9-15-09)
• The Economic Freeze on History: More than two-thirds of history departments are experiencing budget cuts that have “required real reductions in resources, faculty and staff,” according to a survey released Friday by the American Historical Association…. – Inside Higher Ed (9-14-09)
• Historian Rebecca Solnit talks about how 9-11 should be remembered – Free Speech Radio News (9-11-09)

THIS WEEK IN HISTORY:

On This Day in History….

This Week in History…. September 14-19, 2009

• Peter C. Mancall on “Why a Fourth Grader Knows More About Henry Hudson Than You Do” The 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s landing in New York… – The Chronicle of Higher Education (9-14-09)

IN THE NEWS:

• N S Rangaraju, HoD department of ancient history and archaeology, University of Mysore: Historian calls for more studies to prove existence of Buddhism in state… – Times of India (9-29-09)
• Nick Barratt: TV historian launches Dundee genealogy workshop… – The Press and Journal (9-29-09)
• Bryant Simon: Historian concludes Starbucks missing sense of community: “Rarely … do these different people doing different things actually talk and exchange ideas, but talk and ideas are crucial to the making of community,” he writes…. – Yahoo News (Finance) (9-28-09)
• War historians to fight for medal: The Australian War Memorial us/roundup/entries/117572.html”> PSNews (9-29-09)
• Simon Young “King Arthur was a “genocidal warlord,” claims historian”: A new book by a historian has claimed that the mythical King Arthur was actually a “genocidal warlord whose deeds would have been the stuff of Nuremburg trials today.” According to a report in the Telegraph, Dr Simon Young, a historian and expert in Celtic studies, claims in ‘The Celtic Revolution’ that the valiant English hero of modern legend bears no resemblance to the historical reality. Breaking News 24/7 (9-28-09)
• Walmart Vs. Historians In Battle Over Civil War Site – The Consumerist (9-24-09)
• Where is NEH Money Going? New Web Site Has Answers – The Chronicles of Higher Education (9-21-09)
• Society of American Archivists Develops Best Practices for Orphan Works – The Society of American Archivists (homepage) (9-24-09)
• Rick Perlstein: The liberal historian on ACORN, the Post, and wagging the dog – Columbia Journalism Review (9-22-09)
• David Starkey: TV historian launches second broadside against Scotland – DailyRecord.co.uk (9-22-09)
• Linda Higgins: County’s official historian should clarify Van Jones comments or resign – Jacksonsun.com (Jackson, TN) (9-22-09)
• County Historian Summoned to comment on Van Jones (Jackson, TN) – Jacksonsun.com (9-21-09)
• The Next Page: Howard Zinn, Historian of the People, For the People – post-gazette.com (Pittsburgh Post Gazette) (9-20-09)
• The Book That Shook Yale – The Chronicle of Higher Education (9-29-09)
• John Dichtl and Robert B. Townsend: Preliminary Results from the 2008 Survey of Public History Professionals: This is the first in a series of articles analyzing results from the 2008 Survey of Public History Professionals. This article will also appear in Public History News, the newsletter of the National Council on Public History…. – American Historical Association (9-2-09)
• OAH Strategic Planning Committee sends up a red flare (and asks for members’ response) – OAH website (9-15-09)
• Time Mag. solicits readers’ questions for Ken Burns: In his latest project, Burns used more than six years worth of footage and dozens of interviews to explore the creation of America’s national park system, the first such effort in history. The 12-part series, “America’s Best Idea,” airs Sept. 27 on PBS. – Time Magazine (9-14-09)
• R. Bruce Craig: Signs Contract for Biography of Alger Hiss – Press Release (9-14-09)
• Júlio Mendes: Historian defends more research on the poet and first President of Angola, António Agostinho Neto’s legacy – AngolaPress (9-11-09)
• Tony Judt again accused of laying the “groundwork for Israel’s death” – Steven Plaut at frontpagemag.com (9-9-09)
• David Irving sparks row over Holocaust ‘propaganda’ – NWO Observer (9-6-09)
• Colleges to Commemorate the 20th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin – Press Release–George Mason University’s Center for History and New Media (9-9-09)
• Allan Levine: Historian to write Mackenzie King bio – Winnipeg Free Press (9-9-09)

OP-EDs & BLOGS:

• Ron Radosh: Can Left-wing historians write the History of Movement Conservatism? Historian says yes. – http://pajamasmedia.com/ (9-29-09)
• Gordon Wood says the Constitution was a more radical change than the Revolution itself – Newsletter of the New York American Revolution Roundtable (9-27-09)
• Robert Townsend: History Departments Struggle in a Depressing Economy – AHA magazine, Perspectives on History (9-1-09)
• Bernard A. Weisberger tells how he came to eavesdrop on the Japanese military during WW II – American Heritage (8-17-09)

REVIEWS & FIRST CHAPTERS:

• Morris Dickstein: When Grave Years Fueled Grand Art DANCING IN THE DARK A Cultural History of the Great Depression – NYT, 9-16-09
• Nicholas Thompson: Friends, Not Allies THE HAWK AND THE DOVE Paul Nitze, George Kennan, and the History of the Cold War – NYT, 9-13-09
• Norman Podhoretz: Because They Believe WHY ARE JEWS LIBERALS? – NYT, 9-13-09
• Alan Simons examines how Republic of Turkey saved Jewish lives Shoah: Turkey, the US and the UK – Jewish Info News (9-2-09)
• Philip Smallwood: The Life of R. G. Collingwood – Times Higher Education (UK), (9-3-09)

PROFILED & FEATURED:

• Richard Baker, Don Ritchie, Bette Koed,: Chronicling the Story of the Upper Chamber… – Politico (9-30-09)
• Michael Oren: Israeli Ambassador Draws on American Roots – NYT (9-25-09)
• Michael Oren still ‘enjoying every minute’ as Israel’s envoy to U.S. – Haaretz (9-27-09)
• David Norwood: Artist-historian wants to shed light on Florida rebellion – 2theadvocate.com (9-20-09)
• D. Bradford Hunt’s new book on the Chicago Housing Authority Blueprint for Disaster – Chicago Reader (9-24-09)
• Nicholas Thompson’s trump card in writing about Nitze and Kennan – NYT (9-11-09)

QUOTED:

• Richard Norton Smith, Russell Riley: Historians weigh in: Historical parallels: Afghanistan, Vietnam, Iraq: “It’s a test on multiple levels of what kind of leader and what kind of politician and what kind of historian he is,” says Richard Norton Smith, a historian who has run four presidential libraries and is currently a scholar at George Mason University. “This is a defining moment, and not only for the president, but for the country.”…
  “It’s hard not just because the generals are his, but it’s hard because he’s a Democrat,” says Russell Riley, who leads the William J. Clinton Presidential History Project at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center of Public Affairs. “He’s a Democrat who to a large part of the public is still suspect on foreign policy credentials, because he doesn’t have a lot of demonstrated experience in this arena.”… – NPR (9-29-09)
• John Hafnor: Historian Predicts Dan Brown Theme, Reveals New Lost Symbols: “The Da Vinci Code’s overarching premise was an Old World clash of religion and science, while the fresh theme for The Lost Symbol is likely to be a uniquely American power struggle between secret societies and the experiment known as democracy.” – USPRWire (9-10-09)

INTERVIEWED:

• Q&A with author and historian Marcus Rediker The Slave Ship: A Human History – Denisonian.com (Denison University) (9-29-09)
• An interview with Greg Robinson, author of A Tragedy of Democracy: Japanese Confinement in North America Columbia University Press website (7-1-09)
• In Conversation with David Starkey: The historian with an opinion on everything explains to Iain Dale why he was joking when he called Scotland a feeble little nation, his theory on the Californisation of the world and how Aneurin Bevan was deranged… – Total Politics (9-20-09)
• Anthony J. Badger: British historian says FDR has some complex lessons for Obama: Badger is a University of Cambridge historian and the author of several accessible and well-reviewed books about the South and the Depression, among them “North Carolina and the New Deal,” “FDR: The First Hundred Days” and “The New Deal: The Depression Years, 1933-1940.” Given the current economic situation, it seems especially appropriate that the University of South Alabama’s Department of History has selected Badger as this year’s N. Jack Stallworth lecturer (his topic: “The New Deal and the Creation of the Modern American South”)…. – al.com (9-14-09)
• Peter Bance Sikh author short listed for historian award: A renowned Sikh author has been short listed for the annual EDP-Jarrold East Anglian Book Awards, for his book on Maharajah Duleep Singh… – The Sikh Times (9-14-09)

HONORED, AWARDED &APPOINTED:

• Jonathan Jarvis: Senate confirms new head of National Park Service – Lee White at the website of the National Coalition for History (NCH) (9-25-09)
• Timothy Barrett: Paper historian receiving grant among 24 recipients of this year’s MacArthur Foundation “genius grants” – Des Moines Register, (9-22-09)
• Mark Updegrove: Presidential historian appointed to direct LBJ Library: The LBJ Library and Museum announced the appointment of presidential historian Mark Updegrove to director Wednesday…. – News 8 Austin (9-17-09)
• Best political communication book of the decade is … Campaign Talk: Why Elections are Good for Us by Roderick Hart was named the best political communication book of the last decade by the American Political Science Association. – Taegan Goddard’s Political Wire (9-12-09)
• Dr. Takashi Yoshida: Associate Professor of History honored as emerging faculty scholar by Western Michigan University – WMU News (9-9-09)

SPOTTED:

• Dipesh Chakrabarty: Bengali historian speaks of ‘legacy’ of India as a civilization “Whether India was industrialized or not, workers should get all their rights,” Chakrabarty said. “People in India, the poor, want to vote, making it difficult to change the democracy of India.”… – University of Rhode Island (9-30-09)
• Richard Norton Smith, Presidential Historian: The Clinton School invited Presidential Historian Richard Norton Smith to come speak on “Lincoln 200”. It has been 200 years since Abraham Lincoln was born…. – TodaysTHV.com, 9-16-09

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

EVENTS CALENDAR:

• Inaugural Semester-long seminar on Constitutional History offered at N-Y Historical Society this fall: Lincoln’s Constitution will be taught at the New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West, on Thursday afternoons from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. The seminar will be held on September 17 and 24 and on October 1, 15, 22, and 29, 2009. NYHS Press Release (7-20-09)

ON TV:

• BBC to launch new series on history of Christianity – Religious Intelligence, 6-19-09
• C-SPAN2: BOOK TV Weekend Schedule
• PBS History Detectives: Mondays at 9pm
• History Channel: Weekly Schedule
• History Channel: “Beyond The Da Vinci Code” – Saturday, September 19, 2009 at 8pm ET/PT
• History Channel: “Angels & Demons Decoded” – Saturday, September 19, 2009 at 10pm ET/PT
• History Channel: “Holy Grail in America” – Sunday, September 19, 2009 at 8pm ET/PT
• History Channel: “The Templar Code ” – Monday, September 20, 2009 at 2pm ET/PT
• History Channel: “Cities Of The Underworld: Stalin’s Secret Lair” – Monday, September 20, 2009 at 5pm ET/PT
• History Channel: “Cities Of The Underworld: 09 – Freemason Underground” – Monday, September 20, 2009 at 6pm ET/PT
• History Channel: “Secrets of the Founding Fathers” – Monday, September 20, 2009 at 8pm ET/PT
• History Channel: “The Dark Age” – Wednesday, September 23, 2009 at 2pm ET/PT
• History Channel: “Nostradamus Effect” Marathon – Saturday, September 26, 2009 at 2-5pm ET/PT

BEST SELLERS (NYT):

NYT Non-Fiction Best Sellers List – September 20, 2009
• #1 – Michelle Malkin: CULTURE OF CORRUPTION
• #3 – Ronald Kessler: IN THE PRESIDENT’S SECRET SERVICE
• #12 – Peter S. Canellos: LAST LION
• #15 – J. Randy Taraborrelli: THE SECRET LIFE OF MARILYN MONROE
• #20 – C. David Heymann: BOBBY AND JACKIE
• #21 – Douglas Brinkley: THE WILDERNESS WARRIOR
• #29 – Edward Klein: TED KENNEDY
• NYT Non-Fiction Best Sellers List – September 27, 2009

COMING SOON BOOKS:

• Jon Krakauer: Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman, September 15, 2009
• Dean C. Jessee (Editor): The Joseph Smith Papers: Revelations and Translations, Volume 1: Manuscript Revelation Books, September 2009
• James Patterson: The Murder of King Tut: The Plot to Kill the Child King – A Nonfiction Thriller, September 28, 2009
• Timothy Egan: The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire That Saved America, October 19, 2009
• Gil Troy, Vincent J. Cannato, eds.: Living in the Eighties, October 23, 2009
• L. Fletcher Prouty: JFK: The CIA, Vietnam, and the Plot to Assassinate John F. Kennedy, (Paperback), November 1, 2009
• Edward Kritzler: Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean: How a Generation of Swashbuckling Jews Carved Out an Empire in the New World in Their Quest for Treasure, Religious Freedom–and Revenge, (Paperback), November 3, 2009
• Anthony Haden-guest: Last Party: Studio 54, Disco, and the Culture of the Night (Paperback), December 8, 2009

DEPARTED:

• Larry D. Miller: UNM Spanish Colonial Research Center Historian Dies UNM Today (9-28-09)
• Merrill Peterson: Jefferson scholar, dies at 88 – Charlottesville Daily Progress (9-25-09)
• Milton Meltzer: Prolific Author, Dies at 94 – NYT (9-24-09)
• Bill Schoneberger, 83; U.S Aviation Historian – Palisades Post (9-17-09)
• Floyd Martin Clay, 81, historian and author at Our Lady of Holy Cross College – Nola.com (9-16-09)
• Charles Harrison: Obituary: Art historian and critic celebrated The Independent (9-7-09)
• Olga Amsterdamska: Obituary – John V. Pickstone, University of Manchester, writing for H-Net (9-4-09)

POLITICAL HIGHLIGHTS:

This Week’s Political Highlights
• Political Highlights: Remembering Senator Edward (Ted) M. Kennedy, 1932-2009 HNN, 9-1-09

BIGGEST NEWS STORIES:

• Betsy McCaughey: NYT says historian’s profile has risen sharply as a result of her involvement in Obama health care debate “Resurfacing, a Critic Stirs Up Debate Over Health Care” – NYT (9-4-09)
• Betsy McCaughey Addresses New York Times: Charges of Falsehoods But No Evidence – Reuters, 9-5-09

THIS WEEK IN HISTORY:

On This Day in History….

This Week in History…. September 7-13, 2009

IN THE NEWS:

• Brian Merlis and John Manbeck: Historians spar over Brooklyn history – The Huffington Post (9-3-09)
• Spain to publish interview with Holocaust denier David Irving – Google News (9-3-09)
• Ged Lynn: Historian walks through Luton in awareness march Luton Today (9-3-09)
• Götz Aly: Makes Controversial Remarks about the Contribution of Black and Asian Soldiers in WWII telegraph.co.uk (9-4-09)
• Darío A. Euraque: Trinity Historian Turned Cultural Guardian Standing Up To New Honduran Regime – Hartford Courant, (8-30-09)

OP-EDs & BLOGS:

• DREW GILPIN FAUST: Crossroads The University’s Crisis of Purpose – NYT, 9-6-09
• Lawrence Glickman: Blogs about the Whole Foods Boycott – Washington Post (9-2-09)

REVIEWS & FIRST CHAPTERS:

• Steven F. Hayward: Another One for the Gipper THE AGE OF REAGAN The Conservative Counterrevolution, 1980-1989 – NYT, 9-6-09
• Veronica Buckley: Undercover Queen THE SECRET WIFE OF LOUIS XIV Françoise d’Aubigné, Madame de Maintenon – NYT, 9-6-09
• Janet Soskice: Two of a Kind THE SISTERS OF SINAI How Two Lady Adventurers Discovered the Hidden Gospels – NYT, 9-6-09
• Fred Kaplan: Planting the Seeds of the Sixties: 1959 The Year Everything Changed – WaPo, 9-4-09
• Fred Kaplan: 1959 The Year Everything Changed, Excerpt – WaPo, 9-4-09
• Norman Podhoretz: RELIGION Speaking in Generalities WHY ARE JEWS LIBERALS? WaPo, 9-4-09
• Marina Belozerskaya: HISTORY Getting Attached to the Past TO WAKE THE DEAD A Renaissance Merchant and the Birth of Archaeology – WaPo, 9-4-09
• Edward M. Kennedy: Books of The Times Kennedy’s Rough Waters and Still Harbors TRUE COMPASS A Memoir – NYT, 9-4-09
• Kennedy Memoir Doesn’t Ignore Lows – NYT, 9-3-09
• Sam Tanenhaus: History of conservatism shown in Tanenhaus new book – SF Gate (9-1-09)

PROFILED & FEATURED:

• Professor Christopher Elrington: Historian who devoted his career to the ‘Victoria County History’ – The Independent (9-1-09)
• A look at John Lukacs: Historian cannot be removed from his story – The Budapest Times (8-31-09)

INTERVIEWED:

• A conversation with Jill Lepore – Humanities (9-1-09)
• Interview with Rodney Stark: The Crusades were “a justified war waged against Muslim terror and aggression” – http://www.medievalists.net (9-3-09)
• Historians Helen Rappaport and Lisa Hilton: are women guilty of “feminising” their subject?
  – BBC (Radio 4) (9-2-09)

HONORED, AWARDED &APPOINTED:

• Michael Szonyi: Chinese Historian Tenured at Harvard – The Harvard Crimson (8-31-09)

SPOTTED:

• NASA historian Andrew Chaikin: “Space historian” talks up lunar exploration at the OMNIMAX Theater at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) – The Bee (9-2-09)

EVENTS CALENDAR:

• Inaugural Semester-long seminar on Constitutional History offered at N-Y Historical Society this fall: Lincoln’s Constitution will be taught at the New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West, on Thursday afternoons from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. The seminar will be held on September 17 and 24 and on October 1, 15, 22, and 29, 2009. NYHS Press Release (7-20-09)

ON TV:

• BBC to launch new series on history of Christianity – Religious Intelligence, 6-19-09
• C-SPAN2: BOOK TV Weekend Schedule
• PBS History Detectives: Mondays at 9pm
• History Channel: Weekly Schedule
• History Channel: “Next Nostradamus” – Saturday, September 5, 2009 at 10pm ET/PT
• History Channel: “Last Stand of The 300” – Tuesday, September 8, 2009 at 2pm ET/PT
• History Channel: “Cities Of The Underworld: Maya Underground” – Tuesday, September 8, 2009 at 4pm ET/PT
• History Channel: “Nostradamus: 2012” – Wednesday, September 9, 2009 at 2pm ET/PT
• History Channel: “Next Nostradamus” – Wednesday, September 9, 2009 at 4pm ET/PT
• History Channel: “Decoding The Past: Mayan Doomsday Prophecy” – Wednesday, September 9, 2009 at 8pm ET/PT
• History Channel: “The World Trade Center: Rise and Fall of an American Icon” – Friday, September 11, 2009 at 2pm ET/PT
• History Channel: “Countdown to Ground Zero” – Friday, September 11, 2009 at 4pm ET/PT
• History Channel: Zero Hour: The Last Hour of Flight”” – Friday, September 11, 2009 at 6pm ET/PT
• History Channel: “The Day the Towers Fell” – Friday, September 11, 2009 at 7pm ET/PT
• History Channel: “102 Minutes that Changed America / Witness to 9/11” – Friday, September 11, 2009 at 8pm ET/PT
• History Channel: “The Crumbling of America” – Saturday, September 12, 2009 at 5pm ET/PT
• History Channel: “Manson” – Sunday, September 13, 2009 at 8pm ET/PT
• History Channel: “The Templar Code” – Monday, September 14, 2009 at 8pm ET/PT

BEST SELLERS (NYT):

NYT Non-Fiction Best Sellers List – September 13, 2009
• #1 – Michelle Malkin: CULTURE OF CORRUPTION
• #3 – Ronald Kessler: IN THE PRESIDENT’S SECRET SERVICE
• #11 – J. Randy Taraborrelli: THE SECRET LIFE OF MARILYN MONROE
• #16 – Douglas Brinkley: THE WILDERNESS WARRIOR
• #17 – Peter S. Canellos: LAST LION
• #20 – C. David Heymann: BOBBY AND JACKIE
• #32 – Doug Stanton: HORSE SOLDIERS

COMING SOON BOOKS:

• Jon Krakauer: Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman, September 15, 2009
• Dean C. Jessee (Editor): The Joseph Smith Papers: Revelations and Translations, Volume 1: Manuscript Revelation Books, September 2009
• James Patterson: The Murder of King Tut: The Plot to Kill the Child King – A Nonfiction Thriller, September 28, 2009
• Timothy Egan: The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire That Saved America, October 19, 2009
• Gil Troy, Vincent J. Cannato, eds.: Living in the Eighties, October 23, 2009
• L. Fletcher Prouty: JFK: The CIA, Vietnam, and the Plot to Assassinate John F. Kennedy, (Paperback), November 1, 2009
• Edward Kritzler: Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean: How a Generation of Swashbuckling Jews Carved Out an Empire in the New World in Their Quest for Treasure, Religious Freedom–and Revenge, (Paperback), November 3, 2009
• Anthony Haden-guest: Last Party: Studio 54, Disco, and the Culture of the Night (Paperback), December 8, 2009

DEPARTED:

• Historian William Abbot, Former Editor of George Washington Papers, Dies – UVA Today (University of Virginia) (9-3-09)
• G.M. Hiranandani: Eminent Naval historian passes away – Press Trust of India (9-3-09)
• William Wright Abbot III Obituary – DailyProgress.com (9-2-09)

POLITICAL HIGHLIGHTS:

This Week’s Political Highlights
• Political Highlights: Remembering Senator Edward (Ted) M. Kennedy, 1932-2009 HNN, 9-1-09

BIGGEST NEWS STORIES:

• It was Huckabee vs. Doug Brinkley on O’Reilly Show about Health Care Reform: Well, it’s never a mistake for a Democratic president to raise the specter of FDR and Kennedy for his base. I think the Lyndon Johnson comments gets more to the crux of the difficulty the president’s having.
  As you know, the Great Society is what Ronald Reagan warned against. In fact, I edited “Reagan’s Diaries,” and he wrote one passage that said I voted four times for FDR and the New Deal, but I’m trying to roll back the Great Society. Medicaid and Medicare came through Lyndon Johnson, but so did a lot of other government programs that people, particularly conservatives, have been trying to role back some of the wealthier state programs. So there’s a suspicion on the American people that’s been really part of entire history, but we’ve — since 1980 in the Reagan revolution, of too much government.
  And so I think the problem this summer for President Obama is that he’s pushing health care after all that economic stimulus money, and there’s kind of a woe factor going on, saying this might be too much, too fast, too expensive…. – Fox News rush transcript (8-24-09)
• Historian Betsy McCaughey battles with Jon Stewart over the Obama Health Care bill – Jon Stewart The Daily Show (8-17-09)
• Betsy McCaughey: The historian behind the claim that Obama’s in favor of death panels –
• Historian Joshua Brown, illustrator, at his website, Life During Wartime (8-15-09)

THIS WEEK IN HISTORY:

On This Day in History….

This Week in History…. August 17-23, 2009

IN THE NEWS:

• AHA defends itself from criticism from gay and labor groups – AHA website (8-28-09)
• Antony Beevor: Pacific war too raw for war historian to tackle – brisbanetimes.com.au (8-29-09)
• India seeks to highlight historians’ research – The Times of India (8-28-09)
• Jeremy Leighton John: A Data Deluge Swamps Science Historians – The Wall Street Journal (8-28-09)
• Susan Glover: Historian Housing bubble like silver rush – UPI.com (8-26-09)
• Paul Krugman at war with Niall Ferguson over inflation – Times (London) (8-23-09)
• Ambeth Ocampo: A Ghost Writer for Teodoro A. Agoncillo – Inquirer.net (8-21-09)
• Teachers learn lesson about South’s role in the American Revolution – GoUpstate.com (7-25-09)
• New Mexican government textbook ignites furor for ignoring Spanish conquest – BBC (8-25-09)
• German historians et al. sign a declaration noting Stalin’s direct involvement in the start of World War II – Gazeta Wyborcza (8-21-09)

OP-EDs & BLOGS:

• Stephen Schwartz: Examining the Associations of Tariq Ramadan – American Thinker (8-28-09)
• David Kaiser victim of Internet hoax – David Kaiser at his blog, History Unfolding (8-21-09)
• Robert Nedelkoff: Rick Perlstein’s Nixonland hypothesis as relevant as ever?” Depends who you ask. – The New Nixon (blog) (8-16-09)
• Asaf Romirowsky: Challenging Norton Mezvinsky’s Stance on Isreal – Middle East Forum (8-15-09)

REVIEWS & FIRST CHAPTERS:

• Edward M. Kennedy: Books of The Times Kennedy’s Rough Waters and Still Harbors TRUE COMPASS A Memoir – NYT, 9-4-09
• Kennedy Memoir Doesn’t Ignore Lows – NYT, 9-3-09
• Richard Slotkin: Treacherous Ground NO QUARTER The Battle of the Crater, 1864 – NYT, 8-30-09
• Richard Slotkin: NO QUARTER The Battle of the Crater, 1864, Excerpt – NYT, 8-30-09
• J. Randy Taraborrelli: Such a Sad, Sad Story THE SECRET LIFE OF MARILYN MONROE – WaPo, 8-30-09
• Arthur Goldwag: POPULAR CULTURE Hearsay, You Say? CULTS, CONSPIRACIES AND SECRET SOCIETIES The Straight Scoop on Freemasons, The Illuminati, Skull and Bones, Black Helicopters, The New World Order, and many, many more – WaPo, 8-30-09
• Erin Arvedlund, Andrew Kirtzman, Jerry Oppenheimer: Was Bernie Madoff an Evil Genius? That’s Just Half Right. TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE The Rise and Fall of Bernie Madoff, BETRAYAL The Life and Lies of Bernie Madoff, MADOFF WITH THE MONEY – WaPo, 8-30-09
• Rich Cohen: An Imagined Nation ISRAEL IS REAL – WaPo, 8-30-09
• Janet Soskice: RELIGION A Sister Act of Perseverance THE SISTERS OF SINAI How Two Lady Adventurers Discovered the Hidden Gospels – WaPo, 8-30-09
• Josh Neufeld: Graphic Memories of Katrina’s Ordeal A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge – NYT, 8-23-09
• Josh Neufeld: A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge – NYT, 8-23-09
• Tristram Hunt: Fox Hunter, Party Animal, Leftist Warrior MARX’S GENERAL The Revolutionary Life of Friedrich Engels – NYT, 8-19-09
• Tristram Hunt: MARX’S GENERAL The Revolutionary Life of Friedrich Engels, Excerpt – NYT, 8-19-09
• Adrian Goldsworthy: HISTORY Rome Wasn’t Destroyed in a Day Either HOW ROME FELL Death of a Superpower – WaPo, 8-23-09
• Adrian Goldsworthy: HOW ROME FELL Death of a Superpower, Excerpt – WaPo, 8-23-09
• Ilaria Dagnini Brey: WORLD WAR II Guardians of History THE VENUS FIXERS The Remarkable Story of the Allied Soldiers Who Saved Italy’s Art During World War II – WaPo, 8-23-09
• Peter C. Mancall: EXPLORATION Mutiny on the Hudson FATAL JOURNEY The Final Expedition of Henry Hudson — A Tale of Mutiny and Murder in the Arctic – WaPo, 8-23-09
• Marc Wortman: CIVIL WAR The Work of Sherman THE BONFIRE The Siege and Burning of Atlanta WaPo, 8-23-09
• Historian Bonnie J. Morris celebrates women’s studies in her latest book Revenge of the Women’s Studies Professor – Michelle Finn writing at the website of H-Women (8-1-09)

PROFILED & FEATURED:

• Veronica Buckley: The Puritanical French The unsexy secret of Louis XIV’s mistress The Secret Wife of Louis XIV – Slate, 8-31-09
• Manning Clark: Behind a historian’s mask: Brian Matthews takes a look into the private life of Manning Clark – theage.com.au (8-26-09)
• Darío A. Euraque: Trinity Historian Turned Cultural Guardian Standing Up To New Honduran Regime – courant.com (Hartford Courant) (8-30-09)
• Martyn Whittock looks at life in the Middle Ages – bath.co.uk (8-26-09)
• Charles “Doc” Merkel: Civilian historian headed to combat – pnj.com (8-23-09)
• Aaron Sheehan-Dean: UNF historian maps the Civil War – News Jacksonville.com (8-24-09)
• Nelson Lichtenstein: Historian’s New Book Takes hard Look at Wal-Mart The Retail Revolution: How Wal-Mart Created a Brave New World of Business – http://www.onepennysheet.com (8-24-09)
• Carl Beamer: The Air Force historian with a PhD who now runs a bookstore – Newark Advocate (Newark, Ohio) (8-24-09) )

QUOTED:

• CBS Historian Douglas Brinkley calls Ted Kennedy A ‘Martyr’ for ObamaCare: During the 2:00AM ET hour of CBS’s Up to the Minute on Wednesday, shortly after news broke of Senator Ted Kenney’s death, historian Douglas Brinkley exclaimed the Massachusetts Democrat was: “…going to be a – a martyr because of all that he’s done and he very well might help, in death, Obama get his health care plan.” MRC Newsbusters (Conservative Media Watchdog) (8-26-09)

INTERVIEWED:

• Jon Meacham interviews Sam Tanenhaus on ‘The Death of Conservatism’ – Newsweek (8-29-09)
• Matt Phillips Interviews Historian Charles Geistt: Financial Historian on The Dow as ‘Cultural Icon’ – The Wall Street Journal (blog) (8-21-09)
• Louis Masur: Historian Has A Lifelong Love Of Bruce Springsteen Hartford Courant (8-16-09)

HONORED, AWARDED &APPOINTED:

• AHA’s Arnita Jones is set to retire next year – AHA Blog (8-23-09)
• James Billington: Is a New Librarian of Congress in the Works? – LibraryJournal.com (8-3-09)

SPOTTED:

• Ron Eisenman: High school teacher grateful for the chance to attend Gilder Lehrman summer seminar – Ron Eisenman, a teacher at Rutland, Vermont’s Rutland High School (8-21-09)

EVENTS CALENDAR:

• Inaugural Semester-long seminar on Constitutional History offered at N-Y Historical Society this fall: Lincoln’s Constitution will be taught at the New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West, on Thursday afternoons from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. The seminar will be held on September 17 and 24 and on October 1, 15, 22, and 29, 2009. NYHS Press Release (7-20-09)

ON TV:

• BBC to launch new series on history of Christianity – Religious Intelligence, 6-19-09
• C-SPAN2: BOOK TV Weekend Schedule
• PBS History Detectives: Mondays at 9pm
• History Channel: Weekly Schedule
• History Channel: “Titanic’s Final Moments: Missing Pieces” – Friday, September 4, 2009 at 2pm ET/PT
• History Channel: “Cities Of The Underworld: Underground Apocalypse” – Saturday, September 5, 2009 at 2pm ET/PT
• History Channel: “Nostradamus: 500 Years Later” – Saturday, September 5, 2009 at 5pm ET/PT
• History Channel: “Decoding The Past: Doomsday 2012: The End of Days” – Saturday, September 5, 2009 at 8pm ET/PT
• History Channel: “Next Nostradamus” – Saturday, September 5, 2009 at 10pm ET/PT
• History Channel: “Nostradamus: 2012” – Sunday, September 6, 2009 at 8pm ET/PT
• History Channel: “Manson” – Monday, September 7, 2009 at 8pm ET/PT
• History Channel: “Last Stand of The 300” – Tuesday, September 8, 2009 at 2pm ET/PT
• History Channel: “Nostradamus: 2012” – Wednesday, September 9, 2009 at 2pm ET/PT
• History Channel: “Next Nostradamus” – Wednesday, September 9, 2009 at 4pm ET/PT
• History Channel: “Decoding The Past: Mayan Doomsday Prophecy” – Wednesday, September 9, 2009 at 8pm ET/PT

BEST SELLERS (NYT):

NYT Non-Fiction Best Sellers List – September 6, 2009
• #1 – Michelle Malkin: CULTURE OF CORRUPTION
• #2 – Ronald Kessler: IN THE PRESIDENT’S SECRET SERVICE
• #9 – Douglas Brinkley: THE WILDERNESS WARRIOR
• #18 – C. David Heymann: BOBBY AND JACKIE
• #22 – Dan Balz and Haynes Johnson: THE BATTLE FOR AMERICA, 2008
• #33 – Doug Stanton: HORSE SOLDIERS

COMING SOON BOOKS:

• Richard C. Hoagland: Dark Mission: The Secret History of NASA (Revised), September 1, 2009
• Douglas Hunter: Half Moon: Henry Hudson and the Voyage That Redrew the Map of the New World, September 1, 2009
• Noah Andre Trudeau: Robert E. Lee: Lessons in Leadership, September 1, 2009
• Annette Gordon-Reed: The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family (Paperback), September 8, 2009
• Jon Krakauer: Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman, September 15, 2009
• Dean C. Jessee (Editor): The Joseph Smith Papers: Revelations and Translations, Volume 1: Manuscript Revelation Books, September 2009
• James Patterson: The Murder of King Tut: The Plot to Kill the Child King – A Nonfiction Thriller, September 28, 2009
• Timothy Egan: The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire That Saved America, October 19, 2009
• Gil Troy, Vincent J. Cannato, eds.: Living in the Eighties, October 23, 2009
• L. Fletcher Prouty: JFK: The CIA, Vietnam, and the Plot to Assassinate John F. Kennedy, (Paperback), November 1, 2009
• Edward Kritzler: Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean: How a Generation of Swashbuckling Jews Carved Out an Empire in the New World in Their Quest for Treasure, Religious Freedom–and Revenge, (Paperback), November 3, 2009
• Anthony Haden-guest: Last Party: Studio 54, Disco, and the Culture of the Night (Paperback), December 8, 2009

DEPARTED:

• Richard Poirier: A founder of Library of America, Dies at 83 – NYT (8-18-09)
• Dr Geraint Jenkins: Renowned historian mourned – Tivy-Side Advertiser (8-17-09)

POLITICAL HIGHLIGHTS:

This Week’s Political Highlights

BIGGEST NEWS STORIES:

• Henry L. Gates,Jr. 911 call: Witness not sure she sees crime: – AP, 7-27-09
• Obama Tries to Move Past Gates Furor: – WSJ, 7-26-09
• Obama, Gates and the American Black Man: NYT, 7-25-09
• Gates Says ‘Yes’ to Beer With Crowley: It was very kind of the President to phone me today. Vernon Jordan is absolutely correct: my unfortunate experience will only have a larger meaning if we can all use this to diminish racial profiling and to enhance fairness and equity in the criminal justice system for poor people and for people of color…. – Henry Louis Gates in The Root (edited by Henry Louis Gates) (7-24-09)
• Black males’ fear of racial profiling very real, regardless of class– LAT, 7-24-09
• Case Recalls Tightrope Blacks Walk With Police – NYT, 7-23-09
• Obama doesn’t regret ‘acted stupidly’ remark about Henry Gates Jr. arrest– NY Daily News, 7-23-09
• Cop who arrested black scholar is profiling expert– AP, 7-23-09
• Police Chief Responds to Obama’s Remarks – WSJ, 7-23-09
• “The good news about the Henry Louis Gates fiasco” – James Hannaham at Salon.com, 7-22-09
• Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and the Police in “Post-Racial” America – Brandon M. Terry at the Huffington Post, 7-22-09
• If it can happen to Skip Gates….– Inside Higher Ed, 7-22-09
• Skip Gates and the Post-Racial Project: – Melissa Harris-Lacewell in The Nation, 7-21-09
• The Root Editor-in-Chief Henry Louis Gates Jr. talks about his arrest and the outrage of racial profiling in America: I’m saying ‘You need to send someone to fix my lock.’ All of a sudden, there was a policeman on my porch. And I thought, ‘This is strange.’ So I went over to the front porch still holding the phone, and I said ‘Officer, can I help you?’ And he said, ‘Would you step outside onto the porch.’ And the way he said it, I knew he wasn’t canvassing for the police benevolent association. All the hairs stood up on the back of my neck, and I realized that I was in danger. And I said to him no, out of instinct. I said, ‘No, I will not.’…. – Henry Louis Gates Jr. in The Root, 7-21-09
• Police Drop Charges Against Black Scholar– WSJ, 7-21-09
• Gates chastises officer after authorities agree to drop criminal charge: “I believe the police officer should apologize to me for what he knows he did that was wrong,” Gates said in a phone interview from his other home in Martha’s Vineyard. “If he apologizes sincerely, I am willing to forgive him. And if he admits his error, I am willing to educate him about the history of racism in America and the issue of racial profiling … That’s what I do for a living.”… – Boston Globe, 7-21-09
• Henry Louis Gates Jr. Arrested – NYT, 7-21-09
• Black scholar’s arrest raises profiling questions – AP, 7-21-09
• Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. arrested outside his home, calls Cambridge police ‘racist’ – NY Daily News, 7-21-09
• Henry Louis Gates, Jr.: Harvard professor arrested, racism accusations – AFP, 7-20-09

THIS WEEK IN HISTORY:

On This Day in History….

This Week in History…. July 27-August 2, 2009

• 10 Reasons Why Apollo 11 Moon Landing Was Awesome: Yesterday marked the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. Forty years ago mission commander Neil A. Armstrong and lunar module pilot Edwin Eugene ‘Buzz’ Aldrin, Jr. walked on the moon while command module pilot Michael Collins orbited above. Today however, marks the 40th anniversary of the day people really reacted to what just happened. As with all major events in time, there is always a day of reflection…. – Wired, 7-21-09

IN THE NEWS:

• Teaching American History Grants Funding In Jeopardy – Lee White at the website of the National Coalition for History (NCH) (7-24-09)
• Dr. Rafael Medoff: Historians Join Other Holocaust Scholars in Praising Uganda’s Darfur Arrest Threat: …We salute Uganda for making it clear that Bashir is not welcome, and we hope other countries will follow Uganda’s lead. Strong international action is necessary to end the Darfur genocide and bring the murderers to justice. The International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for Bashir must be implemented. – Press –Wyman Institute (7-24-09)
• State Dept Offers New Caveat on Nixon Tapes: The transcripts of Nixon White House tape recordings that are published in the State Department’s official Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS) series are merely “interpretations,” not official records, the State Department acknowledged in the latest FRUS volume that was released this month. As such, those transcripts are susceptible to revision and correction. Secrecy News, written by Steven Aftergood, is published by the Federation of American Scientists (7-20-09)
• Tariq Ramadan … Scholar’s Visa Denial Suit Revived – Inside Higher Ed (7-20-09)

OP-EDs & BLOGS:

• Melody Rod-Ari: NYT features op ed by art history grad student worried about her future in a bad economy University of California, Los Angeles My ‘Irrelevant’ Field, the Humanities – NYT, 7-26-09
• Trevor Griffey: Fed-up historian offers a citizen’s guide for FOIA requests to the FBI – Trevor Griffey, PhD Candidate University of Washington, at his blog (7-22-09)
• Daniel Pipes: Believes Iraq will become Obama’s Vietnam – Daniel Pipes at his blog (7-19-09)

REVIEWS & FIRST CHAPTERS:

• James MacGregor Burns: Judicial Roulette PACKING THE COURT The Rise of Judicial Power and the Coming Crisis of the Supreme Court – NYT, 7-26-09
• James MacGregor Burns: PACKING THE COURT The Rise of Judicial Power and the Coming Crisis of the Supreme Court , Excerpt – NYT, 7-26-09
• Rich Cohen: A Land and a People ISRAEL IS REAL An Obsessive Quest to Understand the Jewish Nation and Its History – NYT, 7-26-09
• Allis Radosh and Ronald Radosh: Zionist in the White House A SAFE HAVEN Harry S. Truman and the Founding of Israel – NYT, 7-26-09
• Richard Brookhiser: MEMOIR Conservatively Speaking RIGHT TIME, RIGHT PLACE Coming of Age with William F. Buckley Jr. and the Conservative Movement – WaPo, 7-26-09
• Bradley Graham: MILITARY HISTORY A Warrior Fighting the Wrong War BY HIS OWN RULES The Ambitions, Successes and Ultimate Failures of Donald Rumsfeld – WaPo, 7-26-09
• Art Historian Anthony Blunt: Memoirs of British Spy Offer No Apology – NYT (7-23-09)

PROFILED & FEATURED:

• Andrew Roberts: The history man who loves to party – U.tv.news (7-26-09)
• Ehud Netzer: An Israeli archaeologist is certain he has solved the mystery of the biblical figure’s final resting place – Barbara Kreiger in Smithsonian Magazine (7-1-09)

QUOTED:

• Guy Walters: Journalist–author of WW II history books–accuses Simon Wiesenthal of fabricating much of his own Holocaust story – The London Times (excerpted from his new book: Hunting Evil), 7-18-09

INTERVIEWED:

• Reinhard Siegmund-Schultze: Historian discusses new book on an academic exodus that saved lives and changed mathematics Mathematicians Fleeing from Nazi Germany: Individual Fates and Global Impact Inside Higher Ed (7-27-09)
• Robin Hood Discovery: An Interview with Julian Luxford – www.medievalists.net, 3-25-09

HONORED, AWARDED &APPOINTED:

• Marvin Dunn: Historian digs for stories of black settlement and its massacre (Rosewood) – Miami Herald (7-24-09)

SPOTTED:

• Conservative dismisses the historians who met with Obama as lefties – American Conservative Daily (7-21-09)

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

• Medieval battle records go online BBC (7-20-09)

EVENTS CALENDAR:

• Woodrow Wilson Center Holding Summer Institutes for High School Teachers: U.S. and the Cold War: THE UNITED STATES AND THE COLD WAR July 26-July 31, 2009 – Press Release (7-25-09)
• Woodrow Wilson Center Holding Summer Institutes for High School Teachers: U.S.-China Relations U.S.-China Relations July 26-July 31, 2009 – Press Release (7-25-09)
• August 1, 2009: An Evening with Ken Burns: Kens Burns has been making documentary films for more than 30 years. Since the Academy Award-nominated Brooklyn Bridge in 1981, he has gone on to direct and produce some of the most acclaimed historical documentaries ever made. The late historian Stephen Ambrose said of Burns’ films, “More Americans get their history from Ken Burns than any other source.” This evening will afford Chautauqua an opportunity to hear one of the most influential documentary makers of all time. Chautauqua Institutition. For more info 716-357-6200. – Jamestown Post-Journal, 5-21-09
• Inaugural Semester-long seminar on Constitutional History offered at N-Y Historical Society this fall: Lincoln’s Constitution will be taught at the New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West, on Thursday afternoons from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. The seminar will be held on September 17 and 24 and on October 1, 15, 22, and 29, 2009. NYHS Press Release (7-20-09)

ON TV:

• BBC to launch new series on history of Christianity – Religious Intelligence, 6-19-09
• C-SPAN2: BOOK TV Weekend Schedule
• PBS History Detectives: Mondays at 9pm
• History Channel: Weekly Schedule
• History Channel: “Hippies” – Monday, July 27, 2009 at 2pm ET/PT
• History Channel: “Sex in ’69: Sexual Revolution in America” – Monday, July 27, 2009 at 9pm ET/PT
• History Channel: “Return of the Pirates” – Tuesday, July 28, 2009 at 2pm ET/PT
• History Channel: “Life After People & That’s Impossible: Eternal Life” – Tuesday, July 28, 2009 at 8pm ET/PT
• History Channel: “Moonshot” – Saturday, August 1, 2009 at 8pm ET/PT
• History Channel: “Art of War” – Saturday, August 1, 2009 at 8pm ET/PT

BEST SELLERS (NYT):

NYT Non-Fiction Best Sellers List – August 2, 2009
• #6 – Doug Stanton: HORSE SOLDIERS
• #8 – C. David Heymann: BOBBY AND JACKIE
• #16 – Craig Nelson: ROCKET MEN
• #24 – Richard Wolffe: RENEGADE
• #25 – Larry Tye: SATCHEL

COMING SOON BOOKS:

• Gil Troy: Reagan Revolution : A Very Short Introduction, July 30, 2009
• Constance Rosenblum: Boulevard of Dreams: Heady Times, Heartbreak, and Hope along the Grand Concourse in the Bronx, August 1, 2009
• David Freeland: Automats, Taxi Dances, and Vaudeville: Excavating Manhattans Lost Places of Leisure, August 1, 2009
• William A. DeGregorio: The Complete Book of U.S. Presidents, Seventh Edition, August 15, 2009
• Brooks D. Simpson: The Reconstruction Presidents (Paperback), August 18, 2009
• Richard C. Hoagland: Dark Mission: The Secret History of NASA (Revised), September 1, 2009
• Douglas Hunter: Half Moon: Henry Hudson and the Voyage That Redrew the Map of the New World, September 1, 2009
• Noah Andre Trudeau: Robert E. Lee: Lessons in Leadership, September 1, 2009
• Annette Gordon-Reed: The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family (Paperback), September 8, 2009
• Jon Krakauer: Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman, September 15, 2009
• Dean C. Jessee (Editor): The Joseph Smith Papers: Revelations and Translations, Volume 1: Manuscript Revelation Books, September 2009
• James Patterson: The Murder of King Tut: The Plot to Kill the Child King – A Nonfiction Thriller, September 28, 2009
• Timothy Egan: The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire That Saved America, October 19, 2009
• Gil Troy, Vincent J. Cannato, eds.: Living in the Eighties, October 23, 2009
• L. Fletcher Prouty: JFK: The CIA, Vietnam, and the Plot to Assassinate John F. Kennedy, (Paperback), November 1, 2009
• Edward Kritzler: Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean: How a Generation of Swashbuckling Jews Carved Out an Empire in the New World in Their Quest for Treasure, Religious Freedom–and Revenge, (Paperback), November 3, 2009
• Anthony Haden-guest: Last Party: Studio 54, Disco, and the Culture of the Night (Paperback), December 8, 2009

DEPARTED:

• Lionel Casson: Who Wrote of Ancient Maritime History, Dies at 94 – NYT (7-24-09)

POLITICAL HIGHLIGHTS:

This Week’s Political Highlights

BIGGEST NEWS STORIES:

• Walter Cronkite, longtime CBS anchorman, dies at 92 LAT, 7-17-09
• Walter Cronkite, Voice of TV News, Dies – NYT, 7-18-09
• An Appraisal ‘Cronkite’ Meant the News NYT, 7-18-09
• 28 Years After Retirement, Anchorman Goes Off the Air – NYT, 7-19-09
• Walter Cronkite ‘told the story of space’ – USA Today, 7-19-09

THIS WEEK IN HISTORY:

On This Day in History….

This Week in History…. July 20-26, 2009

IN THE NEWS:

• James Carafano: A national historian for US government? – Source: Federal News Radio (7-13-09)
• Rick Perlstein attacked by O’Reilly on Fox as a far left activist YouTube video (7-14-09)

OP-EDs & BLOGS:

• Julian E. Zelizer: What Jimmy Carter had right: On July 15, 1979, President Jimmy Carter delivered one of the more controversial speeches in recent presidential history. When Carter delivered what would come to be known as the “malaise” speech America was in bad condition. Inflation was devastating the economy. Unemployment rates were high. OPEC had increased oil prices several times within a few months. With his re-election on the horizon, Carter watched his approval ratings plummet to below 30 percent…. – Politico, 7-15-09

REVIEWS & FIRST CHAPTERS:

• Craig Nelson: Apollo 11’s Bright Glare ROCKET MEN The Epic Story Of the First Men On the Moon – WaPo, 7-19-09
• Hobson Woodward: Shakespeare’s Storm A BRAVE VESSEL The True Tale of the Castaways Who Rescued Jamestown . . . – WaPo, 7-19-09
• Lynn Hudson Parsons: Power to (Some of) the People THE BIRTH OF MODERN POLITICS Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams and the Election of 1828 – WaPo, 7-19-09
• Thomas Levenson: HISTORY A New Newton NEWTON AND THE COUNTERFEITER The Unknown Detective Career of the World’s Greatest Scientist – WaPo, 7-19-09
• Martha A. Sandweiss on W. Ralph Eubanks: The Family That Rejected Jim Crow THE HOUSE AT THE END OF THE ROAD The Story of Three Generations of An Interracial Family in the American South – WaPo, 7-19-09
• Greg Grandin: UTOPIAS Welcome to the Jungle FORDLANDIA The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford’s Forgotten Jungle City – WaPo, 7-19-09
• Richard Holmes: Science and the Sublime THE AGE OF WONDER How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science – NYT, 7-19-09
• Richard Holmes: THE AGE OF WONDER How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science, Excerpt – NYT, 7-19-09
• David Kennedy on Margaret MacMillan: What History Is Good For DANGEROUS GAMES The Uses and Abuses of History – NYT, 7-19-09
• Margaret MacMillan: DANGEROUS GAMES The Uses and Abuses of History, Excerpt – NYT, 7-19-09
• Greg Grandin: Dearborn-on-Amazon FORDLANDIA The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford’s Forgotten Jungle City – NYT, 7-19-09
• Greg Grandin: FORDLANDIA The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford’s Forgotten Jungle City, Excerpt – 7-19-09
• Alistair Horne: Got Your Back KISSINGER 1973, the Crucial Year – NYT, 7-19-09
• Alistair Horne: KISSINGER 1973, the Crucial Year – NYT, 7-19-09
• Larry Tye: A Fastball Wrapped in a Riddle SATCHEL The Life and Times of an American Legend – NYT, 7-19-09
• Larry Tye: SATCHEL The Life and Times of an American Legend – NYT, 7-19-09
• James Gavin: No Prisoner of Love STORMY WEATHER The Life of Lena Horne – NYT, 7-19-09
• James Gavin: STORMY WEATHER The Life of Lena Horne, Excerpt – NYT, 7-19-09
• Jackson Lears continues his search for the origin of our times – John Summers in Book Forum (7-17-09)

PROFILED & FEATURED:

• David McCullough: Next book is about Americans who headed to Paris – http://www.mvgazette.com (7-14-09)

QUOTED:

• David Garrow “At 100, NAACP debates its role”: David Garrow, a civil rights historian, says there has been a shift from the traditional notion of black civil rights because of steady growth in black civic participation and decline of civil-rights-era protest groups…. – Chicago Tribune, 7-13-09
• One Step Was Plenty First Man to Walk on the Moon Stoically Backpedals on Earth: Forty years ago today, Neil Armstrong became the most famous man on the planet by taking a short walk off of it. Since then he’s tried to live with that fact, and also live it down. – WaPo, 7-19-09

INTERVIEWED:

• Charles W. Eagles: Author discusses new book on James Meredith and his battle to enroll at the University of Mississippi The Price of Defiance: James Meredith and the Integration of Ole Miss – Inside Higher Ed (7-14-09)

HONORED, AWARDED &APPOINTED:

• Jonathan Brent: Former editorial director of Yale University Press and general editor of its celebrated Annals of Communism series is now in charge of one of the world’s most important archives of Jewish life – Chronicle of Higher Ed (7-15-09)

EVENTS CALENDAR:

• August 1, 2009: An Evening with Ken Burns: Kens Burns has been making documentary films for more than 30 years. Since the Academy Award-nominated Brooklyn Bridge in 1981, he has gone on to direct and produce some of the most acclaimed historical documentaries ever made. The late historian Stephen Ambrose said of Burns’ films, “More Americans get their history from Ken Burns than any other source.” This evening will afford Chautauqua an opportunity to hear one of the most influential documentary makers of all time. Chautauqua Institutition. For more info 716-357-6200. – Jamestown Post-Journal, 5-21-09

ON TV:

• BBC to launch new series on history of Christianity – Religious Intelligence, 6-19-09
• C-SPAN2: BOOK TV Weekend Schedule
• PBS History Detectives: Mondays at 9pm
• History Channel: Weekly Schedule
• History Channel: “Beyond the Moon: Failure Is Not an Option 2” – Monday, July 20, 2009 at 2pm ET/PT
• History Channel: Apollo 11 Specials – Monday, July 20, 2009 at 4-11pm ET/PT
• History Channel: “Live from ’69: Moon Landing” – Monday, July 20, 2009 at 8:30pm ET/PT
• History Channel: “Moonshot” – Monday, July 20, 2009 at 9pm ET/PT
• History Channel: “Last Days on Earth” – Tuesday, July 21, 2009 at 8pm ET/PT
• History Channel: “Journey to 10,000 BC” – Wednesday, July 22, 2009 at 2pm ET/PT
• History Channel: “Mega Disasters: New York City Hurricane” – Wednesday, July 22, 2009 at 6pm ET/PT
• History Channel: “Mega Disasters: San Francisco Earthquake” – Friday, July 24, 2009 at 2pm ET/PT
• History Channel: “Cities Of The Underworld” Marathon – Friday, July 24, 2009 at 4-6pm ET/PT
• History Channel: “Stealing Lincoln’s Body” – Friday, July 24, 2009 at 9pm ET/PT
• History Channel: “Ancient Aliens” – Saturday, July 25, 2009 at 8pm ET/PT

BEST SELLERS (NYT):

NYT Non-Fiction Best Sellers List – July 26, 2009
• #4 – Doug Stanton: HORSE SOLDIERS
• #15 – Richard Wolffe: RENEGADE
• #19 – Larry Tye: SATCHEL
• #27 – Craig Nelson: ROCKET MEN

COMING SOON BOOKS:

• Buzz Aldrin: Magnificent Desolation: The Long Journey Home from the Moon, July 23, 2009
• Alice Morse Earle: Child Life in Colonial Times (Paperback), July 23, 2009
• William A. DeGregorio: The Complete Book of U.S. Presidents, Seventh Edition, August 15, 2009
• Douglas Hunter: Half Moon: Henry Hudson and the Voyage That Redrew the Map of the New World, September 1, 2009
• Annette Gordon-Reed: The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family (Paperback), September 8, 2009
• Jon Krakauer: Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman, September 15, 2009

DEPARTED:

• Civil War historian Kenneth Stampp dies at 96 – HNN, 7-13-09

POLITICAL HIGHLIGHTS:

This Week’s Political Highlights

BIGGEST NEWS STORIES:

• Obama’s Secret Meeting With Historians: The president held a dinner at the White House for leading presidential scholars
  Obama held a dinner at the White House residence with nine such scholars on June 30, and it turned out to be what one participant described as a “history book club, with the president as the inquisitor.” Among those attending were Michael Beschloss, H. W. Brands, Douglas Brinkley, Robert Dallek, and Doris Kearns Goodwin. Obama asked the guests to discuss the presidencies that they were most familiar with and to give him insights into what remains relevant to the problems of today. – Kenneth T. Walsh in US News & World Report (7-10-09)

THIS WEEK IN HISTORY:

On This Day in History….

This Week in History…. July 13-19, 2009

IN THE NEWS:

• Antony Beevor and Saul David: Historians furious as Kew archives are ‘dumbed down’ – Independent Institute website (7-12-09)
• James Watson and John Crawford:Historians: New Zealand was soft on Hitler – Waikato Times (7-11-09)
• Office of the Historian: Bureau of Public Affairs Release of Foreign Relations, 1969-1976, Volume E-10, Documents on the American Republics, 1969-1972 – Press Release–Office of the Historian (State Dept.) (7-10-09)
• Louisiana State U. Press Will Not Close, Director Says – Chronicle of Higher Ed (7-10-09)
• Campus Watch says Middle East Studies profs have turned on Iran – Cinnamon Stillwell at the website of Campus Watch (7-10-09)
• Luke Nichter, the Texas A&M professor runs Nixontapes.org: Watergate Figure John Dean Threatens to Sue Historian Over Damaging Tape Recordings – Fox News (7-10-09)

OP-EDs & BLOGS:

• Lisa Keller: Recounts her brief encounter with Robert McNamara – Lisa Keller: Special to HNN (7-7-09)
• Eric Alterman: “Me and MJ” (Michael Jackson) – Eric Alterman at his blog, Altercation (7-2-09)

REVIEWS & FIRST CHAPTERS:

• Kevin Mattson: Thirty Years Later, in Praise of Malaise WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU UP TO, MR. PRESIDENT? Jimmy Carter, America’s “Malaise,” and the Speech That Should Have Changed the Country – WaPo, 7-12-09
• Shaun A. Casey: RELIGION AND POLITICS Faith in the Electorate THE MAKING OF A CATHOLIC PRESIDENT Kennedy vs. Nixon 1960 WaPo, 7-12-09
• Richard Wrangham & Tom Standage: Cooking Up a Pot of Civilization CATCHING FIRE How Cooking Made Us Human, AN EDIBLE HISTORY OF HUMANITY – WaPo, 7-12-09
• Tom Standage: AN EDIBLE HISTORY OF HUMANITY Chapter One THE INVENTION OF FARMING – WaPo, 7-12-09
• Margaret MacMillan: Getting History Right DANGEROUS GAMES The Uses and Abuses of History – WaPo, 7-12-09
• James Scott: HISTORY Misguided Missiles THE ATTACK ON THE LIBERTY The Untold Story of Israel’s Deadly 1967 Assault on a U.S. Spy Ship – WaPo, 7-12-09
• Larry Tye: BIOGRAPHY ‘No Man Got to Be Common’ SATCHEL The Life and Times of an American Legend – WaPo, 7-12-09
• Larry Tye: SATCHEL The Life and Times of an American Legend Chapter One Coming Alive – WaPo, 7-12-09
• Gavin Mortimer: HISTORY The Wright Stuff CHASING ICARUS The Seventeen Days in 1910 That Forever Changed American Aviation – WaPo, 7-12-09
• Craig Nelson, Andrew Chaikin with Victoria Kohl: Giant Step, Full Stop ROCKET MEN The Epic Story of the First Men on the Moon, VOICES FROM THE MOON Apollo Astronauts Describe Their Lunar Experiences – NYT, 7-8-09
• Craig Nelson: ROCKET MEN The Epic Story of the First Men on the Moon, Chapter Seven A Way to Talk to God – NYT, 7-8-09
• Elijah Wald: Roll Over, John Lennon HOW THE BEATLES DESTROYED ROCK ‘N’ ROLL An Alternative History of American Popular Music – NYT, 7-10-09
• James MacGregor Burns: New Book on Supreme Court by Historian Packing the Court: The Rise of Judicial Power and the Coming Crisis of the Supreme Court – iberkshires.com (7-6-09)
• James MacGregor Burns says Supremes Really Govern America Packing the Court: The Rise of Judicial Power and the Coming Crisis of the Supreme Court – MICHIKO KAKUTANI in the NYT (7-6-09)

PROFILED & FEATURED:

• Duane Allan Smith: Colorado historian publishes book No. 50 – Denver Post (7-12-09)
• Peter S. Onuf, Edward L. Ayers, Brian Balogh: History Radio Show: Drive-Time History, With a Dry Sense of Humor – Chronicle of Higher Ed (7-13-09)
• John G. Sperling: How a history professor became the pioneer of the for-profit revolution, University of Pheonix – Chronicle of Higher Ed (7-10-09)
• What economists need to learn from Niall Ferguson – Robert J. Samuelson in WaPo (7-6-09)
• William Appleman Williams … still remembered – Greg Grandin in The Nation (7-1-09)

QUOTED:

• Howard Zinn: Historian Responds To Robert S. McNamara’s Death, Calls Him A “War Criminal” talkradionews.com (7-6-09)

INTERVIEWED:

• Immanuel Ness: You Say You Want a Reference Book About Revolution? The International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest, 1500 to the Present – Inside Higher Ed (7-8-09)
• Michael Oren: Israeli Ambassador in conversation with Jeffrey Goldberg (video) –
  youtube.com (7-2-09)

SPOTTED:

• Top Historians Dissect “The Bush-Cheney Years” – Press Release–Historians Against the War (7-6-09)

EVENTS CALENDAR:

• August 1, 2009: An Evening with Ken Burns: Kens Burns has been making documentary films for more than 30 years. Since the Academy Award-nominated Brooklyn Bridge in 1981, he has gone on to direct and produce some of the most acclaimed historical documentaries ever made. The late historian Stephen Ambrose said of Burns’ films, “More Americans get their history from Ken Burns than any other source.” This evening will afford Chautauqua an opportunity to hear one of the most influential documentary makers of all time. Chautauqua Institutition. For more info 716-357-6200. – Jamestown Post-Journal, 5-21-09

ON TV:

• Niall Ferguson: The Ascent of Money Brings The Economic Crisis Down to Earth on PBS each Wednesday in July – About.com, 6-29-09
• BBC to launch new series on history of Christianity – Religious Intelligence, 6-19-09
• C-SPAN2: BOOK TV Weekend Schedule
• PBS History Detectives: Mondays at 9pm
• History Channel: Weekly Schedule
• History Channel: “The Exodus Decoded” – Tuesday, July 14, 2009 at 2pm ET/PT
• History Channel: “Mega Disasters: San Francisco Earthquake” – Tuesday, July 14, 2009 at 6pm ET/PT
• History Channel: “Cities Of The Underworld: New York: Secret Societies” – Tuesday, July 14, 2009 at 8pm ET/PT
• History Channel: “The Antichrist” – Wednesday, July 15, 2009 at 2pm ET/PT
• History Channel: “Angels: Good or Evil” – Wednesday, July 15, 2009 at 4pm ET/PT
• History Channel: “Lost Worlds: The Real Dracula” – Wednesday, July 15, 2009 at 6pm ET/PT
• History Channel: “True Story of the Bridge on the River Kwai” – Thursday, July 16, 2009 at 2pm ET/PT
• History Channel: “The Lost Pyramid” – Friday, July 17, 2009 at 2pm ET/PT
• History Channel: “UFO Files: The Pacific Bermuda Triangle” – Friday, July 17, 2009 at 8pm ET/PT
• History Channel: “Kennedys: The Curse of Power” – Saturday, July 18, 2009 at 8pm ET/PT
• History Channel: “The Kennedy Assassination: Beyond Conspiracy” – Saturday, July 18, 2009 at 10pm ET/PT

BEST SELLERS (NYT):

NYT Non-Fiction Best Sellers List – July 19, 2009
• #4 – Doug Stanton: HORSE SOLDIERS
• #7 – Richard Wolffe: RENEGADE
• #19 – Larry Tye: SATCHEL

COMING SOON BOOKS:

• Roger S. Bagnall: Oxford Handbook of Papyrology, July 14, 2009
• David Maraniss: Rome 1960: The Summer Olympics That Stirred the World (Reprint), July 14, 2009
• Buzz Aldrin: Magnificent Desolation: The Long Journey Home from the Moon, July 23, 2009
• Alice Morse Earle: Child Life in Colonial Times (Paperback), July 23, 2009
• William A. DeGregorio: The Complete Book of U.S. Presidents, Seventh Edition, August 15, 2009
• Douglas Hunter: Half Moon: Henry Hudson and the Voyage That Redrew the Map of the New World, September 1, 2009
• Annette Gordon-Reed: The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family (Paperback), September 8, 2009
• Jon Krakauer: Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman, September 15, 2009

DEPARTED:

• Bela Kiraly, 1912-2009 – Ralph Luker at HNN blog, Cliopatria (7-8-09)
• William Marina R.I.P. – David Beito at HNN blog, Liberty & Power (7-7-09)