Roundup: Talking About History

December 21, 2004

Re: C.A. Tripp's New Book Claiming Lincoln Was Gay (London Times)

John Harlow, in the London Times (12-19-04):A BIOGRAPHY which claims that President Abraham Lincoln was homosexual has provoked fierce criticism and prompted complaints that attempts to “out” historical figures have gone too far. The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln, to be published by Simon & Schuster next month, says that the president who won the American civil war and ended slavery had affairs wit

December 21, 2004

Larry Kramer Claims to Have Discovered a Diary Proving Lincoln Was Gay

Carol Lloyd, in Salon (5-3-99): [Editor's Note: In 1999 Larry Kramer, the AIDS activist and writer, claimed to have come into the possession of a secret diary by Joshua Speed that proved that Speed and Lincoln were lovers. Speed and Lincoln shared the same bed for four years when they were living on the frontier. Both were in their twenties.]... Kramer doesn't pretend to be a Lincoln scholar or eve

December 20, 2004

Re: C.A. Tripp's New Book Claiming Lincoln Was Gay (Washington Blade)

Joe Crea, in the Washington Blade (11-5-04): Resurrecting a four-decade old debate questioning the sexual orientation of President Abraham Lincoln, a new book asserts — based largely on circumstantial evidence — that the 16th president was gay. “The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln,” written by the late Dr. C.A. Tripp, is slated for publication early next year according t

December 20, 2004

Re: C.A. Tripp's New Book Claiming Lincoln Was Gay (Discovery News)

Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News (12-8-04): A forthcoming book claims that the sixteenth president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, was a homosexual, based on evidence ranging from a post-assassination interview with Lincoln's stepmother to a poem about gay marriage written by the Civil War leader. The book, entitled "The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln," will be published

December 20, 2004

Re: C.A. Tripp's New Book Claiming Lincoln Was Gay (LA Weekly)

Doug Ireland, in LA Weekly (Oct. 29-Nov. 4, 2004):If the loving heart of the Great Emancipator found its natural amorous passions overwhelmingly directed toward those of his own sex, it would certainly be a stunning rebuke to the Republican Party’s scapegoating of same-sex love for electoral purposes. And a forthcoming book by the late Dr. C.A. Tripp — The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln, t

December 18, 2004

An Interview with Roger Kimball ... The Rape of the Masters: How Political Correctness Sabotages Art

An interview with Roger Kimball, author of the new book, The Rape of the Masters: How Political Correctness Sabotages Art, at frontpagemag.com (Dec. 16, 2004): [Mr. Kimball is managing editor of The New Criterion. He was interviewed by Jamie Glazov.]FP: Mr. Kimball, welcome to Frontpage Interview. It is a pleasure to have you here. Kimball: It is a pleasure to be with you. FP: First thin

December 18, 2004

The Political Calculations of Richard Nixon that Lay Behind the First King Tut Visit

Thomas Hoving, in a letter to the editor of the NYT (12-17-04):[The writer was director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1967-77. ] The first Tutankhamun exhibition of 1976-79 was hatched for political reasons and to make money. It was Richard M. Nixon's idea to show America that Egypt was a friend. The Metropolitan Museum of Art was asked by Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger to choose the pieces and organize the six-city show. From the start, the presiden

December 18, 2004

How the Descendants of Burr Are Trying to Get Respect

Matthew Continetti, in the Weekly Standard (12-13-04): "LOOK AT THIS," said Antonio Burr. "Look at what they're selling." Standing in the gift shop of the New-York Historical Society on Manhattan's Upper West Side, Burr held a magnet to the light. On it were portraits of his ancestor Aaron Burr, the third vice president of the United States, and Alexander Hamilton, the first secretary of the treasury, whom Vice President Burr killed in a duel 200 years ago.

December 18, 2004

Russia's Refusal to Face Its Past

Duncan Currie, in the Weekly Standard (12-17-04):[Duncan Currie is an editorial assistant at The Weekly Standard.]THE GHOSTS OF 1917 have not been laid to rest." That's how Orlando Figes closed A People's Tragedy, his magisterial history of the Russian Revolution. Figes was writing in the mid-1990s, at a time when the success of democracy in ex-Soviet bloc nations did not

December 17, 2004

Turkey Will Not Apologize For Armenian Genocide

Anthony Browne, The Times (London), 12/15/04 Turkey has reacted angrily to a demand by France that it accept responsibility for a"genocide" against Armenians nearly 80 years ago, which is thought to have influenced the Nazi Holocaust. Michel Barnier, the French Foreign Minister, insisted that Turkey must officially recognise the 1915 genocide before it joins the European Union. Historians believe that Turkish authorities orchestrated the killing of

December 17, 2004

History Demands Merger Of Scotland's Regiments

Ewen Macaskill, The Guardian (London), 12/16/04 Old soldiers, and serving ones, have been campaigning hard in Scotland to save Scottish regiments from merger. An announcement is expected from Geoff Hoon, the defence secretary, today. The campaign has been vigorously supported by much of the media in Scotland, recalling regimental histories going back to the 18th century. Typical is the columnist Magnus Linklater:"Merely reciting their names: Black Watch, Argyll a

December 17, 2004

An Historical Look At War-time Inaugurations

Neely Tucker, The Washington Post, 12/13/04 The inauguration fell during a time of war and national turmoil. Soldiers were dying in a shadowy conflict half a world away. The televised images were horrific. The election had been bitter, nasty and close. Protesters clamored that American soldiers, some of them accused of atrocities, should come home. So when the president delivered his inaugural speech, he set out a theme of peace, harmony and vision

December 17, 2004

Pamphlets From British Civil War Era Reveal World Of Fear

Louise Jury, The Independent (London), 12/13/04 Samuel Pepys may have been the best-known chronicler of the 17th century but he was not the only one. The passionate views of others affected by the turbulent events of the Civil War are revealed in more than 900 pamphlets being given to the British Library today. Bound into 17 giant volumes by their unknown owner or owners, they were effectively the beginnings of the popular press in Britain and document the turmoi

December 16, 2004

NYT: Was Lincoln Gay? New Controversy

Dinitia Smith, in the NYT (12-16-04):Was Abraham Lincoln a gay American? The subject of the 16th president's sexuality has been debated among scholars for years. They cite his troubled marriage to Mary Todd and his youthful friendship with Joshua Speed, who shared his bed for four years. Now, in a new book, C. A. Tripp also asserts that Lincoln had a homosexual relationship with the ca

December 15, 2004

Israel's Attack on Osiraq: A Model for Future Preventive Strikes?

Peter S. Ford, excerpts from "Israel's Attack on Osiraq: A Model for Future Preventive Strikes?" Naval Postgraduate School Masters Thesis (September 2004): Twenty-three years ago, Israeli fighter pilots destroyed the Osiraq nuclear reactor and made a profound statement about global nuclear proliferation. In light of the recent preventive regime change in Iraq, a review of this strike reveals timely lessons for future coun

December 14, 2004

What Historians Can Learn from Anthropology

Kunal Parker, in Rednovanews (12-11-04): [Kunal Parker is Associate Professor of Law, Cleveland State University.]Anthropologists have long sought to establish a relationship to the discipline of history. In the United States, this effort may be traced at least as far back as the work of A. L. Kroeber (1966). However, with the explosion of interest in colonialism that gripped the U.S. academy in the 1980s and 1990s,

December 13, 2004

Francis X. Clines: Disneyfing History at the Lincoln and Washington Museums

Francis X. Clines, in the NYT (12-12-04)John Wilkes Booth, skulking by the bushes outside the faux White House, will be the first test of true Lincoln buffs visiting the grand new Lincoln museum that opens this April in Springfield, Ill. How many will resist darting over immediately to leer at the assassin's lifelike figure rather than pausing thoughtfully at Lincoln's rustic beginnings at

December 11, 2004

Steve Hindle: Renaissance Lasted Longer Than Previously Thought

Chris Arnot, The Guardian (London), 12/07/04 We tend to think of the Renaissance as a movement confined to a European intellectual elite during the 15th and 16th centuries. Wrong on all counts, according to Professor Steve Hindle, who is to be a leading figure in a research project linking Warwick University with the Newberry Library in Chicago. Over three years, British and American historians, classicists and linguists will seek to re-examine the social depth, the geographi

December 11, 2004

Jonathan Chait: Why Academia Shuns Republicans

Jonathan Chait, in the LAT (12-10-04): A few weeks ago, a pair of studies found that Democrats vastly outnumbered Republicans among professors at leading universities. Conservatives gleefully seized upon this to once again flagellate academia for its liberal bias.Am I the only person who fails to understand why conservatives see this finding as vindication? After all, these studie

December 10, 2004

Author Facing Excommunication For Questioning Origins Of Mormonism

Larry Stammer, Los Angeles Times, 12/09/04 A lifelong Mormon, church teacher and author said Wednesday he faced excommunication after he was accused of apostasy for publishing a book questioning the origins of the Book of Mormon. A church disciplinary council near Salt Lake City was scheduled Sunday to take up charges against Grant Palmer, whose book,"An Insider's View of Mormon Origins," had come under scrutiny by church authorities since it was published two ye