Roundup: Talking About History

November 12, 2004

Berlin's Wall Still Casts Shadow: A Reflection On Reunification

Tony Paterson, The Independent (London), 09 Nov. 2004 Visitors to Germany's reunited capital do not have to look far to find the"Berlin Wall". At sundown, near the city's former Allied crossing, Checkpoint Charlie, floodlights glare on a 600ft stretch of white concrete barrier, eerily reminiscent of the real thing. To drive home the solemnity of the spot, hundreds of man-sized wooden crosses have been embedded in stone around it in memory of the 1,065 East German

November 12, 2004

Getting the Truth About Canada's Military Past

Jennifer Chen, in the Ottawa Citizen (Nov. 8, 2004): These are two stereotypes Norm Christie hopes to shatter in For King & Country, a six-part series that begins tonight on the History Channel. "A lot of the preconceived notions are just complete nonsense," said Christie, a military historian and the show's host. While other countries such as Australia and the United States are hyper-aware of their military history, Canada i

November 11, 2004

Why Are Americans Uncurious About the Revolutionary War?

Geoffrey Norman, in the WSJ (Nov. 11, 2004):The past decade or so has seen an explosion of titles about World War II. The Civil War, of course, has been keeping publishers busy for almost a century and a half. But the conflict without which the others would not have been possible--the American Revolution--seems a poor stepchild. We are oddly uncurious about the military side of the war that made us a

November 11, 2004

The Price We Paid By Failing to Mourn the Dead in WW I

Ben Macintyre, in the London Times (Nov. 7, 2004): ... The scholarly landscape of the Great War has been more thoroughly churned up than any in history: we know about the war of tactics and blunder, of donkeys and lions, boredom and muddy death. Yet there is one aspect of the war that remains oddly suppressed, partly because the participants themselves preferred not to discuss it: namely the vast legacy of multigenerational sorrow left by the carnage. In an extr

November 11, 2004

Thanksgiving ... Still Controversial

Susan Llewelyn Leach, in the Christian Science Monitor (Nov. 10, 2004): This is "Indian season," José Barreiro - a senior editor at Indian Country Today - notes dryly. Between Columbus Day and Thanksgiving, the news media and schools dust off their American Indian stories in a sort of Black History Month for natives. Despite that somewhat contrived focus, the attention is not unwelcome, many natives say. It's an opportunity to temper romanticized views about

November 10, 2004

The Germans at Least Are Looking in the Mirror

Serge Schmemann, in the NYT (Nov. 10, 2004): ... There's no escaping the past in Berlin. An exhibition currently at the German Historical Museum on the Unter den Linden, the "Myths of the Nations,'' has attracted considerable attention with its displays of how people from different nations - Russians, Americans, Europeans - have formed and reformed the narratives of their experiences of World War II

November 9, 2004

Why We Should Be Grateful for the New Clinton Presidential Library

Michael Nelson, in the Chronicle of Higher Ed (Nov. 8, 2004) (subscribers only) : According to Jon Stewart and the other Daily Show authors of the best-selling America (The Book), a presidential library consists of a tiny room of public records, a large room of sealed records, and a vast museum featuring exhibits like "The President as Young Man,

November 5, 2004

How to Get Students to Pay Attention to the First World War

Terry Castle, in the Chronicle of Higher Ed (Nov. 5, 2004):What does it mean to remember the First World War? Over the past few years I have been trying to get my students -- mostly 19- or 20-year-old Stanford English majors --  to learn about, think about, reckon with, remember the Great War. I have been spectacularly unsuccessful. My latest failure came just this spring, in an

November 5, 2004

Total War And World War II Raids On Dresden

Johann Hari, The Independent (London), 03 Nov. 2004 Apologies for historical events are often ridiculous. Remember Tony Blair saying sorry for the potato famine, or Bill Clinton's expression of"regret" for slavery? Official apologies are only worth something when they signify a determination to behave differently. The only reason for an Irishman to go without potatoes today is the Atkins diet, and African- Americans long ago cast off their chains. These apologies were empty g

November 5, 2004

Britain's Foreign Office Activities Explored

Brian Cathcart, The Independent (London), 03 Nov. 2004 One June day almost 40 years ago, the United States privately informed the British government that it was about to push the war in Vietnam into a new phase by bombing Hanoi, the northern capital. This news caused anguish in London. Downing Street's distress, as documents quoted in Unpeople - a new book on dubious British foreign policy by the historian Mark Curtis - make depressingly clear, was not prompted b

November 5, 2004

Spain Reclaims Franco's Shrine

David Sharrock, The Times (London), 02 Nov. 2004 Even when its 300ft cross is swathed in cloud and the granite flagstones gleam with rain, the coaches never stop arriving at Spain's most controversial tourist attraction -the vast underground basilica where Francisco Franco lies buried. Most visitors come simply out of curiosity, but the Valley of the Fallen is also a pilgrimage for Spain's dwindling band of diehard Francoists. They will gather here on November 20

November 5, 2004

George Washington's Image To Be Updated

Warren E. Leary, The New York Times, 02 Nov. 2004 Mention George Washington and the first image conjured up by most people is that of a stern, old white-haired man with a piercing gaze. Seeing him every day on dollar bills and quarters, it is hard to imagine that he was not born looking like that. A group of scientists, historians, archivists and other experts has set out to change all of that. Working from forensic evidence, documents and all manner of historica

November 5, 2004

Edwin Lutyen's Designs In New Delhi Re-Evaluated

Justin Huggler, The Independent (London), 02 Nov. 2004 Which would you rather live in: a priceless historic monument, or a bland modern apartment block that looks like something in Benidorm? In what may prove among the worst acts of cultural vandalism of modern times, Indian authorities have proposed to demolish entire swaths of Lutyens' Delhi, and replace the city's renowned classical bungalows with apartment blocks. It has been a bad few weeks for India's cultu

November 5, 2004

Germany Demands Apology From Queen For Wartime Air Raids

Luke Harding, The Guardian (London), 02 Nov. 2004 Germany's biggest selling tabloid, Bild, yesterday called on the Queen to apologise for Britain's wartime destruction of German cities, ahead of her state visit to Germany today. In a provocative double-page spread, the newspaper urged the Queen to utter a"few suitable words of regret" during her three-day trip for the thousands of German civilians killed during British air raids. The tabloid's campai

November 5, 2004

Florence Nightingale's Secret War

Mark Bostridge, The Times (London), 30 Oct. 2004 The Lady with the Lamp was myth -and Florence Nightingale rarely nursed the Crimea wounded. She was too busy fighting the government and revolutionising protocol. By Mark Bostridge On the afternoon of October 29, 1854, the P&O paddle steamer Vectis sailed in sight of Sicily on its way, via Malta, to Constantinople. The weather was fine, the wind moderate, but on board ship, the Vectis's cargo of 38 nurses were suff

November 5, 2004

Texas Rangers Re-Evaluated

Ralph Blumenthal, The New York Times, 31 Oct. 2004 Back east, for social cachet there is nothing like an ancestor on the Mayflower. In Texas, it is a Texas Ranger in the family tree. Here at the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum, a shrine to the frontier lawmen who set Lone Star hearts aflutter, some of the most avid visitors come in search of connections to the men who won the West and, it was said, would charge hell with a bucket of water and quell riots si

November 5, 2004

The Guardian Investigates the Nazi Ties of Bush's Grandfather

Ben Aris and Duncan Campbell, in the Guardian (Sept. 25, 2004):George Bush's grandfather, the late US senator Prescott Bush, was a director and shareholder of companies that profited from their involvement with the financial backers of Nazi Germany. The Guardian has obtained confirmation from newly discovered files in the US National Archives that a firm of which Prescott Bush was a directo

November 5, 2004

Nixon Library Celebrates the 35th Anniversary of the "Silent Majority" Speech

Greg Cumming, in the newsletter of the Nixon Library (Nov. 4, 2004): President Nixon’s famous “silent majority” address was given at a crucial time in American history. As we remember the 35th anniversary of the November 3, 1969 address, it is important to reflect on its significance. The speech was a departure in policy and practice regarding America’s involvement in Vietnam. By the time Richard Nixon was inaugurated President of the United States, the U.S. had been m

November 1, 2004

Great Crash Of 1929 Fuels Lessons On Investor Psychology

Magnus Grimond, The Times (London), 23 Oct. 2004 Seventy-five years after the great Wall Street crash, scientists and fund managers increasingly believe that they can profit from the psychology that prompted investors to run for the exits during that fateful October of 1929. That, and subsequent slumps, notably the dramatic events of October 1987, have prompted many official and academic studies into the causes. But most people end up explaining these cataclysms on the strange h

November 1, 2004

Thatcher's Trip to West Berlin In 1982 Called A "Security Fiasco"

Luke Harding, The Guardian (London), 25 Oct. 2004 It was an historic and sensitive trip, planned with precision - and in secret - at a time of high tension in the cold war. But Mrs Thatcher's visit to west Berlin in October 1982, during which she made a stand against communism in front of the Berlin wall, was a security fiasco from start to finish. According to files from the archives of east Germany's notorious secret police, the Stasi, communist spies secretly photograph