This page features brief excerpts of stories published by the mainstream
media and, less frequently, blogs, alternative media, and even obviously
biased sources. The excerpts are taken directly from the websites cited in
each source note. Quotation marks are not used.
Source: China Daily
January 15, 2009
Two press conferences and dozens of interviews by experts over the past two weeks have failed to quiet the unprecedented public debate on the ownership of an ancient tomb discovered in Anyang, Henan province.
Archaeological officials believe the tomb belongs to Cao Cao (AD 155 to 220), a legendary ruler during China's most dramatic historical period, the Three Kingdoms (AD 220 to 280). But skepticism spread like wildfire soon after the discovery was revealed to the public on Dec 7.
Source: The Wall Street Journal
January 14, 2009
The arrival of 2010 is spurring looks backwards and fears of history repeating itself. That's because in the past two centuries, there have been revolutions in Mexico—both in years ending in 10.
First there was 1810, when an insurgent priest named Miguel Hidalgo gave a nighttime battle cry that sent thousands of Mexicans into the streets to oust the Spaniards. Then came 1910, the year that was supposed to be the government's crowning centennial. Parades were held, banquets given—and
Source: BBC
January 14, 2009
Campaigners who want to stop Olympic equestrian events being staged in Greenwich Park have threatened to use a legal loophole from the 19th Century.
They said organisers for London's 2012 Games will be breaking a law from 1866 if they seal off parts of south east London's Blackheath.
Residents group No to Greenwich Olympic Equestrian Events (Nogoe) has raised fears the venue will cause permanent damage to the Blackheath.
But the London Organising Committee
Source: Telegraph (UK)
January 14, 2010
This view was articulated before the Pope's planned visit to the city's temple for the first time on Sunday.
Only God can judge whether war time Pope Pius XII did enough to save Jews and whether he should have spoken out more forcefully against the Holocaust, according to the rabbi who will host Pope Benedict first visit to Rome's synagogue.
Rabbi Riccardo di Segni also said he hoped the event would help combat hostility towards the Jewish world and intolerance of any
Source: Fox News
January 14, 2009
President Obama has tapped George W. Bush, a prime target of Democratic criticism during the presidential campaign for his response to Hurricane Katrina, to help lead Haiti relief efforts in the aftermath of the earthquake that devastated the country two days ago.
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Thursday that Obama, who spoke with Bush Wednesday evening, is looking to replicate the relief effort that Clinton and George H.W. Bush led after the 2004 tsunami that struck
Source: Medieval News
January 14, 2010
Conservation work has been completed on the Papal Bull which granted medieval Scotland its first university, the University of St Andrews.
The Bull of Foundation is one of a series of six letters from the Pope, sent in 1413, which together brought the University fully and formally into existence.
This document embodies the 1412 charter, issued by Bishop Henry Wardlaw, which granted the masters and students of St Andrews recognition as a properly constituted corporation.
Source: Daily Telegraph (UK)
January 14, 2010
Oliver Stone, the controversial film director, is facing another backlash after suggesting that Hitler was made an "easy scapegoat" by history.
Stone, who has previously been accused of promoting conspiracy theories and glorifying violence in his films, has made a new documentary series which he says will place historical figures including Hitler and Stalin "in context".
In the trailer for "The Secret History of America" the director says:
Source: AP
January 10, 2010
They made it through Shiloh, Antietam, and Gettysburg, but many of the Civil War battle flags in the nation's state-owned collections might not survive the budget battles being waged in some statehouses.
Preservation work on deteriorating banners carried in some of the war's bloodiest battles has been eliminated, scaled back, or ignored by state budget planners focused on finding money for basics such as education, health care, and transportation.
In New York, home to t
Source: Inside Higher Ed
January 14, 2010
Supporters of Israel have worried of late that much of the campus discussion about the country has taken place in rallies and counter-rallies on the quad, and not in the classroom. But a study released Wednesday found significant growth in the past few years in the number of courses focused on Israel. Further, these courses are appearing in a wider range of disciplines than in the past and do not focus exclusively on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or the military history of Israel.
Source: Valley News Dispatch
January 11, 2010
The saying "History is everywhere" once again has proven to be true — this time in a pasture in Clinton Township.
John and Kathy Allen discovered their property, Armstrong Farms, holds the remains of a Grand Army of the Republic building, where Civil War veterans met starting in 1886.
All that's left of the G.A.R. — an organization similar to a VFW or American Legion, but whose members fought for the Union in the Civil War — is the building's foundation, but t
Source: Haaretz (Israel)
January 14, 2010
Nazi death-camp guards could expect the firing squad or hanging if they fled their posts, a historian told the trial of alleged SS guard John "Ivan" Demjanjuk in Munich yesterday.
Munich University historian Dieter Pohl was giving evidence for a second day at the trial where Demjanjuk, 89, is accused of being an accessory to 27,900 murders at the Sobibor death camp in Nazi-occupied Poland in 1943.
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Pohl detailed how Nazi Germany recruited
Source: Science Daily
January 14, 2010
Using texts and images, a University of Arkansas researcher has for the first time reconstructed the time when the use of porticos -- roof-covered structures supported by columns -- gave way to loggias, or recessed porticos.
In an article in the Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, architecture professor Kim Sexton accounts for the time between the 7th and 12th centuries when there are no surviving porticos. In European history, loggias represented more than just inte
Source: AP
January 12, 2010
Authorities are offering up to a $1,500 reward for information leading to the identification and prosecution of those responsible for vandalism at the Sears Point archaeological site in Yuma County.
Arizona Bureau of Land Management rangers discovered the vandalism late last year at the large rock art site located on BLM-administered lands. They say the damage includes rolled boulders and fractured petroglyphs.
Archaeology located on public lands is protected by federal
Source: BBC News
January 14, 2010
The government has expressed its "sincere regret" and "deep sympathy" to the victims of the thalidomide scandal.
Health minister Mike O'Brien made the apology in a statement to MPs - it comes after he unveiled a compensation package for survivors in December.
Pregnant women were prescribed the drug in the 1950s and 1960s as a treatment for morning sickness or insomnia.
It was withdrawn from sale in 1961 after babies were born with limb
Source: NYT
January 13, 2010
Letters, journals and other correspondence written by Daniel Patrick Moynihan over the course of his half-century career in public service will be published in a coming book....
Among the noteworthy recipients of Mr. Moynihan’s correspondence that the e-mail message mentioned were Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis; Indira Gandhi; Chaim Herzog; William F. Buckley Jr. and Alexander Solzhenitsyn.
Source: Journalism Journeyman
December 22, 2009
Journalism has a long and storied tradition in the United States. Indeed, since the days before the U.S. was a country, journalism has flourished. Beginning with the first publication of a newspaper in the Colonies (Publick Occurrences both Foreighn and Domestick) in 1690, and continuing to this day with journalists appearing in broadcast format and on the Internet, journalism has been a huge part of America’s development. And journalists have always had some sort of influence. Here are 25 of th
Source: CBC News
January 12, 2010
An iconic Canadian history magazine is changing its name to avoid a variety of misunderstandings.
The current issue of the 90-year-old Winnipeg-based bi-monthly, The Beaver: Canada's History Magazine, is the final one to have that name on the cover.
Effective with the April issue, the magazine will be known as Canada's History.
"Use of the word 'beaver' on the internet has taken on an identity that nobody could have perceived in 1920," said Debora
Source: Reuters
January 13, 2009
An Antarctic expedition has found what they believe to be camera parts abandoned by a renowned Australian photographer during a historic trip to the frozen continent nearly a century ago.
James "Frank" Hurley, who died in 1962, was the official photographer of the 1911-14 Australasian Antarctic Expedition (AAE) led by the country's most famous polar explorer Sir Douglas Mawson. He was also the official photographer of the Australian armed forces during both World Wars.
Source: Discovery News
January 12, 2009
Recently at Discovery News I told you about Neanderthal-made shell jewelry that suggests these hominids were as smart and creative as modern humans were at the time the jewelry was made, 50,000 years ago.
University of Bristol archaeologist Joao Zilhao, who led the project, told me about some other interesting discoveries he and his team made about Neanderthals. One concerns how they harvested shellfish for consumption.
By packaging the harvested shellfish in water-so
Source: National Geographic News
January 12, 2009
It’s long been thought that so-called modern human behavior first arose during the middle Stone Age, in “modern” humans—Homo sapiens.
But a new study suggests modern living may have originated roughly 500,000 years earlier—courtesy of one of our hairy, heavy-browed ancestor species.
At the prehistoric Gesher Benot Ya'aqov site in northern Israel, researchers have found the earliest known evidence of social organization, communication, and divided living and working spac
