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: Ian Buruma in the NYT
Feb 4, 2007
Tariq Ramadan, Muslim, scholar, activist, Swiss citizen, resident of Britain, active on several continents, is a hard man to pin down. People call him “slippery,” “double-faced,” “dangerous,” but also “brilliant,” a “bridge-builder,” a “Muslim Martin Luther.” He wants Muslims to become active citizens of the West but four years ago was himself refused permission to enter the U.S. He could not take up the teaching position he’d been offered at the University of Notre Dame. Oxford University took
Source: WaPo
Feb 4, 2007
When university professor Khalid al-Dakhil was growing up, clergymen had a say in everything.
Following the teachings of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, an 18th-century preacher who founded the Wahhabi ideology that has inspired Islamic extremism, mosque imams took attendance at dawn prayers; people did not smoke in public or listen to music because it was viewed as sinful; and stick-wielding clerics forced men to pray.
The pervasive religiosity permeating his childhood her
Source: Boston Globe
Feb 4, 2007
A prominent female historian and Harvard dean, who has never run a major institution, appears to be the front-runner for the Harvard University presidency now that a Nobel prize-winning scientist has bowed out.
Drew Gilpin Faust , head of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study , is a Southern-bred scholar with a dry wit and unflappable demeanor, colleagues say. If chosen, she would be the university's first female president, named two years after former president Lawrence H. Sum
Source: AlterNet
Feb 3, 2007
Courage is in short supply in Washington, D.C. The realities of the
Iraq War cry out for the overthrow of a government that is criminally
responsible for death, mutilation, torture, humiliation, chaos.
But all we hear in the nation's capital, which is the source of those
catastrophes, is a whimper from the Democratic Party, muttering and
nattering about"unity" and"bipartisanship," in a situation that
calls for bold action to immediately reverse the present course.
These are the
Source: Oliver Burkeman in the Guardian
Feb 3, 2007
If they were still on speaking terms, arch-neoconservative Charles Krauthammer and ex-neoconservative Francis Fukuyama might be able to thrash out exactly what happened on February 10 2004 at a dinner attended by rightwing thinkers at the Hilton hotel in Washington. Krauthammer remembers giving a "fairly theoretical" foreign policy address. Fukuyama, listening, seems to have experienced an epiphany. The speech "treated the war [in Iraq] as a virtually unqualified success", he
Source: Christopher Hitchens in the WSJ
Feb 3, 2007
Those who were born in Year One of the Russian Revolution are now entering their 10th decade. Of the intellectual class that got its vintage laid down in 1917, a class which includes Eric Hobsbawm, Conor Cruise O'Brien and precious few others, the pre-eminent Anglo-American veteran must be Robert Conquest. He must also be the one who takes the greatest satisfaction in having outlived the Soviet "experiment."
Over the years, I have very often knocked respectfully at the doo
Source: Press Release
Feb 2, 2007
The Society for Military History 2007 Awards were announced on February 1. This international organization is composed of university, college, and defense academy faculty, scholars employed by government historical agencies or sections, and others among the general public interested in military studies. The Society encourages research and publication across the whole range of military history (ancient, medieval, and modern, including related popular culture studies). Its scholarly journal, Th
Source: Press Release -- New-York Historical Society
Feb 2, 2007
NEW YORK – The New-York Historical Society is pleased to announce the Richard Gilder Distinguished Visiting Fellow in American History Lecture Series, a new series offering the general public the opportunity to hear pre-eminent American historians speak about broad and important themes in American history. Inaugurating the lecture series are Bernard Bailyn, James M. McPherson and John Lewis Gaddis--three of America’s most distinguished scholars specializing in 18th, 19th and 20th century America
Source: Times (of London)
Feb 2, 2007
JOHANNESBURG -- The personal envoy of the Prince of Wales was among 1,500 mourners who attended an emotional funeral service in South Africa yesterday for his friend, the renowned historian David Rattray.
The Prince compared his death to that of “my beloved great uncle, Lord Mountbatten”.
Mr Rattray, 48, an expert on the 1879 Anglo-Zulu war, was murdered by a gang who broke into his lodge in KwaZulu- Natal province at the weekend. He lived in Fugitives’ Drift, which ove
Source: http://www.cornellsun.com
Feb 2, 2007
A recent University of Connecticut report on students’ knowledge of American history puts Cornell near the bottom of the heap, but history professors, rankled, are railing against the results.
“This is a crock,” said Prof. Mary Beth Norton, director of undergraduate studies in history. “A study like this happens once a decade. There is one like this from the ’20s, one from the ’40s, the ’50s and one from 10 years ago.”
Out of 50 colleges surveyed nationwide, Cornell ran
Source: Lee Formwalt in the OAH Newsletter
Feb 1, 2007
Sometime before his retirement party two months ago, Indiana University History Professor Lawrence J. Friedman informed the OAH that he had made provisions to include the organization in his estate plans. Larry and I have lunch every month or so at a local Bloomington restaurant, so at our last noonday repast, I suggested that we do an interview and talk about his career as a historian, his lifetime of balancing activism and scholarship, and his feelings about the OAH.
The earliest
Source: OAH Treasurer Robert Cherny at the OAH website
Feb 1, 2007
In my fourth report as treasurer, the news is once again mixed—we ended Fiscal Year 2006 (FY06) with an unanticipated deficit, but the finance committee and the board has worked with the executive director and staff to identify the sources of the problem and develop appropriate remedies....
The FY05 deficit of nearly $472,000 resulted primarily from unanticipated expenses involved in moving the annual meeting from San Francisco to San José, unanticipated office operations, and failu
Source: Yale Daily News
Feb 1, 2007
A granite quilt, a small plaque and one woman’s story have suddenly come under fire in New York City, thanks in part to Yale Civil War historian David Blight.
After hearing of the city of New York’s plans to construct the $15 million Frederick Douglass Circle in the northwest corner of Central Park, Blight voiced concerns about the historical accuracy and relevance of the memorial’s centerpiece, a granite replica of a quilt that a nearby plaque says was used as a means of covert co
Source: Perspectives, the newsmagazine of the AHA
Feb 1, 2007
J. Patrick White, professor emeritus of American constitutional law and political history at Northern Illinois University, died on July 12, 2006, at age 79 in Iron River, Michigan. Born in October 1926, in St. Louis, MO, he was raised in Iron River, graduating from Iron River High School in 1944. He enrolled in the University of Michigan in 1945 but entered the U.S. Army in 1946. Later he returned to Michigan, where he earned an AB (summa cum laude) in 1949, an MA in 1950, and in 1957, the PhD f
Source: Perspectives, the newsmagazine of the AHA
Feb 1, 2007
To the Editor:
The undersigned members of the AHA write in support of the "Resolution on Practices of the U.S. Government Inimical to the Values of the Historical Profession." The resolution was adopted by a large margin at the January 6, 2007, AHA business meeting, was accepted by the Council, and is now being sent out to the members for ratification.
We support the resolution as a fitting means of defending the values of the profession against attacks from t
Source: Perspectives, the newsmagazine of the AHA
Feb 1, 2007
Editor’s Note: The AHA Council decided to seek ratification of the “Resolution on United States Government Practices Inimical to the Values of the Historical Profession” that was adopted at the AHA business meeting on January 6, 2007. In this connection, we are publishing the text of an explanatory note by them on the procedures that are being adopted.
In its discussion on January 7, 2007, of the "Resolution on United States Government Practices Inimical to the Values of the Hi
Source: Perspectives, the newsmagazine of the AHA
Feb 1, 2007
[AHA] Editor's Note: The AHA Council decided to seek ratification of the "Resolution on United States Government Practices Inimical to the Values of the Historical Profession" that was adopted at the AHA business meeting on January 6, 2007. In this connection, we are publishing the text of a letter addressed to AHA President Barbara Weinstein and Executive Director Arnita A. Jones, and an explanatory note by them on the procedures that are being adopted.
Dear President Wei
Source: http://www.cavalierdaily.com
Feb 1, 2007
While most professors typically provide students with a semester of insightful instruction and a few office hours a week, Civil War Professor Gary Gallagher takes the concept of student-professor interaction to the next level by leading an interactive battlefield visit.
"I've always done the field trip," Gallagher said. "I think it's important to let students get out on the sites where things actually happened."
Not only will students visualize the l
Source: BBC
Feb 1, 2007
More than 1,000 mourners in South Africa have attended the funeral of historian David Rattray, renowned for leading Anglo-Zulu battlefield tours.
He was murdered by intruders at his lodge in KwaZulu-Natal province.
He lived in Fugitive's Drift, which overlooks Isandhlwana - the 19th Century site where Zulu fighters inflicted a defeat on the British army.
The site is also near Rorke's Drift, defended by a small British band against an overwhelming Zulu force.
Source: Daniel Pipes blog
Feb 1, 2007
My talk last night at the University of California-Irvine, on the topic of"The Threat to Israel's Existence," was disrupted just over 15 minutes into my lecture by what appear to be goons of an Islamist persuasion. Three videos on the internet document my remarks, then their response:http://video.google.com/ (anonymous) covers all 53:29 minutes of my talk, from beginning to end. The disruption begins at 15:0
