History Carnival XXI

I have ever had a Pleasure in obtaining any little Anecdotes of my Ancestors.

--Benjamin Franklin

Historians and history buffs have been kicking up dust in our corner of the internet culture, and for a roundup of some of the best of recent history postings, Clews presents History Carnival No. 21. Thanks to those who sent links -- and apologies to those who were not included. Unlike a few prior hosts I found myself flooded with nominations and had a great deal of trouble winnowing it down to manageable size; some excellent posts were forwarded for consideration for the next edition of Carnivalesque.

So with no further dawdling here is your latest issue of The History Times.

HARD NEWS FROM THE CONTINENT:

OTTO LIVES? Bill Rice (By Dawn's Early Light) asks -- is Germany's newly elected chancellor Angela Merkel a reincarnation of Otto von Bismarck?

I'LL SAY ANYTHING. Orac (Respectful Insolence) is somewhat troubled by the recent arrest in Austria of an infamous British historian (and is not alone) but cautiously celebrates the effect that the prospect of a long prison stretch seems to have had on the views of a well-known Holocaust denier.

SHOCK AND AWE CIRCA 1939. Brett Holman (Airminded) reports on one man's hopes that England, France, and/or Poland could obliterate Berlin in a single, massive air attack -- and why that hope was dashed.

IN MEMORIAM:

R.I.P. Chris (Outside Report) reminds us that late November cannot pass without a brief perspective on the life and death of John F. Kennedy. Meanwhile, Penny Richards (Disability Studies) reports on efforts to replace old headstones, engraved solely with numbers, with markers that contain the actual names of the former institutionalized people who lived in asylums across the United States.

PEOPLE IN THE NEWS:

GREG ON GREGS. Greg (This Set Down) honored the feast day for the Saints Gregory with brief biographies of both.

WAS WASHINGTON A CHRISTIAN? Jonathan Rowe (Positive Liberty) says that Thomas Jefferson knew the answer but kept it on the QT.

AN UNANSWERABLE LOGICIAN. Brandon Watson (Houyhnhnm Land) introduces Lady Mary Shepherd, a mid-19th century philosopher respected (!) for her flawless logic.

BUSINESS NEWS:

PROOF THAT HISTORIANS CAN CONTEXTUALIZE ANYTHING. Evan Roberts (Coffee Grounds) offers reflections on a long-held anxiety about mass distribution in Walmart as Utopia.

PERFECT CIRCLES. Jamie Kenny (Blood & Treasure) offers a personal perspective on the origins and longevity of an industrial powerhouse in the English midlands in Last Train to Etruria.

NOT A NEW CONCEPT. From Switzerland to Easter Island, Jennifer McQueen (Terry) examines the meaning of "sustainable" development.

HEALTH AND BEAUTY:

KEEPING THEM NATURAL. Alam Baumler (Frog in a Well) reflects on a 17th-century ban on footbinding in a surprising locale.

PERIODS IN HISTORY. Natalie Bennett (Philobiblion) offers a collection of quotes and thoughts on menstruation and engenders much interesting commentary.

CLIP ART:

IT'S ABOUT TIME. We can stop searching for the missing link -- Carl Buell (Olduvai George) has finally unveiled his long awaited blog in which he illustrates the last 65 million years.

SOMETHING FISHY. Phil Harland (Religions of the Ancient Mediterranean) managed to mention astrological symbols, Jewish synagogue art, pagan art, and early Christian symbols in a single post about the significance of the fish in early mosaics.

ENGAGING ENGRAVINGS. P.K. (BibliOdyssey) posts some thoughts with pages of illustrations from Microcosmos (Gerard de Jode, 1579).

CRIME HEADLINES:

THE MAID'S REVENGE. Jonathan Edelstein (The Head Heeb) reports on the danger of trying to mislead the help.

BE CAREFUL WHOM YOU.... Rebecca Goetz ((a)musings of a grad student) reports on the variety of punishments to which one might have been subjected for interracial fornication in Virginia circa the 1640s.

CHILDREN SHOULD NOT PLAY WITH GRENADES. Seamus McGraw (Crime Library) tries to explain the politics of Iraq circa the 1960s and '70s and how Uday Hussein became a monster. (Warning: graphic photos.)

OPINION PAGES:

SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT. David Neiwert (Orcinus) gives Bill O'Reilly a history lesson about Hitler sympathizers on the conservative right.

TORTURED THOUGHTS. Jason Kuznicki (Positive Liberty) supports his claim that torture doesn't work with a retrospective on the "twisting" of heretics and witches.

ANCIENT STEREOTYPES. Kerim (Savage Minds) tackles the lazy stereotype of "ancient peoples" in a "modern" world.

PHRONETIC HISTORIANS. Jonathan Dresner (Cliopatra) finds justification for the intuitive judgment of our favorite social science.

CONTROVERSIAL CONTRITION. Owen Miller (Frog in a Well) tells the tale of a Tokyo teacher disciplined for having her class apologize for a politician's denial of the Japanese invasion of Korea.

ENTERTAINMENT:

ROME PER HBO. Miland Brown (World History Blog) has enough historical knowledge of Caesar's successor to dare some predictions on Season 2 of HBO's historical. But Glaukopis (Glaukopidos: An Anachronism in Modernity) says she doesn't mind if the producers of the show take a few liberties.

SHE DID WHAT OUT HER WINDOW? Natalie Bennett (My London Your London) reviews a thousand years of history at London's revamped city museum and confesses to dramatically killing off her avatar in the Medieval Game of Life.

SEXIEST MAN NOT ALIVE. So People named Matthew McConaughey the sexiest man alive in 2005. Melissa Bell (Science Creative Quarterly) says Nikola Tesla is pretty hot for a dead guy if you can -- um -- overlook a few things.

LAST WORDS AND NEXT HOST:

If you've considered hosting a carnival, I'd encourage you -- it's a mind-broadening exercise, it's not all that hard -- though it does consume the better part of a full day and provokes a bit of anxiety about what to include. But, well, no matter what mistakes you or I may make in the selection or the rendering, we won't be the first.

The next host for History Carnival XXII is Jonathan Dresner at Frog in a Well Korea. You can email him at dresner [at] hawaii [dot] edu.

And Long Live the Ubercarnival!

Comments

[Jonathan Dresner]

"embarassment of riches" ... you weren't kidding! Very nice work with selection and presentation, too.

And now that the Carnival has reached 21, it's time for a drink!

[Sharon]

This is looking great! Many thanks.