Around the History Blogosphere

The 33rd edition of the History Carnival is up at American President’s Blog.  There are some nice offerings including one by yours truly.  Well Done Jennie!

There are a couple of good posts over at my group blog at HNN’s Revise and Dissent.  Jeremy K. Boggs touches on the announcement that Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales warned college students not to use the site for their research papers.  Boggs also comments on and links to other bloggers who have read Roy Rosenzweig’s Journal of American History article “Can History Be Open Source?: Wikipedia and the Future of the Past” (June 2006).  I read the article and found it to be quite interesting.  History teachers should definitely check it out as it provides a history of Wikipedia, a nice overview of the implications of open-source technology, and the responsibilities of historians to take part in the opportunities it offers. You want controversy?  Check out David Davisson’s post on Ward Churchill.  Ralph Luker also has some thoughts about Churchill over at HNN’s Cliopatra.

One of my favorite history bloggers is Caleb McDaniel over at Mode For Caleb.  Check out his most recent entry on the racial identity of nineteenth-century author Emma Dunham Kelley Hawkins.  Glenn W. LaFantasie discusses his new biography of William C. Oates over at the Oxford University Press blog.

Researching the past can sometimes be a dry undertaking. Dust on books and manuscripts, hours spent in repositories that inevitably seem too cold or too hot, depending on the season, the solitary pursuit that inevitably must follow all the excitement of the research quest—all these things don’t necessarily suggest high adventure. But standing on the field at Gettysburg, whether listening to a requiem of bells or hiking doggedly along paths once followed by young soldiers as they rushed into battle, has given me a better understanding of the times and trials of William Oates and the men who fought and died at Gettysburg. Alone in the twilight at the Cyclorama Center or sitting in the mist on the crest of Big Round Top with my young daughter, I came to experience how the past can unexpectedly collide with the present and send us down roads not known, roads not anticipated, roads not charted on any map. Following those roads, we get to hear every once in a while the very faint echoes of history’s soulful requiem.

I am almost finished with the book and highly recommend it. (Speaking of university press blogs, University of Nebraska Press is now blogging their books.)

Check out the art work of Hiram Hover’s six-year old son.  By the look of things he has already moved beyond standard Lost Cause themes.  Ed Sebesta is back in the blogosphere with his Anti-Neo-Confederate.  Ed was nice enough to link my recent post on black Confederates. And finally for a dash of humor to your day, make your way over to Arms and Influence for the True Tales of Stupid Cheaters.  That should keep you busy for awhile.

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