Here’s a review of three new books on European food history, so you can see some of the other directions food history has gone.
Category Archives: historiography
History Carnival #89 (2010 July)
Welcome to my World History blog, which I primarily use as a teaching platform. And welcome to the 89th History Carnival! Before I start, I have to thank those who nominated posts — Jeremy Young, Penny Richards, Sharon Howard, Brett Holman and Ffion Harris. I’ll highlight their fascinating nominations first, plus a few bonus tracks, and then I want to take a jaunt through about two dozen categories of the Cliopatria History Blogroll and pick out of each one a blog starting with ‘j’ or ‘d’ (Yes, they’re my initials: I had to pick some filter) which has an interesting June post to share. I hope this might inspire you to broaden your reading, and, more importantly, to nominate more posts next month!
For fun: Five Myths of WWII
Cracked Magazine produced this list of Five Myths of WWII History [note: vulgar, rude language. But good history]
Looking Back: Race question on the US Census
Josh Begley has collected images of the race question on decennial census forms going back to the very beginning — 1800 — which is a fascinating snapshot of historical and social change.
Edwin Black v. Wikipedia
Why isn’t wikipedia respected by academics? This sort of thing doesn’t help.
For those who missed it….
You can still see the powerpoint version of today’s lecture.
Historians Explain Murder?
How have historians dealt with questions of crime and punishment? Jill Lepore looks at new books on murder, with a special emphasis on explaining why the US looks different than economically and politically similar societies.
Food History: requires testing!
Chris Bray passes on word of two experiences with early American food: Gingerbread cookies from Colonial Williamsburg and a pound cake taste test, pitting a modern recipe against a two-century old version which required an hour of hand-beating. See if you can figure out how “Pound Cake” got its name…
In other news, historical sea logs help climatologists.
Extra Credit Opportunity: Meeting David Wilson
Don’t miss Meeting David Wilson on Monday, September 21, 2009 at 7:00 pm in the Crimson & Gold Ballroom, Overman Student Center. This presentation is FREE, and no ticket will be required.
David A. Wilson, as a 28 year-old African-American journalist, traveled deep into his family’s past to find the answers to America’s racial divide. His journey resulted in the feature length documentary “Meeting David Wilson”, which he wrote and co-directed. In researching his family’s ancestry, David learned of a plantation in North Carolina where his family was once enslaved, and subsequently discovered that the plantation is owned today by a 62-year-old white man—also named David Wilson—who is a direct descendant of his family’s slave Master. This discovery leads to a momentous encounter between these two men who share the same name, but whose ancestors were on the opposite sides of freedom. Later, through DNA testing, David is able to trace his African roots back to Ghana, West Africa, where he travels to visit the place where it all began.
On April 11, 2008, MSNBC premiered the documentary “Meeting David Wilson” which was hosted by Tiki Barber. The film aired nationally as part of a groundbreaking television event, which also included a live town-hall conversation on race moderated by Brian Williams of NBC’s Nightly News from the campus of Howard University.
In his interactive, multimedia lecture, David shows pivotal moments from the film, including his conversations with the white David Wilson, and initiates a discussion with audiences about the state of race relations today, how we got here— both literally and figuratively—and where we’re headed. While much of his presentation focuses on the racial dilemmas of today, David shows how the country’s history played a role in creating the problem, and more importantly, how it is in the interest of America’s future that we all play a part in the solution.
For more information, contact the Campus Activities Center at 4795 or visit David’s site at http://www.meetingdavidwilson.com/
Meeting David Wilson is being presented by the Performing Arts & Lecture Series (PALS) and the PSU Leadership Institute.
History of Print and Blogging in the Arab World
I will be taking a moment in class Friday to reflect on this article by Brian Ulrich, describing the history of print and other media up to the present in the Ottoman Empire and its offshoots.