Obama’s Secret Meeting With Historians: The president held a dinner at the White House for leading presidential scholars
Obama held a dinner at the White House residence with nine such scholars on June 30, and it turned out to be what one participant described as a “history book club, with the president as the inquisitor.” Among those attending were Michael Beschloss, H. W. Brands, Douglas Brinkley, Robert Dallek, and Doris Kearns Goodwin. Obama asked the guests to discuss the presidencies that they were most familiar with and to give him insights into what remains relevant to the problems of today. – Kenneth T. Walsh in US News & World Report (7-10-09)
Luke Nichter, the Texas A&M professor runs Nixontapes.org: Watergate Figure John Dean Threatens to Sue Historian Over Damaging Tape Recordings – Fox News (7-10-09)
Kevin Mattson: Thirty Years Later, in Praise of Malaise WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU UP TO, MR. PRESIDENT? Jimmy Carter, America’s “Malaise,” and the Speech That Should Have Changed the Country – WaPo, 7-12-09
Shaun A. Casey: RELIGION AND POLITICS Faith in the Electorate THE MAKING OF A CATHOLIC PRESIDENT Kennedy vs. Nixon 1960 WaPo, 7-12-09
Richard Wrangham & Tom Standage: Cooking Up a Pot of Civilization CATCHING FIRE How Cooking Made Us Human, AN EDIBLE HISTORY OF HUMANITY – WaPo, 7-12-09
Tom Standage:AN EDIBLE HISTORY OF HUMANITY Chapter One THE INVENTION OF FARMING – WaPo, 7-12-09
Margaret MacMillan: Getting History Right DANGEROUS GAMES The Uses and Abuses of History – WaPo, 7-12-09
James Scott: HISTORY Misguided Missiles THE ATTACK ON THE LIBERTY The Untold Story of Israel’s Deadly 1967 Assault on a U.S. Spy Ship – WaPo, 7-12-09
Larry Tye: BIOGRAPHY ‘No Man Got to Be Common’ SATCHEL The Life and Times of an American Legend – WaPo, 7-12-09
Larry Tye: SATCHEL The Life and Times of an American Legend Chapter One Coming Alive – WaPo, 7-12-09
Gavin Mortimer: HISTORY The Wright Stuff CHASING ICARUS The Seventeen Days in 1910 That Forever Changed American Aviation – WaPo, 7-12-09
Craig Nelson, Andrew Chaikin with Victoria Kohl: Giant Step, Full Stop ROCKET MEN The Epic Story of the First Men on the Moon, VOICES FROM THE MOON Apollo Astronauts Describe Their Lunar Experiences – NYT, 7-8-09
Craig Nelson: ROCKET MEN The Epic Story of the First Men on the Moon, Chapter Seven A Way to Talk to God – NYT, 7-8-09
Elijah Wald: Roll Over, John Lennon HOW THE BEATLES DESTROYED ROCK ‘N’ ROLL An Alternative History of American Popular Music – NYT, 7-10-09
James MacGregor Burns: New Book on Supreme Court by Historian Packing the Court: The Rise of Judicial Power and the Coming Crisis of the Supreme Court – iberkshires.com (7-6-09)
James MacGregor Burns says Supremes Really Govern America Packing the Court: The Rise of Judicial Power and the Coming Crisis of the Supreme Court – MICHIKO KAKUTANI in the NYT (7-6-09)
Howard Zinn: Historian Responds To Robert S. McNamara’s Death, Calls Him A “War Criminal” talkradionews.com (7-6-09)
INTERVIEWED:
Immanuel Ness: You Say You Want a Reference Book About Revolution? The International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest, 1500 to the Present – Inside Higher Ed (7-8-09)
Michael Oren: Israeli Ambassador in conversation with Jeffrey Goldberg youtube.com (7-2-09)
August 1, 2009: An Evening with Ken Burns: Kens Burns has been making documentary films for more than 30 years. Since the Academy Award-nominated Brooklyn Bridge in 1981, he has gone on to direct and produce some of the most acclaimed historical documentaries ever made. The late historian Stephen Ambrose said of Burns’ films, “More Americans get their history from Ken Burns than any other source.” This evening will afford Chautauqua an opportunity to hear one of the most influential documentary makers of all time. Chautauqua Institutition. For more info 716-357-6200. – Jamestown Post-Journal, 5-21-09
Although President Carter’s speech has been vilified as the “malaise speech” for three decades, that label was given to it by his political opponents. The truth is that the word “malaise” was never used. He mentioned a “crisis of confidence.”
Also, if the American people had listened to what he had to say — that the American way of life was setting us up for severe energy problems in the future and that we needed to start conserving and developing alternative energy sources — there is no doubt in my mind that we would be in a better position today.
Bonnie K. Goodman is Editor/Features Editor for the
History News Network (HNN), and has been working for HNN since 2004. She is the editor of some of the online magazine’s popular features, "History Buzz," "Political Highlights," "Top Young Historians," "History Doyens," "On this Day in History." She has covered both the 2004 and 2008 presidential campaigns for HNN. She has a Masters in Library and Information Studies from McGill University, and has done graduate work in American Jewish history at Concordia University.
Although President Carter’s speech has been vilified as the “malaise speech” for three decades, that label was given to it by his political opponents. The truth is that the word “malaise” was never used. He mentioned a “crisis of confidence.”
Also, if the American people had listened to what he had to say — that the American way of life was setting us up for severe energy problems in the future and that we needed to start conserving and developing alternative energy sources — there is no doubt in my mind that we would be in a better position today.