The March 2007 issue of the Journal of American History is out (History Cooperative table of contents). This issue features a round table discussion on American Military History and a section on textbooks and teaching that looks at diversity in U.S. history surveys, as well as three articles:
Archive for February, 2007
New Issue of the Journal of American History
February 28, 2007Nixon in China
February 26, 2007Margaret MacMillan recently published Nixon and Mao: The Week that Changed the World (Random House, 2007) and there’s been a small flurry of thinking-about-Nixon-in-China activity (see, for example, some of the recent messages at H-Diplo). Today’s New York Times Book Review features a review of Nixon and Mao by John Lewis Gaddis (the first chapter of MacMillan’s book is available online courtesy of the New York Times). Also, the Council on Foreign Relations sponsored a roundtable discussion on Nixon in China featuring Bernard Kalb, Margaret MacMillan, and J. Stapleton Roy and you can listen to the discussion online (link to mp3 audio file) or watch a video of it.
[CFR link via the indispensable Docuticker]
Oral Histories of U.S. Diplomats
February 22, 2007The Library of Congress’ American Memory provides access to a collection of oral histories from the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training. The collection, Frontline Diplomacy: The Foreign Affairs Oral History Collection of the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training, “presents a window into the lives of American diplomats. Transcripts of interviews with U.S. diplomatic personnel capture their experiences, motivations, critiques, personal analyses, and private thoughts. These elements are crucial to understanding the full story of how a structure of stable relationships that maintained world peace and protected U.S. interests and values was built” (from the collection’s description). You can search the oral histories, or browse by author or subject.
[link from beSpacific]
CFP: 1st Annual British Scholar Conference
February 20, 2007This serves as a call for papers for the First Annual British Scholar Conference. The conference will be held in Austin, Texas from Friday November 2nd to Saturday November 3rd on the campus of the University of Texas. The conference focuses on eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth century British history. The British Scholar Conference exists to highlight the importance of British history from varied perspectives. Whether focusing on the study of economics, empires, identities, or politics, the British influence on modern society cannot be underestimated. In order to understand Britain’s vast contribution to our world we must study its history. Thus, British history is the cornerstone of the British Scholar Conference. Both established scholars and graduate students are welcome to apply and present at the conference.
The first annual British Scholar Conference is unique in that the finest papers presented will be included in the very first issue of the British Scholar journal. Although papers presented at subsequent conferences may be published within the journal, their inclusion will be decided through the peer-review process. The papers that are published in the inaugural issue of British Scholar will be narrowed down by the Editorial Advisory Board and voted on via a secret ballot by all those attending the conference on Saturday November 3rd.
Submissions of individual papers should include an abstract of 150-300 words as well as a few descriptive keywords. Panels, which are expected to consist of three to five papers, should be submitted by the person willing to serve as both chair and respondent. In addition to abstracts for each individual paper, the panel chair should also include a brief 100-150 word introduction describing the panel’s main theme. The conference does not discriminate between panels and individual submissions and papers.
All submissions for inclusion in the inaugural British Scholar Conference must be received by Sunday, March 25, 2007. Decisions on inclusion will be made by June 1, 2007. Submissions should be made electronically to conference@britishscholar.org. Updates regarding the conference will be periodically posted to this website. It is hoped that participants will be able to call upon their departments for hotel and transportation expenses.
Review Essay on Oczami bezpieki
February 13, 2007The Winter 2007 issue (link to Project Muse) of the Journal of Cold War Studies is out and there is a review essay on the Polish Secret Police (link to Project Muse PDF); here’s the abstract:
This article provides a critical review of Oczami Bezpieki (Through the Eyes of the Security Service), an overview of post-1945 Poland based on secret police files by Slawomir Cenckiewicz. The essay sheds light on the ongoing controversies surrounding the secret police files that still can cause turmoil in Polish politics. The article discusses the aggressive strategies of the Communist-era security apparatus in three areas considered in the volume: penetration of émigré communities in the United States; attempts to neutralize opposition to the Communist regime from 1968 through the 1980s; and the manipulation of the Roman Catholic Church. The documents demonstrate how obsessively the security forces kept track of opposition activities.
CFP: North American Labor History Conference
February 9, 2007”Labor, Slavery and Freedom in a Global Age”
Twenty-ninth Annual North American Labor History Conference
Wayne State University, October 18-20, 2007
The Program Committee of the North American Labor History Conference invites proposals for sessions and papers on “Labor, Slavery and Freedom in a Global Age” for our twenty-ninth annual meeting.
The challenges and changes presented by globalization have represented a visible and pressing issue for workers over the past several decades. However, the development of a global trade and labor network dates back centuries and has often depended on the contributions of unfree labor – slaves, indentured servants, impressed sailors, serfs. This year’s conference wishes to explore the issue of labor in the global economic system both as a historical phenomenon and as an element of our increasingly international economic environment.
The program committee encourages comparative and interdisciplinary scholarship from a range of national and international contexts, the integration of public historians and community and labor activists into conference sessions, and the use of differing session formats (workshops, roundtable discussions, and multimedia as well as traditional panels). We welcome sessions that address the theme from perspectives of gender, race, ethnicity, and sexuality.
One of our keynote speakers this year will be Verity Burgmann, University of Melbourne, who will discuss her research on international labor movements and radicalism.
Please submit panel and paper proposals (including 1-2 page abstracts and brief vitas or biographical statements for all participants) by March 15, 2007, to:
Professor Janine Lanza, Coordinator, North American Labor History Conference
Department of History, 3094 Faculty Administration Building
Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48202
Phone: 313/577-2525; Fax: 313 577-6987;
Email: ao1605@wayne.edu
