History in the News Roundup

Vox Tablet, "The Dreyfus Affair Holds a Sacred Place in French History. Is There Room for Debate?" Tablet, July 11, 2013

Nearly 120 years after the Dreyfus Affair shook the world, you would think we know all there is to know about the seminal case involving a French Jewish officer falsely accused of treason. Alfred Dreyfus was found guilty and deported to prison on a small, remote island, and it was only after his family, joined by leading intellectuals of the time, rallied in protest that he was acquitted, his case becoming a cornerstone of the democratic French republic.>>>

Mark Feeney, "Edmund Morgan, 97; professor, leading historian of Colonial era," Boston Globe, July 10, 2013

A frequent contributor to The New York Review of Books and other publications, Dr. Morgan strove to appeal to the interested layperson as well as fellow historians. “In writing about the past, there’s more of an aesthetic dimension than people realize,” he told the Globe. “You’re trying to see connections, patterns, to tell a story. The dispute among historians as to whether there should be narrative is misguided. All good history is narrative. History that doesn’t tell a story just hasn’t gotten far enough; people have been too lazy to tell the story.”>>>

Len Barcousky, "Historian McCullough gets bridge to call his very own," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 1, 2013

"My father's business on First Avenue was right by the Smithfield Street Bridge," the Pittsburgh native recalled in a recent phone interview. "And I remember very distinctly sixth grade at Linden School when students in an older class made wooden models of all the different kinds of bridges. They were set out on the classroom windowsills, and I was utterly fascinated.">>>

Martin Pengelly, "The Maine lesson of Gettysburg: real history is never so romantic as reel," July 2, 2013

The story goes like this: 150 years ago today, Little Round Top was the key to the Union position at the battle of Gettysburg. If the Confederates had taken the hill, they would have won the battle. If the Confederates had won the battle, they would have won the war. >>>