Monthly Archives: February 2011

The Marginalia “Crisis:” now with update!

Today’s New York Times has an article on marginalia–the scribblings people often leave on the edges of books. “Some fear dim future for notes in margins,” says the headline. “Some” may fear this, or it may be that “some, facing deadline pressure, invent fake trend story.” Marginalia is overrated, and the enterprise of loving marginalia […]

February 21, 2011 – 1:35 pm | By admin | Posted in History | Tagged , , , | Comments (11)

Collective Bargaining

The news is full of the Wisconsin showdown, where the governor and the GOP dominated legislature want to strip the right to bargain collectively from teachers and public employees, except for police and firefighters. There are a lot of odd aspects to the governor’s case. It’s odd that one side, known as “the State of […]

February 18, 2011 – 7:08 pm | By admin | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (4)

Professional Associations v. 2.0

I made a post criticizing the American Historical Association. Criticism is easy—what would I want a professional association like the AHA to do/be? The AHA originated in community building, both community in the sense of “bringing people together” and community in the sense of “keeping some people out.”  Professional Associations were originally ways for people […]

February 16, 2011 – 2:50 pm | By admin | Posted in History | Tagged , , | Comments (11)

Ron Paul, the Gold Standard and Neo Confederates

Ron Paul, the Texas Congressman, is now chair of the House Financial Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Monetary Policy, which means he gets to hold hearings into the Federal Reserve and to push his pet project, the gold standard. I like the fact that Paul wants to open the Fed to criticism. I’d criticize it too, […]

February 10, 2011 – 2:20 pm | By admin | Posted in History, Money | Tagged , , , , | Comments (35)

The “real” and the digital in history

Just as cubism coincided with the theory of relativity, the “cultural turn” in history coincided with the rise of digital media. It’s not a coincidence. The postmodern or “cultural” turn coincided perfectly with the advent of digital archives. Both were “theorized” at about the same time (60s-70s), and both came into general use at about […]

February 3, 2011 – 6:20 pm | By admin | Posted in History | Comments (2)