Tim’s Light Reading (3/11/2010) [3]
1. Thinking About Public Intellectuals: Harvard is hosting a conference on public intellectuals next month with the theme “Speaking Truth to Power.” In the late afternoon on the first day is a...
View ArticleRest In Peace: Peter Novick (1934-2012) [1]
I just learned this morning that Peter Novick passed on February 17. May he rest in peace. Here is an obituary from University of Chicago News. Please add other obituaries in the comments. – TL
View ArticleSome Muddled Thoughts* on Truth, Non-Fiction, History, and Objectivity [29]
When Peter Novick passed away recently, I immediately thought of the enormous impact that That Noble Dream had on my generation of graduate students. The book was published in September, 1988, the...
View ArticleThe History Wars and Detachment [4]
In her post, “A Canon Canon,” L.D. asks readers to suggest books related to the canon debates of the 1980s, which crystallized with the Stanford “Great Books” debate, L.D.’s dissertation topic. L.D....
View ArticleThe Newness of “New” Histories [8]
“Prestige derived from prominence in the academic profession has often proved evanescent; it would thus be a mistake to confuse academic status with intellectual importance. For over the long run, the...
View ArticleUSIH Odds and Ends: Bin Laden, New Beardians, Cosmopolitanism BLEG, and...
1. (of 4) The Mind Behind 9/11: No Straight Lines Plus an Irony This NYT piece on Osama Bin Laden’s bookshelf, described as “a weird hodgepodge,” fascinates me. When trying to understand the thoughts...
View ArticleThe Objectivity Question [5]
Today I’m reading Discovering the News: A Social History of American Newspapers (Basic Books, 1978), Michael Schudson’s smart and wonderfully readable history of the ideal of objectivity in journalism....
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