Christmas Shopping for the Historian

Tired of buying the historian in your life some heavy book that no on else in the family would ever be tempted to read? Perhaps you'd be tempted to purchase a present that can be enjoyed by young and old, historian and people who like interesting things, alike. I am, of course, referring to the Forgotten Presidents Puppet Set.

The present that is not only educational, but also hours of fun for the entire family.

Where are all the history teachers this week?

If you guessed Lexington, KY you were right.

Why are there 1000+ history teachers in Lexington? We are grading the U.S. History A.P. Exams. It is my first time as a grader, but so far it hasn't been so bad. Apparently almost 200,000 students took the exam and there are close to 1 million essays that need to graded over the next seven days.

It was described by a colleague as a grading gulag, but I haven't felt that pain yet. Of course, being the first day we spent 1/2 the time trying to learn how to grade consistently with everyone else. We'll see how mind-numbing it becomes tomorrow.

I'm grading a question about the Second Great Awakening and it's connection to things like abolition and temperance. Best line from a paper I've seen today: "Drinking makes people feel good, and the Puritans weren't down with that."

Senate Historians Don't Know Their Strom from Their Quayle

Wonkette picked up this little goof.

Historians are the Best Teachers

A study done by E Solutions Data recently showed that most students find historians to be the best teachers. I don't find this surprising at all, especially since I made up the numbers for the survey.

If you would like to make up your own statistics to prove something, go here.

Historians Will Judge

I heard it again this morning on NPR - the phrase I despise the most - "History Will Judge." The story was focused on Donald Rumsfeld's last day in office and the commentator argued that despite the fact that Rumsfeld is the second longest serving Secretary of Defense in history, how history will judge him depends a lot on the outcome of the war in Iraq.

As I've mentioned before HISTORY DOES NOT JUDGE - HISTORIANS DO!

I understand why many people (including some historians) find comfort in the phrase "History will judge", because it suggests that there is no interpretation involved, that the facts will just reveal the truth to future generations. It suggests that you can't argue with or appeal the judgement of history. History is Omnipotent.

However, we all know better. Historians will decide how to portray Rumsfeld in the future. And most likely the portrayal of him will change over time. There won't be ONE historical judgement but many.

Moreover, even the facts will change, or at least the facts that historians have access to will change. Government documents will become available, Rumsfeld's and Bush's papers will be opened, records in Iraq will be searchable and all these things will change how historians will judge the soon-to-be former Secretary of Defense.

Historians shouldn't be embarrassed by this, we shouldn't be scared of letting people know this, we should embrace it and shout it from the rooftops. History does not judge - Historians do!

I am thinking about walking around with this bag at the AHA just to get my point across.

History Takes Over at the Movies

I went to see Stranger than Fiction* today (which has nothing to do with history) and was surprised that every single preview featured an upcoming film based on a true story or set in a historical time period.

First was We Are Marshall. This film follows the rebuilding of the Marshall football team after most of its players and coaching staff were killed in a plane crash.

Second was a preview for Mel Gibson's Apocalypto, which is about the decline of the Mayan civilization.

Then they showed a preview of The Pursuit of Happyness. This movie is based on the true story of Christopher Gardener, a successful stock broker who worked his way up from the bottom of the industry while raising his toddler son and being homeless for a time.

They also showed a preview for Night at the Museum. This one is a bit of a stretch, but it is about the exhibits at the Smithsonian's Museum of Natural History coming alive at night. Apparently, Robin Williams has a fairly big role in the film as Theodore Roosevelt.

Add these to the currently playing Bobby (about the assassination of Robert Kennedy) and The History Boys and it seems like Hollywood is in love with history.

Why is this important?

I think it serves as a great reminder that what historians do - tell stories - explain why people's lives are significant - contextualize the past so that it makes sense to present - is interesting to a number of people. Film makers wouldn't produce these pictures if people didn't care about them. A lot more people are drawn to history than we see in our classes or who buy our books. I think historians can take some comfort from this - or be really depressed about it.

(* In Stranger Than Fiction a English professor plays a major role in the film. This professor says at one point in the film that he is teaching 5 classes and directing 2 graduate theses. What I want to know is what college with Ph.D. students has professors who teaching more than a 2/2 load? I mean come on!)

Historian in the News

While some of my students have probably compared sitting through my lecture on the creation of the Second Party System to being in hell, I have never actually warned any of my students that they were headed for the nether regions if they didn't accept J.C. as their personal savior.

There is at least one historian in New Jersey, however, who apparently spends his time "lecturing students more about Heaven and Hell than the colonies and Constitution."

He got caught because one of his students taped his class lectures.

I have nothing more to say about this New Jersey historian, except that this makes me even more wary of podcasting. Who knows how what I might consider to be just a cute little analogy (like comparing the Bay of Pigs Invasion to a naked man getting beaten to death at a party) might get taken out of context if heard on a podcast.