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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: history

history stories: 90 news summaries

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OPINION

 'Tear Down This Wall' 
 Not So Confrontational 

Reagan 'defeated' Soviets with diplomacy, not bravado

Nov 6, 09 12:54 PM CST
(Newser) - Prepare to see a lot of clips in the coming days of Ronald Reagan declaring, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” The 20th anniversary of the Berlin wall’s fall is days away, and in our collective memory, Reagan brought it down with sheer bravado. But that’s... More »

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Soviet Union • Mikhail Gorbachev • Ronald Reagan • Cold War • history • Brandenburg Gate

 Archeologists Find 
 Mini-Stonehenge

'Bluehenge' is a mile away, but all the rocks are gone

Oct 3, 09 12:17 PM CDT
(Newser) - Archeologists have found what amounts to Stonehenge-lite located about a mile from the larger monument. This one—dubbed Bluehenge—probably won't be as much of a tourist draw for one important reason: all the rocks are gone. But based on holes in the earth, scientists say 27 enormous rocks once... More »

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archeology • history • Stonehenge • Bluehenge

 Pair's Remains 
 May Date to 
 Trojan War 

Find in ancient Troy could date to 1200 BC

Sep 22, 09 2:30 PM CDT
(Newser) - In a discovery one professor calls “electrifying,” archaeologists have uncovered the remains of a couple believed to have lived during the Trojan War era in Turkey’s ancient city of Troy, Reuters reports. “If the remains are confirmed to be from 1200 BC it would coincide with... More »

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Turkey • archaeology • history • Trojan • remains • ancient cities • Troy

 Strep Throat 
 Likely Killed 
 Mozart 


'Minor epidemic' hit Vienna

Aug 18, 09 7:56 AM CDT
(Newser) - Some have speculated Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died of eating undercooked pork; others have said he was poisoned. Now researchers believe he may have died of strep throat, Reuters reports. There was a “minor epidemic” of strep in Vienna when Mozart died, and findings suggest “Mozart was one of... More »

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classical music • history • Vienna • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart • strep throat

 Tomb May 
 Hold Key to 
 Shakespeare 


Sarcophagus may hold manuscripts tying Bard to another writer

Aug 9, 09 1:27 PM CDT
(Newser) - A 17th-century tomb might hold the key to the enduring mystery of William Shakespeare's identity, the Daily Telegraph reports, and researchers are hoping to take a peek inside. A scan found that the ornate sarcophagus, built at an English church by Shakespeare contemporary and fellow scribe Fulke Greville, contains three... More »

MORE ABOUT:
England • biography • history • monument • Britain • William Shakespeare • sarcophagus • manuscript

book excerpt

 Hitler Sent Troops 
 to Russia's Frozen Hell 

Unprepared troops suffered 'horrific' consequences

Jul 26, 09 1:10 PM CDT
(Newser) - When Adolf Hitler sent his troops to invade Russia, he gave little thought to their warmth—leaving them in “desperate need” of millions of hats, gloves, and coats, writes historian Andrew Roberts in a Daily Telegraph book excerpt. “One can't put any trust in the meteorological forecasts,”... More »

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Russia • Adolf Hitler • history • invasion • Nazis

 Database Takes 
 Scholars to 
 Medieval 
 Battlefields 

Free searchable database includes facts on salary, health, knighthood

Jul 21, 09 4:07 PM CDT
(Newser) - British researchers have posted records of some 250,000 medieval soldiers in a searchable online database, the BBC reports. Now, interested parties can easily learn about the lives of fighters in the Hundred Years’ War, including salary, health, and knighthood information—for free. The “remarkable” records, says one researcher,... More »

MORE ABOUT:
military • Internet • academia • soldier • history • database

OPINION

 Vatican 
 Warms 
 to Wilde 

Paper praises writer's 'lucid' analysis of his world

Jul 17, 09 9:38 AM CDT
(Newser) - The Vatican long regarded Oscar Wilde as a “dissolute homosexual,” but things have changed, writes Richard Owen in the Times of London. A review in the Vatican newspaper of a study on the Irish writer celebrates him as “one of the personalities of the 19th century who... More »

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England • religion • Vatican • literature • history • Catholicism • Britain • Roman Catholic Church • playwright • Oscar Wilde • drama • L'Osservatore Romano

jackson's legacy

 Top 10 Moments 
 in Life, Career 


Jun 26, 09 1:31 PM CDT
(Newser) - As legions mourn the King of Pop, Time rounds up the 10 defining moments of his life and career:
  • The Jackson 5 bursts onto the scene in 1968, and its first single, “I Want You Back,” makes it to No. 1.
  • The release of Thriller
... More »

MORE ABOUT:
entertainment • pop music • death • history • Michael Jackson • Jackson Five • moonwalk

OPINION

Obama Needs Shorter To-Do List: Noonan

Prez must fix the economy and keep us safe—and that's it

Jun 26, 09 7:22 AM CDT
(Newser) - Confidence in Barack Obama is fading fast for many reasons, but above all it’s because he's not tending to "The Sentence,” writes Peggy Noonan in the Wall Street Journal. Clare Boothe Luce once said that all great leaders are summed up by a sentence. “... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Barack Obama • history • domestic policy • ambition • Peggy Noonan

Decades of US Immigration History Comes to Light

National Archives receives documents of 21 million

Jun 4, 09 12:55 PM CDT
(Newser) - The US is sending the files on some 21 million immigrants to the National Archives, revealing volumes of early 20th-century history, USA Today reports. The documents tell the stories of celebrities like Salvador Dali as well as the successes and tribulations of ordinary people, from refugees to “enemy aliens.... More »

MORE ABOUT:
immigration • history • immigrant • National Archives • American history • Salvador Dali

 Nazis Ran a Staggering 
 20K Concentration Camps 

Decade-long study could change scholars' 'mental universe'

Jun 4, 09 11:45 AM CDT
(Newser) - A year's work on a new Holocaust encyclopedia pointed researchers to some 15,000 concentration camps they hadn’t known about, a finding that could shift the public's perception of the Holocaust, the Washington Post reports. “Instead of thinking of main death camps, people are going to understand that... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Holocaust • research • Holocaust Museum • concentration camp • history • encyclopedia • Nazis

OPINION

 How China Rewrote 
 Tiananmen History 

Recalling Tiananmen 20 years later

May 27, 09 2:59 PM CDT
(Newser) - The Tiananmen Square massacre isn’t something the Chinese government wants the world to remember, and it's doing a good job keeping the matter quiet, writes Terrence Cheng in the Chronicle of Higher Education. In China, “those who dare to speak about it are swiftly silenced,” he writes.... More »

MORE ABOUT:
China • Tiananmen Square • 2008 Beijing Olympics • protests • massacre • history • Opening Ceremony • killings

 'Candid' 
 Laura Bush 
 Tells Her Story 

Met with historians to discuss her little-known legacy

May 24, 09 10:14 AM CDT
(Newser) - Shortly before the election last November, Laura Bush sought to shape her somewhat hazy legacy. The former first lady spoke to historians, reporters, and other DC insiders in a 3-hour “legacy lunch,” at which she was called “candid,” “funny,” and “open” as she... More »

MORE ABOUT:
women's rights • Laura Bush • literacy • history • historian • first lady • legacy

memorial day weekend

 10 Odd Facts 
 About World War II 


May 23, 09 4:35 PM CDT
(Newser) - With Memorial Day and the 65th anniversary of Normandy coming up, it's time for a World War II history review. The Chicago Tribune has dug up ten strange facts:
  • Elsie Mitchell and five children died in Gearhart Mountain, Ore., in May 1945, by touching a Japanese "balloon bomb"
... More »

MORE ABOUT:
history • World War II • Memorial Day • American history

 It Was 
 Gauguin 
 Who Cut Off 
 van Gogh's Ear 

Historians say Dutch painter loss his ear in a fight

May 5, 09 8:26 AM CDT
(Newser) - Vincent van Gogh's fame derives not only from his paintings, but from the legendary story that he sliced off his own ear and presented it to a prostitute. But two art historians now say that the Dutch painter didn't mutilate himself. After a decade of research, they argue that Paul... More »

MORE ABOUT:
art • violence • history • Vincent Van Gogh • fencing • Paul Gauguin

London Library Yields Lost Ben Franklin Letters

Missives document his attempt to help Brits fight the French

Apr 25, 09 3:40 PM CDT
(Newser) - More than two centuries after his death, Benjamin Franklin has more stories to tell, CNN reports. An American professor conducting research in London unearthed facsimiles of 47 letters the Founding Father wrote and received when he lived there 250 years ago. “I just about shot through the ceiling I... More »

MORE ABOUT:
London • letters • history • Benjamin Franklin

Time to Stop Fighting the
Civil War in History Class

Obama means 'honest' discourse on race

Apr 20, 09 11:56 AM CDT
(Newser) - Ask a Northerner what caused the Civil War and he'll say slavery, while Southerners are likely to say states’ rights, or economic differences. That self-justifying shorthand is reflected in what's taught in schools, too. But with the election of Barack Obama, historians say new ground has been broken in the... More »

MORE ABOUT:
education • race • history • Civil War • slavery • secession • President Obama

OPINION

 Don't Believe the Hype: 
 Afghanistan's Fixable 

US position in the country far different from previous foreign powers'

Mar 28, 09 9:58 AM CDT
(Newser) - We hear plenty of doom and gloom about Afghanistan, the so-called “graveyard of empires” that defeated the Brits way back when and kicked out the Soviets in 1989. But the naysayers are forgetting all that’s working in favor of the US, writes Peter Bergen in the New York ... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Afghanistan • Taliban • US military • history • Afghanistan war

In Classroom, Twitter Trumps the Queen

Proposed UK curriculum focuses on learning skills, flexibility

Mar 25, 09 9:15 AM CDT
(Newser) - Why learn about World War II or Queen Victoria in elementary school when you can always look them up on Wikipedia? That seems to be the rationale behind a new proposed overhaul of the British school system. Because secondary schools teach plenty of history, the reasoning goes, early schooling should... More »

MORE ABOUT:
education • technology • Wikipedia • England • history • World War II • elementary school • teaching • Twitter • curriculum • Queen Victoria

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