Dr. Martin Rundkvist is a Swedish archaeologist, journal editor, public speaker, chairman of the Swedish Skeptics Society, atheist, lefty liberal, bookworm, and father of two.
History is the study of past societies through surviving text and images. I just got back home to Sweden, whose narrative history starts in the 9nd century AD and is even then really patchy for centuries. I have spent the past two weeks in China, where recorded history starts some time in the mid-2nd millennium BC. And what did I find in my long-neglected in-box when I got home? The makings of the 58th History Carnival!
A blog carnival, for those of you who don't already know, is an ambulatory and periodical collection of good blog writing relevant to a certain theme. Here today, somewhere else in a month. I got loads and loads of submissions for this edition, and so I have been selective: submissions that I found non-good and/or non-relevant were dropped as a service to the reader.
To the carnival! Before we dive into the past, just let me plug Cliopatria's History Blogging awards. Mustn't forget them, my preciousss.
Medieval
- Archaeozoo presents a piece on the archaeological evidence for hawking in Medieval England.
Early to Mid-Modern
- Maggie at History of American Women gives us a look at women's rights in the Plymouth Colony.
- Tim at Walking the Berkshires offers a detailed discussion of 17th century witch hunts in New England.
- Jason at Executed Today introduces us to Peter Stubbe, a psycho killer and wannabe werewolf in 16th century Germany.
- Jim at Making Light speaks of the worst defeat under arms ever suffered by the US Army in Retreat Along the Wabash.
19th Century
- Digital Medievalist offers an in-depth discussion of a murder committed in Ireland in 1895 when a man killed his wife because he was convinced that she was a fairy changeling.
- Daisy at Dead Air tells us about anti-slavery crusaderJohn Brown.
- Dave at Progressive Historians tells the tale of the Great Stink in London, 1858.
- My London Your London points us to a UK project to put Victorian photographs on-line that is looking for volunteer staff.
20th century
- Romeo at Providentia describes the stigma attached to Japanese nuke survivors.
- The Old Foodie tells the story of the microwave oven and its historical context. Without airborne warfare, no radar, and without radar, no nuke ovens.
- Greg Laden celebrates Sputnik as "the greatest thing ever to happen to America".
- Jacqueline at Another Old Movie Blog muses about Word War II movies.
- Natalie at Philobiblon tells us about Women pilots in WWII ...
- ... and the history of UK council housing estates.
- Felix at Bay Radical offers an interview with Lesbian activist trailblazer Cathy Cade.
- Orac at Respectful Insolence explores changing medical attitudes to tobacco smoking over the past decades: "What cigarette do you smoke, Doctor?".
- Frumteacher tells us about Nikita Khrushchev and the famous shoe incident.
- The Purloined Letter gives a glimpse of some absurdly violent entertainment in the US.
- Diamond Geezer introduces us to William Willett, the father of Daylight Savings Time.
Metahistory
- Dan at the Digital Humanities Blog reports from a conference about using new technologies to explore cultural heritage.
- Mark at Blog Them Out of the Stone Age asks, is strategy an illusion in military history?
- Jimmy at the Online Education Database presents a commented list of 250+ killer digital libraries and archives. Major time-sink warning!
- Sage at Ragesoss 2.02 reports on two good talks he heard on the theme "What are historians good for?".
- David at presents the Long Eighteenth discusses the historical value of autobiographies.
That's all, folks! The next History Carnival will appear on 1 December at Westminster Wisdom. Submit here.
Comments
Thank you for this! Two tiny corrections, though: I'm not the author of the linked post at Purloined Letter--I just submitted the link for inclusion. And the image there of absurdly violent entertainment is from Coney Island, not the US South.
Posted by: Penny | November 6, 2007 11:47 AM
Thanks for including my post in this great carnival! The chronological arrangement of the posts works really well!
Posted by: Frumteacher | November 6, 2007 2:18 PM
Woah! Thanks for including me, and thanks for hosting the carnival. I'm pretty flattered to share this platform with such a bunch of great writers.
Posted by: Felix | November 6, 2007 2:42 PM
Lovely run-throught, thanks - for the mentions!
Posted by: Natalie Bennett | November 7, 2007 4:35 PM
Thanks so much! There's some marvelous reading here ... it's an honor to be on the list. In a local-interest vein, if that's the term for such a peripatetic joint, today happens to be the anniversary of the Stockholm Bloodbath.
Posted by: Jason | November 8, 2007 12:38 AM
Scary stuff! The alleyways sloping from the town square flowed crimson...
Posted by: Martin R | November 8, 2007 4:06 AM