The History Carnival issue #97: April 2011

Hello, and welcome to History and the Sock Merchant, my blog in which I indulge my passion for modern world history and where I am very proud to be hosting the April 2011 History Carnival. Despite being a modernist, as those of you who follow my blog will know, thanks largely to my habit of not reading what people tell me I should, I am not a myopic historian. This carnival represents history from the ancient world to the present day so everyone should find something they're interested in, I hope you have as much fun mentally strolling through the carnival  as I have had assembling it.  
Alan Flower

• Ancient History

Ever wondered what one of these means:¶ I have certainly come across it in archived legal documents, well we need wonder no longer as Keith Houston at Shady Characters (The Secret Life of Punctuation) tells us what need to know in The Pilcrow, Part 1, he begins with early examples of its usage.

Corinthian Matters is a blog devoted to the archaeological, historical research and study of Corinth and its territory, this month they have marked the feast day of a third century martyr named Kodratos, a Christian poorly known today but evidently important for the church communities of Late Antique and Byzantine Corinth.

Judith Weingarten  (M.Litt.) is the author of award winning blog: Zenobia: Empress of the East Exploring Zenobia's World. The Incredible Rise and Fall of the City of Palmyra. This month she offers us: A Crippled Hunter-Gatherer and a Feisty Woman  Finding 'Perak Man', a hunter-gatherer, at Elephant's Head Hill.

• Medieval Period 
 

At Medieval Woman, historical novelist Susan Higginbotham posts about late medieval and Tudor England. This month she has re-evaluated a prominent episode of Katherine Parr's life: The Great Precedence Battle of Katherine Parr and Anne Somerset and argues how there is much less to this dispute than meets the eye.

Kathryn Warner is the author of a blog called Edward II , which examines the events, issues and personalities of Edward II's reign, 1307-1327. This month in Edward II The Attorney she has translated a letter dated 19 December 1316, from Edward II to his cousin Aymer de Valence, earl of Pembroke, offering to act personally as Pembroke's attorney while Pembroke travelled to Avignon to see Pope John XXII on Edward's behalf.

• Early Modern Period

Keith Livesey at his blog 'A Trumpet of Sedition' trace's, in tremendous detail, the impact of the Putney Debates of 1647 on the thinking of Oliver Cromwell in Oliver Cromwell, the Levellers and the Putney Debates PART 1 and PART 2

At That's Not History the author takes offense at 'the near-constant abuse of history in our society, Mostly by politicians and the media, but not only. So I rant about it'. This month we are offered Shhh, don't tell anyone its history. This is definitely a blog where the debates in the comment section are just as insightful as the posts themselves.

The team at With Criminal Intent uses the Old Bailey archive to provide new and intriguing glimpses into history. This month we must take heed and Beware the Coffee.

• Modern Period

Alan Baumler at Frog in a Well Korea is blogging about the Chinese Revolution, beginning with an account of the punitive mutiny in Canton in 1911 to mark its 100th anniversary.

Billy Hart has developed his blog HistoricWords.com out of his love for reading quotes and writings from the early history of the United States of America, the writings of  many great men and women who worked to shape the country. For this month's carnival he offers us a letter from Matthew Thornton (a signatory of the American Declaration of Independence) written when he was president of the New Hampshire provincial congress in 1775, in which he attempts to defend the motives for taking up arms to defend against the British.

Soldier's Mail Letters Home from a Yankee Doughboy 1916-1919, is a site dedicated to all past and present serving members of the U.S. Army National Guard. This Month they offer us a letter dated  4/30/1918  from a serving American Infantryman somewhere near Gironville.

From eclectic blog JOST A MON The idle ramblings of a Jack of some trades, Master of none, we have a post which was inspired by a gloomy day when the gym did not appeal resulting in a stroll through Stepney and There's always something happening at St-George-in-the-East.

Is it appropriate for historians or documentarists to shape their creations as they please, regardless of the evidence? Well At More or Less Bunk ("History is more or less bunk." – Henry Ford, 25 May 1916.) this question is commented upon through an extended metaphor.

Jim Schmidt is a chemist by training and profession and currently works in the Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics department of a biotech company near Houston but has always had a passion for the American Civil War. At his blog: Civil War Medicine (and Writing) he publishes on current research in American Civil War-era medicine. In: 1842 Medicine - "One day he flies to one remedy, next day to another" Jim gives us some insights into the medical choices available to an urban eastern family in 1842.

Victorian dotage is a blog written by a London-based history PhD student, who writes about old age mental health in the nineteenth century, and occasionally strays into the twenty-first. This month we find out: What is “the last infirmity of noble minds”?

• Book Reviews

Doomsday Men: The Real Dr Strangelove and the Dream of the Superweapon by P.D. Smith.

Ian a Research Scientist at his blog SomeBeans, reviews a book which brings a new context to the Manhattan Project, it shows the early imagining of what radioactivity could bring in terms of weapons of war, science fiction writers foreseeing the applications, politicians considering the practical use of weapons of mass destruction and scientists working towards them.

Associate Professor Randall Stephens explores what can we learn about the craft of history by reading the autobiographies of historians at his Cliopatria Award winning blog The Historical Society.

Curt Emanuel is a self-proclaimed Medieval History Geek, and I think he does very well. This month he has reviewed: Walton, Steven A., ed, Wind & Water in the Middle Ages: Fluid Technologies from Antiquity to the Renaissance.

The History Book Review reviews History of the World by H.G.Wells  and a Challenge to Niall Ferguson

Finally a little offering from myself at History and the Sock Merchant. When it comes to reading about the Romanovs and their tragic downfall, there is so much material to choose from, especially amongst the numerous pieces of recent scholarship on the subject, so it can be difficult to know where to start and what exactly it is that the wide variety of work has to offer. So I have compiled a series of comprehensive reviews of what I have found to be the best and most recent work on the Romanov dynasty which will hopefully be helpful to anyone seeking to get into this amazing history depending on what you want to get out of it.

I hope you have enjoyed the 97th edition of the History Carnival, thank you for stopping by History and the Sock Merchant, do call again sometime and remember 'life is full of entrées so don't fill up on bread'.