Patriotic Kitsch from World War Two

People tell history in all kinds of places. On her blog about home decorating with finds from various secondhand vendors, Jenn Thorson, aka the Thrift Shop Romantic, offers a look at some images from the December 1942 issue of Popular Photography. While not necessarily representative of good taste, they are certainly both amusing and instructive.

Related post: Donald Duck Goes to War

Links: History, Politics, and Memory

• Got News? Make it Quick. — Jeffrey Shaffer argues that too much emphasis on the current news cycle without doing the hard work of studying the past is causing myopia in the media and public at large. (Christian Science Monitor)
• The Five Most Influential Civil War Books of the Last Twenty Years (as if that’s possible Brooks) Kevin Levin attempts the impossible and makes some interesting choices. (Civil War Memory)
• Where Are This War’s Winter Soldiers? — Ronald R. Krebs reflects on why veterans from the current war have so little political influence when compared to their Vietnam predecessors. (Slate)
• War Torn: Five Years — Yes, the Iraq War has been going on long enough to have a history. John Burns reflects on the past five years. (New York Times)

Links: New Media and Some History

• Everyone With Any Authority Is Banned From Wikipedia (Gawker)
• Wikipedia And Digg Are Exactly As They Seem, Damn It (Gawker)
• Tweets from the Past (Edwired)
• The Archives Wiki (Edwired)
• You’re del.icio.us (Investigations of a Dog)
• Great War Digital Archive (Investigations of a Dog)

From the Blogosphere

Recently I started reading Mills Kelly’s Edwired, and I have added it to my blogroll. According to its author’s description, it “is a blog that considers the intersection of digital technologies and history.” For example, it has initiated a widely publicized debate about the current state of H-Net and its changing place in the academy.

As a teaching historian, Mills also publishes interesting posts about the curriculum for undergraduate history majors in the United States, as well as the role of technology and resources such as Wikipedia in their studies.

Another blog I’ve been reading lately is at Historia i Media. Unfortunately, I do not read Polish, so I am restricted to their English page. Since June this page has grown to seven posts about history for public consumption, including memorials, a movie, a blog, Wikipedia, and a bicycle ride.