Sunday, October 31, 2010

Links & Reviews

- In today's Globe, Jill Lepore talks about her new book In the Whites of Their Eyes, and about the Tea Party's use of what she terms "antihistory" in their political rhetoric. There's also an interview with Lepore by Lin Fisher on the Religion in America blog.

- Bouncing off a link in last week's L&R, Mike Widener has compiled a great guide to "research opportunities" based on the Joseph White murder case.

- The NYPL's Schomburg Center has acquired a large collection of Maya Angelou's personal papers (some 343 boxes' worth).

- Powell's Books will be selling some 7,000 books from the personal library of author Anne Rice.

- If you read one of the many "wow, Jane Austen had an editor?!" articles, make it Jen Howard's in the Chronicle. And be sure to check out the underlying project, the new Jane Austen's Fiction Manuscripts Digital Edition.

- Raymond Scott, serving an 8-year prison term for handling the stolen Durham First Folio, has reportedly landed a job in the prison library.

- No word yet on what was removed from former NARA department head Leslie Waffen's home this week under the conditions of a sealed search warrant.

- Some thoughts on "Sherlock" by Miriam at The Little Professor (I've now watched the first episode twice, and look forward to the second tonight).

- Some really interesting discoveries by Ben at Res Obscura, including a fascinatingly detailed index.

- Michael Kenney notes a few recent books on Boston's literary and political history.

- The ABAA blog uncovers a very rare early Mormon text for sale on eBay.

- Of great use to me and hopefully to many others as well, the Bermuda National Library has mounted a digital collection of the island's early newspapers.

- Paul Collins finds a very unfortunate millinery mishap.

- You think this year's political campaign is nasty? Someone's made some "attack ads" from the 1800 election.

Reviews

- Several recent books on ghosts and ghost stories, including Peter Ackroyd's The English Ghost; review by Jonathan Barnes in the TLS.

- Stacy Schiff's Cleopatra; review by Buzzy Jackson in the Boston Globe.

- Lewis Hyde's Common as Air; review by Michael Hitzik in the LATimes.

- Geoffrey Wolff's The Hard Way Round; review by Nathaniel Philbrick in the NYTimes.

- Pauline Maier's Ratification; review by Rick Brookhiser in the NYTimes.

- Susan Fletcher's Corrag; review by Ron Charles in the WaPo.

- Peter Ackroyd's The Death of King Arthur; review by David Robson in the Telegraph.