Since 1996, the Gilder Lehrman Institute in New York City has hosted a lecture series on American history. Some of the most distinguished historians of the United States have presented there. The Institute recently placed recordings of the lectures online. You can download the podcasts here. I’m especially looking forward to hearing Eric Foner on Reconstruction, Sean Wilentz on Lincoln and Jacksonian Democracy, and Gordon S. Wood on Aaron Burr.
Podcasts of Lectures on American History
1 09 2009Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: Gilder Lehrman Institute, historical podcasts, United States History
Categories : Uncategorized
Our Ontario
20 08 2009I just thought I would let readers know about Our Ontario, which is a collaborative project delivering integrated access to digital collections of libraries, archives, museums, historical societies, galleries, and others. Basically, the website acts as a clearinghouse or portal for information that has already been put online by libraries and other cultural institutions in Ontario. The focus is on Ontario’s history and heritage. These resources include government documents, such as the handwritten journal of Upper Canada’s first parliament to digitized newspapers.
The project is still in the early stages, but looks sounds very promising.
Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: digital history, Ontario history resources, Our Ontario
Categories : Uncategorized
New Season of “Mad Men”
16 08 2009The season premier of the hit TV series Mad Men was broadcast on the US cable channel AMC tonight. Sadly, AMC isn’t available in Canada (unless you have a grey market satellite dish), so I will have to wait a bit to see this episode, which will eventually be carried on the Canadian channels Showcase and CTV. (Episodes from the first two seasons of Mad Men can be downloaded from the CTV website).
In case you don’t know, Mad Men is a TV show set in New York advertising agency in the early 1960s. I’m told by somewhat who was an adult at that time (my father) that the show captures the feel of the period quite well. The most striking thing for the modern viewer is the casual sexism the male characters display for towards their female co-workers. Unlike so many period pieces, this show goes beyond recreating the period and gives us believable characters and a very compelling story line. Mad Men is one of my favourite shows. It’s also one of the most popular dramas out their. Indeed, the show is so popular that it has a started a mini-trend of people emulating the 1960s fashions of the Mad Men characters. Banana Republic, a US chain, has launched a Mad Men line of clothing, which is being promoted by actors from the show.
Frank Rich had a piece about the launch of the third season of Mad Men in Sunday’s New York Times. Today’s Toronto Star carried lavish praise of the show.
Comments : 2 Comments »
Tags: Mad Men, Third Season
Categories : In The News, Uncategorized
Book Launch: Joe Martin’s “Relentless Change: A Casebook for the Study of Canadian Business History”
12 08 2009I thought I would let folks know about the launch parties for Joe Martin‘s new book on Canadian Business History, Relentless Change: A Casebook for the Study of Canadian Business History (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, September 2009)Add New
The Rotman School of Management has organized public events in Winnipeg and Toronto to celebrate the publication of Joe Martin’s wonderful new book on Canadian business history. You and your guests are invited to register to attend. Canada’s National History Society will co-host each. Here are the details:
DATE: Monday, September 21, 2009 – WINNIPEG
TIMING: 5:30 sharp to 6:20pm presentation and Q&A; 6:20 to 7:30pm cocktails and book signing
SPEAKER: Joe Martin, Director, Canadian Business History Program, Adjunct Professor of Business Strategy and Executive in Residence, Rotman School of Management, U of Toronto; Author, “Relentless Change: A Casebook for the Study of Canadian Business History” (Rotman/U of Toronto Press, September 2009)
TOPIC: “Relentless Change: A Casebook for the Study of Canadian Business History”
PLACE: The Fort Garry Hotel, 222 Broadway, Winnipeg (Concert Hall Ballroom, 7th Floor)
EVENT CO-HOST: Canada’s National History Society
FEE: $39.95 per person plus GST (includes presentation, 1 signed copy of ‘Relentless Change” and cocktails)
TO REGISTER: http://www.rotman.utoronto.ca/events
QUESTIONS: events@rotman.utoronto.ca or call 416-946-7462
DATE: Tuesday, September 29, 2009 – TORONTO
TIMING: 5:00 sharp to 5:50pm presentation and Q&A; 5:50 to 7:00pm cocktails and book signing
SPEAKER: Joe Martin, Director, Canadian Business History Program, Adjunct Professor of Business Strategy and Executive in Residence, Rotman School of Management, U of Toronto; Author, “Relentless Change: A Casebook for the Study of Canadian Business History” (Rotman/U of Toronto Press, September 2009)
TOPIC: “Relentless Change: A Casebook for the Study of Canadian Business History”
PLACE: Rotman School of Management, 105 St. George Street, Toronto (Fleck Atrium, Ground Floor)
EVENT CO-HOST: Canada’s National History Society
FEE: $39.95 per person plus GST (includes presentation, 1 signed copy of ‘Relentless Change” and cocktails)
TO REGISTER: http://www.rotman.utoronto.ca/events
QUESTIONS: events@rotman.utoronto.ca or call 416-946-7462
If you know others who would be interested in receiving this invitation, please forward it to them. Alternatively you can email us their contact details (mailto:events@rotman.utoronto.ca) and we will invite them.
Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: Book Launches, Business History, Joe Martin, Relentless Change, Rotman School
Categories : Uncategorized
Toronto Star Editorial on RIM, Nortel, and Canadian Nationalism
29 07 2009I’m posting a link to a Toronto Star editorial on RIM’s bid to take over Nortel’s wireless assetts. Thomas Walkom of the same paper has a perceptive article on the subjec.t
Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: Canadian Economic nationalism, Jim Balsillie, Nortel, RIM, Thomas Walkom
Categories : Uncategorized
More About Nortel, RIM, and Canadian Economic Nationalism
28 07 2009The Ontario government and the Official Opposition have sided with Jim Balsilie in his fight to acquire the wireless assets of Nortel networks. The leader of the Liberal Party, the usually somnolent Michael Ignatieff has roused himself and sent an open letter to Prime Minister Harper requesting that the federal government investigate that possibility of blocking the pending sale of Nortel’s wireless division to Swedish electronics giant Ericsson.
David Olive of the Toronto Star has provided ten reasons why the government should keep Nortel’s wireless assets in Canadian hands.
Dwight Duncan, Ontario’s finance minister, was interviewed about this issue (see here). I must say that Duncan’s performance in this interview was rather poor: he was unable to answer basic factual questions.
Conservative Industry Minister Tony Clement has said that he has not ruled out intervening in the deal. For its part, Ericsson says that it is confident the deal will be approved. Perhaps this is because Clement has shown in the past that he is (generally) lothe to intervene in foreign takeovers of Canadian firms. Theo Peridis, professor of strategic management and international business at York University’s Schulich School of Business, notes that there is ample precedent for allowing Ericsson to take over Nortel. He says: “When you allow (miners) Inco, Falconbridge and Alcan – which are real icons and the wealth of Canada in terms of natural resources – to go into foreign hands, it’s very hard to make an about-face on Nortel.”
Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: Dwight Duncan, Jim Balsillie, Michael Ignatieff, Nortel, RIM, Tony Clement
Categories : Uncategorized
Debating the Legacies of the British Empire
26 07 2009I’m posting a link to an excellent roundtable discussion about the legacies of the British Empire. The discussion was first broadcast in 2006 but I’ve only discussed it now. The participants are Niall Ferguson, Linda Colley, and Eric Hobsbawm (three distinguished historians), literary scholar Priyamvada Gopal, and theologian Robert Beckford. The moderator is Andrew Marr.
Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: Andrew Marr, British Empire, historical debate, Linda Colley, Niall Ferguson
Categories : Uncategorized
Wafergate
9 07 2009Today’s Globe and Mail has a story on the controversy surrounding the decision of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, a Protestant, to take communion in a Roman Catholic church in New Brunswick. There were initial reports that Harper discarded the wafer he had received from the priest. It has now been confirmed that Harper swallowed a communion wafer. However, this is also a problem, for Catholic Church says that as a Protestant, he should not have done so. Harper was attending the funeral of former Governor General Romeo Lebanc and decided to eat the wafer as a sign of respect.
Some may dismiss this controversy as a tempest in a tea pot. This story is interesting to me as a historian because it shows that the Catholic-Protestant split still has relevance in Canadian politics despite the fact Canada has become a profoundly secular country. While not quite as low as the ones found in continental European countries, church attendance rates in Canada are a fraction of what they were in the 1940s and much lower than in the United States. See here and here. As Canadians have become less religious, the old division between Catholics and Protestants, Orangemen and ultramontanes, has ceased to be relevant in the way it was at, say, the time of the Manitoba Schools controversy. (The Canadian Orange Order, by the way, is still active, but just barely. See here).
Most Canadians today describe themselves as Christian but rarely attend church services, save perhaps on Christmas Eve. Some might argue that the real division today is between the minority of Canadians who are actively religious (many of whom are non-Christian immigrants) and the majority who are not. However, for reasons that are debated by political scientists, Roman Catholics still vote Liberal in disproportionate numbers. They still don’t trust the Conservatives.
Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: funeral of Romeo Leblanc, Harper Communion Controversy, politics of religion, Protestantism, Roman Catholics, Stephen Harper
Categories : Uncategorized
New EH.net Book Review: Karmel on Haulman, Virginia and the Panic of 1819
29 06 2009Here is a review of another interesting book to put on my pile of things to read!
Clyde A. Haulman, Virginia and the Panic of 1819: The First Great Depression and the Commonwealth. London: Pickering & Chatto, 2008. xi + 197 pp. $99 (hardcover), ISBN: 978-1-85196-939-5.
Reviewed for EH.NET by James Karmel, Department of History, Harford Community College.
Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: American Economic History, Clyde Haulman, James Karmel, new academic books, Panic of 1819, Virginia
Categories : Uncategorized
Historical Education in Canada
17 06 2009Today’s Globe and Mail has an opinion piece bemoaning Canadians’ lack of knowledge of the history of their own country. As a history professor, I have a vested interest in favour of more historical education, so I’m inclined to sympathize with anybody who advocates that our citizens learn more about the past. The fact some provinces do not require the study of any history in high school is a disgrace. However, I’m struck by the fact that the piece’s authors (Marc Chalifoux and J.D.M. Stewart) focus exclusively on the public’s knowledge of _Canadian_ history. It seems to me that an educated person ought to know about both the history of their country as well as that of the world as a whole. They should also know something about the history of their locality or metropolitan area.
Yes, Canadians should be familiar with the Last Spike, Macdonald, Trudeau, Louis Riel and all the rest of it. But they should also know something about the French Revolution, Edison, Jenner, Mao, Auschwitz, Lincoln, and Mandela. Reasonable people can disagree about the right balance of local, Canadian, and world history in the school curriculum, but I think that there should be at least a bit of all three. To only teach students Canadian history would breed parochialism. In any event, you can’t really understand Canadian history without knowing something about the histories of Britain, France, and the United States. (I say this as a specialist in Canadian history).
Note re the authors of the article: Marc Chalifoux is executive director of the Dominion Institute and J.D.M. Stewart is a teacher of Canadian history at Bishop Strachan School in Toronto.
Comments : 1 Comment »
Tags: Canadian History, Dominion Institute, Globe and Mail, Historical Education in Canada, J.D.M. Stewart, Marc Chalifoux, Secondary School Education, World History
Categories : In The News, Uncategorized
The Past Speaks 