A History of Modern Iran, by Ervand Abrahamian

This short and recent book (2008) doesn't tell you everything you might want to know about 20th century Iran, for instance it says little about the Iran-Iraq war, but it very usefully focuses on a consistent theme, the building of a modern state in a country where governmental power was extremely limited in 1900. Except for occasional long lists of personal names that will not...

Medieval notes from my blog reader

Two blogs I regularly read contribute material worth passing on.Another Damned Medievalist at Blogenspiel shows how you can just skip grad school entirely (not exactly what she said) yet still do an acceptable job of reading medieval charters. Go look and learn!Did you know that today is the anniversary of the Battle of Kosovo? And some famous 20th century killings associated...

El Cid (1961)

If a poll could be held of actual medieval people, they would chose it as the best movie ev...

Foteviken open air Viking Museum

Randy and Ann Asplund have been visiting southern Sweden, including this open air museum in Foteviken. They took some great pictur...

The spectator's dilemma

Over at Accumulating Peripherals, this thoughtful piece: human sympathy and a lack of posturing....But the most difficult cases Parfit considers concern various kinds of Prisoner’s Dilemmas, especially ones with a complex range of outcomes and large numbers of participants.... For example, let’s say that if you participate in a protest march of 1 million people and the Army mutinies...

The Big Picture hits it out of the park

Again!This image: Mount Fuji from spa...

A late-antiquity moment in the news

This reminds me of the 4th-century Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus.Not a very cheerful thought, real...

An authoritative religious critique of the situation in Iran

Ayatollah Montazeri is one of the highest-ranking religious scholars in Iran, though he holds no political office. The following statement was posted on the Iranian-American blog, niacINsight. It takes only a little imagination to see how such an analysis might harm the religious legitimacy of the current Iranian government:Montazeri said “I have been involved in the struggles...

Two book reviews from Phil Paine

The most widely read person I know is Phil Paine. (Some of my colleagues consider me widely read, but next to Phil I am a piker.) Over on his website, Phil has a monthly list of books, articles, and online resources that he has read, with occasional reviews of things he finds particularly...

Women and the English Peasants' Revolt of 1381

Jonathan Jarrett directs me to the blog Bavardess, which I have missed up till now. Its author has an interesting post on the role of women in the Peasants' Revolt of 1381, saying, among other things:While most historical accounts up until the 1980s (at least) discuss the revolt...

It's not a show for the spectators

US coverage of world events is very Washington-centric. Like domestic political issues, international ones are usually seen as an opportunity to show that one is on the right side, or that one's domestic opponents are on the wrong side, or if you're a journalist, to write a real horse-racing style piece-- who is ahead, who fell on his or her face. This all too easily slops over...

Will McLean provides some medieval content...

...in the form of some interesting links to resources on medieval childhood and educati...

Traveling across Kazakhstan

Another one of those wonderful postings from English Russia that gives you some idea how many vast, largely unknown landscapes there are on this Earth.Image: not particularly vast, but I could not resist the her...

Following events in Iran

I am following events in Iran, in so far as that is possible, but I don't think I have any special insight, except this: it is the end of the Islamic Republic of Iran as it has existed for the last 20 years or so. It's likely that in 2029, middle-aged Iranians will all know where...

Carnivalesque is here!

Gillian Polack at Food History has posted the June edition of the ancient/medieval/early modern Carnivalesque. Go have a look!For me, the best discovery is the existence of Food History itself, which somehow had never lodged itself firmly in my bra...

NGC 6240: Merging Galaxies

From Astronomy Picture of the Day. Click on the pic for a good vi...

The Rights of Man...and Woman

Andrew Sullivan links to an interesting column in the Times Online by Danny Finkelstein. Why Finkelstein associates his values with Neoconservatism I don't know; I associate it with indiscriminate aerial bombardment. Nevertheless, I agree with much of what he says here:For years we have been told, we neocons, that other cultures don't want our liberty, our American freedom. Yankee...

Some variety

Readers have learned to expect a certain amount of variety here, but a certain early/medieval/world history emphasis overall. So I am turning away from Iran for the moment and including two items more relevant to the name "Early History."From the UK, a commercial site that has contacted me before sends along a link to a nicely illustrated piece on The Seven Most Impressive Libraries...

Iran coverage, June 16

From Laura Secor at the New Yorker (excerpt):What are Khamenei’s options? With protesters yelling “Down with the dictator” in the streets of nearly every city in Iran, his position could not be more precarious. He has staked his very legitimacy, and perhaps that of the edifice he sits atop, on forcing Iranians to accept Ahmadinejad’s supposed landslide victory. He can continue...

Meanwhile, next door

An Iraqi correspondent sadly contemplates anAborted attempt at protest With what Iraq endured over the last four decades, sometime I feel we deserve what happens to us because we are a weak people we cannot even show our protests with our facial expressions. Today on my way to work, an event occurred that happens every day in Iraq. The road was suddenly blocked, and...