We are very happy to announce that the provisional programme for the British Association for American Studies Conference, April 8-11 2010 is now available here. Whilst still subject to change, it gives a tantalising introduction to next year's events.
It's our third Thanksgiving at Containing Multitudes - so give thanks for our giant Thanksgiving link round up:
If you're a UEA School of American Studies alumnus then this post is especially for you. We're very pleased to announce that we've just launched the American Studies Netcommunity site - an online home for alumni and friends of the University. This is a perfect way for you to keep in touch with both us in AMS and your friends and fellow alumni. If you haven't already registered for Netcommunity then why not take a minute and do it now? You can edit your personal profile to let us know what you're up to now, or find out what your contemporaries are doing. Rest assured, we'd love to hear from you. Please spread the word.
At this week's research seminar, Jennifer Terry (Durham University), will be talking about:
With the release of The Men Who Stare at Goats earlier this month, talk has yet again turned to those irrepressible urban myths and tall tales that surround the US military - from alien autopsies at Roswell, TX, to experiments in mind control, and the psychic super-spies of the new George Clooney movie. Jon Ronson and Mark Pilkington have compiled their all time top 5 of military conspiracy theories for the Guardian. For those of you interested in finding out more about alien close encounters right here in Norfolk, check out this link to local ET-watchers.
Sarah Palin has just released her autobiography, Going Rogue: An American Life, and she's been dominating headlines all week. Her signing tour has been attracting large crowds - the National Post evokes 2008 by calling it "Palin Fever" - and she's been on Oprah, too, though was (unsurprisingly) coy about her plans for the 2012 Presidential race. Most controversial, however, was the Newsweek cover, above, which borrowed some shots that Palin had done for Runner's World. She accused them of sexism - and others, Jeffrey Goldberg at the Atlantic for example, agree. In the Guardian, Jessica Valenti also thinks it's sexist, but notes that Palin's is "a gender politics of convenience, one that insults all women in politics." At the Huffington Post, however, Andy Ostroy asks whether a comparable magazine cover of Obama is also sexist, whilst John Dickerson asserts that Palin is not the future of the Republican Party for Slate. Either way, she'll be around for a while yet.
In 1861, 8 year old George Evans Patten was taken to Springfield, Illinois by his father, journalist James Alexander Patten. There, he met the soon-to-be inaugurated Abraham Lincoln. Back at school, he boasted to his schoolmates about this encounter - but none of them believed him. In an effort to curtail their teasing, Patten's teacher wrote to the White House asking for corroboration of the meeting. Above, you can see Lincoln's response: "Whom it may concern: I did see and talk with Master George Evans Patten, last May, at Springfield, Illinois. Respectfully, A. Lincoln." This letter is now being put up for sale by the Raab Collection and according to the Guardian has been priced at $60,000 - which is pretty small beans compared to a letter written by Lincoln to a group of abolitionist school children in 1864 which sold for $3.4 million last April.
Since its launch in the middle of the decade, Google Books has become one of the most valuable online research tools. Offering full text searches of around 10 million books it has quickly become a vital port of call for researchers across the disciplinary range. For those working in the nineteenth century it has proven particularly valuable, offering up full editions for free download. But it has never been without controversy and Google's plans for the service have attracted lawsuits from a wide range of organisations including the Association of American Publishers, as Business Week reported in 2005.Out of print booksEqually exciting is the suggestion that Universities will be able to "purchase institutional subscriptions", meaning that "Students and researchers will have access to an electronic library that combines the collections from many of the top universities across the country."
Until now, we've only been able to show a few snippets of text for most of the in-copyright books we've scanned through our Library Project. Since the vast majority of these books are out of print, to actually read them you'd have to hunt them down at a library or a used bookstore. This agreement will allow us to make many of these out-of print books available for preview, reading and purchase in the U.S.. Helping to ensure the ongoing accessibility of out-of-print books is one of the primary reasons we began this project in the first place, and we couldn't be happier that we and our author, library and publishing partners will now be able to protect mankind's cultural history in this manner.
Some careers news that you should all be aware of. First, AMS now has its own Careers Blackboard site which is full of useful information about what you can do with your degree and how best to display your skills to potential employers. It's also regularly updated with news of potentially interesting placements, jobs and opportunities to develop your skills. Worth checking out.
We're happy to announce that registration is open for the British Association for American Studies Conference 2010. You can find the registration form here. We'll be making some exciting announcements about the conference soon.
Joseph Kinney with his Purple Heart in hospital, Da Nang, Vietnam.
The Armistice Day commemorations won’t have escaped your attention this week. Over in the USA they have been holding their own annual commemorations – on Veterans Day (which, incidentally, is a public holiday). You can get a nice insight into American culture, particularly the esteem in which the military as an institution is held in public life, by checking out a collection of photographs and stories from the wars of the 20th century up to the present day, hosted by the New York Times.
A reminder that this week's research seminar has different format and venue. The School of American Studies is very pleased to be hosting the screening of A Regular Black: The Hidden Wuthering Heights, a film by BBC Arena director Adam Low and producer Martin Rosenbaum, whose recent films for Arena include the The Strange Luck of V.S. Naipaul, The Hunt for Moby-Dick, T.S. Eliot and Calling Hedy Lamarr.
As Google has been highlighting, Sesame Street has just turned 40. Is there another American export that's thought about so fondly? As the New York Times reported in 2002, it was even used as a potential bridge in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The New York Times profiles the show on its birthday, whilst Slate meditates on the meaning of the Cookie Monster. But one grouch always has to spoil the party. Sesame Street has often sat uncomfortably with those on the right, and as Mediaite reports, conservative bloggers are upbraiding the programme for a two year old joke about Fox News. Below, you can get a sneak peek of Michelle Obama's forthcoming appearance:
I’m in Austin, Texas this week working at the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library on the campus of U Texas, home of the famous college football team the Longhorns. Austin is famous – or infamous – for the live music and boozing scene downtown on 6th Street, old Pecan Street. In fact Austin claims to be the world’s live music capital and has a festival here every year. Unfortunately – or perhaps fortunately from a work point of view – it’s the book festival that’s on during my visit. That being said, when I went to see it they had a pretty fine Scottish Pipe Band marching about, in kilts, sporrans, and the whole enchilada. It took me right back to my ancestral homeland – except that the weather here stubbornly remains at around 25 Celsius, which one rarely finds in Edinburgh come November.
Malcolm
