The Gang of Four on History

I am having a renewed love affair with the Gang of Four. Wikipedia points out that the band combines punk/post-punk with "the neo-Marxist Frankfurt School of criticism." I mean come on. What's not to love? Also, they are poets of the highest order-- here, for instance, are the lyrics to "History's Bunk":

History's Bunk (1981)

what I’d like to hear: desert people’s history
not the styles of strategic combat
we could lose our bent we hear about
they weren’t the ones to get it in the neck
fighting it out for some other’s causes
they’re invisible they didn’t exist!
history’s bunk, our government
in the future will they make more junk?
what I’d like to hear: tales of people’s history
fighting it out for some other’s causes
they’re invisible they didn’t exist!
there are no lessons in the past
there are no lessons in the past
there are no lessons in the past
there are no lessons in the past
there are no lessons in the past
there are no lessons in the past

James Bridle's Historiography of Wikipedia's Entry on the Iraq War

I mean, there's just so much going on, especially in the way of digital things and history, and its hard to keep up the postings! Thus I've sort of taken to just throwing things up here that I find intriguing for one reason or another without much comment.

Said habit will not be changing today. Just started reading Bridle's blog post about his somewhat getting-news-attention project, and can't stop to say much about it here but i want to note the existence of the thing. Its intriguing and smart, and its here.

civil war memory

We've been talking about popular memory and the Civil War in my History and the Politics of Memory class. Its a subject that I'm always surprised is always super gripping to my students. And reveals a lot about their ideas about the South, and about their historical training.

Because its a big anniversary of the war there's tons of news about reenactments and commemorations appearing thesedays. I just found a nice video on the subject of memory and the war, and thought I'd post it. Its here.