Review of History on the Web - May, 2008

May saw a busy month for History Nexus with the site, over six months old now, bringing in increased traffic from Google and other search engines.

There have also been some great submissions from users.

The fortieth anniversary of 1968 has drawn a lot of attention this year.

There has been much speculation that this is due to the fact that commissioning editors in the media have taken the opportunity to relive their youth; but, to be fair, if one year between 1960 and 1969 was to symbolise the sixties in itself, then 1968 is probably the right one to pick.

A harder edge to the idealism of 1967 is tangible in '68, with a number of prominent assassinations and atrocities in Vietnam dispensing with the pacifism of '67.

In London, there were a series of events, including an all-day seminar at Conway Hall entitled '1968 and all that / La revolution est incroyable parce que vraie'. While the 'All Power to the Imagination' happenings look set to continue until June. Right on!

There are a great deal of impressive local history blogs scattered across the net. One of these, The Virtual Dime Museum, excels more than most in its thoroughness on its subject – New York, US.

Read about Ida Moore Lachmund, who owned and operated the "Robert Dodds," a steamer, and transported logs for two saw-mills – an unusual feat for a woman in the 19th century; also detailed is the tragic death of Sarah Hicks in 1887; as well as a host of reproductions of advertising from the last 100 years of American commercial life.

The number of history blogs added to History Nexus has increased by a half-a-dozen, with American Civil War history in particular featuring heavily.

TOCWOC (which stands for The Order of Civil War Obsessively Compulsed) is a group blog which consists at its core of James Durney, Jim Lamason, Steve Meserve, Fred Ray and Brett Schulte; although there are also a number guest bloggers.

The month of May saw a great many book reviews on TOCWOC on subjects such as support for the Confederacy in Britain during the Civil War, 1858 being the pivotal year in the run-up to the conflict and the Missouri Confederate Units.

A collective of writers is a great way to sustain a blog over a long duration, but I have to state that TOCWOC is strictly for enthusiasts of the subject.

Over at Civil War Stories, Tammy appeals to HELP SAVE OUR BATTLEFIELDS! NOW!. It's certainly the work of an enthusiast but it has to be noted that Civil War Stories treads a fine line between historical debate and eulogising the cause of the Confederacy.

History Rhymes, the work of undergraduate Alex Seifert, is a step above most blogs. Not only is the design magnificent, but the subject matter – the 19th century American west – is vividly written.

Read about Judge Parker – the “Hanging Judge”, who sentenced over 160 men to swing from 1875 onwards. As Parker himself wrote: “I have ever had the single aim of justice in view… ‘Do equal and exact justice,’ is my motto, and I have often said to the grand jury, ‘Permit no innocent man to be punished, but let no guilty man escape.’”

Tough justice in the wild west indeed.

On May 8, Seifert blogged about the Modocs – a long-forgotten tribe of Indians based in Oregan. 'Everything began to go downhill for the Modocs when the first contact with the white men was established [in 1826].' The author promises that part two of this story will be published soon.

Genealogy came again to History Nexus with the addition of two blogs: Genealogy Reviews Online and Genealogy Fun & Simple.

The latter is the product of a love for the subject stretching back 10 years, while Genealogy Reviews Online has some great leads to other online resources for those interesting in researching their own family history.

And lastly for May, an excellent addition to the Nexus directory was by the adding of Spartacus Educational.

Spartacus is one of the central history websites on the web and features a myriad of information for the whole range of historians. If you haven't visited the site yet then I suggest that you have a browse around at the next available opportunity.

Genealogy Reviews Online:
http://www.genealogyreviewsonline.com/

Genealogy Simple & Fun:
http://genealogysf.blogspot.com/

History Rhymes:
http://genealogysf.blogspot.com/

American Civil War Stories:
http://civilwarstories.blogspot.com/

TOCWOC:
http://www.brettschulte.net/CWBlog/

The Virtual Dime Museum:
http://thevirtualdimemuseum.blogspot.com/

All Power to the Imagination! 1968 and its Legacies:
http://www.1968.org.uk/

1968 and all That:
http://www.1968andallthat.net/

Spartacus Educational:
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/

An Introduction: Enjoying History on the Net.

History is the subject that many of us have an interest in. Of course, you don't necessarily have to be an academic to be a fan of history; many of us take pleasure in the subject simply by watching the odd programme on the History Channel.

A lot of us have taken an interest in genealogy – the study of families, but this in itself is only partly satisfying. It's nice to know the birth and death dates of your great-great grandfather, but what was the world like that he lived in? Genealogy opens the door to the past, but it only supplies us with a glimpse – history provides a more overall picture.

Genealogy is the 'I' of history – what did my family do in the past. History provides the 'we' – what sort of society did my forefathers live in? And how was it different to today?

History is interesting to read about and watch on TV; but it also offers something more fundamental than that: It gives us an appreciation of our lives in the present.

All of us have a debt to the generations that have come before us – those that sweated and even laid down their lives for the progression of humanity.

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For instance, we all appreciate the sacrifice that our fathers and grandfathers made during the Second World War, but this legacy stretches back before the 20th century. The world we live in now is an accumulation of hundreds of years, if not thousands of years of struggle, achievements and even wrong-turns by humanity; and sometimes its good just to stand back and admire our past for that.

Basically, the study of history helps you to understand yourself and the society you live in just that little bit better.

The History Nexus website (www.historynexus.net) is intended to pull together all the myriad of history websites into one place.

Divided into several different categories like military history, 19th century history and history blogs, History Nexus brings a bit of bling to the subject with the ability of users to rate a site, comment on it and recommend it to others.

In the future there will be monthly reviews on History Nexus dot Net of all the latest website and blog additions to History Nexus.

So make a note of this page and come back soon...