Tag Archives: writing
Inspiration Points: Death on my nightstand
It’s certainly just coincidence that as I was reading through Margaret Atwood’s Negotiating with the Dead: A Writer on Writing last night and considered her ideas about writing being about facing one’s own mortality, I realized that the books on … Continue reading
Writing History Event: a conversation with Jane Kamensky & Jill Lepore
The Writing History Colloquium and Andrews Society invite you to launch the new semester with a special event: “Taking Liberties: Histories, Fictions, and Blind Spots” A conversation with historians Jane Kamensky and Jill Lepore Wednesday 21 January, 3 p.m. Yale … Continue reading
AHA sessions for writer-historians
Are you headed to the AHA Conference in January? If so, these sessions might be of particular interest to us writer-historians: The Promise and Pitfalls of Writing for Readers beyond the Academy Friday, January 2, 2009: 3:30 PM-5:30 PM Nassau … Continue reading
This Computer is Finished: The Physical Requirements of Writing History
This computer is finished. Its silver casing shows the years of scratches, bumps, and smudges. It bears the scars of balancing one too many books, of leaving the computer too casually on an ottoman, of eating and working feverishly for … Continue reading
Confessions of a Blogger Historian
I’ve been blogging nearly every day for five years. I find it seductive. Each day I experiment with trying to tell a tale in staccato style. Punctuation, backstory, and truth are less important than the story of the moment. Hyperlinks … Continue reading
Episode 3, Part 2: Jeff Wasserstrom
This MHP episode offers an informal interview with China historian Jeff Wasserstrom, where he discusses a variety of topics about writing history. He gives advice on publishing book reviews, overcoming writer’s block, and names some of his favorite history books. … Continue reading
Episode 2, Part 2: Martha Hodes
This episode offers a candid discussion with Martha Hodes about the background for her latest book, her daily writing practices, her teaching of experimental history in the classroom, and some advice to graduate students about ‘finding the story’ in their … Continue reading
Episode 2, Part 1: Martha Hodes
This episode of Making History Podcast features historian Martha Hodes reading excerpts from her book The Sea Captain’s Wife: A True Story of Love, Race, and War in the Nineteenth Century. Following her reading, Martha discusses various stylistic choices she … Continue reading
"Writing History" Seminar: Studying the craft of historical writing
This quarter I’m taking a seminar called “Writing History” with Jeffrey Wasserstrom, author of China’s Brave New World. The aim of the class (from the syllabus) is to “explore the qualities of historical writing as writing and to see whether … Continue reading
