A Million Little Pieces

This is a little (lot) late in coming, but I want to say something about this past winter’s Oprah-James Frey controversy. For those of you who don’t remember, the controversy erupted when Oprah discovered that James Frey had “lied” in writing “A Million Little Pieces,” the memoir of his struggle with drug addition, which OprahContinue reading “A Million Little Pieces”

Lost … and found

Yikes. I can’t believe it’s been more than two months since my last post. I clearly haven’t mastered this blogging thing. I’m working on a couple things now, however, and I’ll try to do a better job of keeping on top of this in the future.

Storm Stories

Just like VH1 and MTV, The Weather Channel has padded its schedule with history. Filling the gaps between this week’s flood, last week’s blizzard, and the tornado two weeks from now, Storm Stories is one of the Weather Channel’s only non-news programs: Storm Stories focuses on the inspiring experiences of ordinary people who are placedContinue reading “Storm Stories”

Lincoln Billboard

I noticed this billboard on I-84 in Danbury, CT on my way back from Christmas in Massachusetts. Since then, I’ve been kicking myself that I didn’t stop to get a picture for Found History. But now I’m glad I didn’t. As I learned in my online search for the billboard, it turns out to beContinue reading “Lincoln Billboard”

I want my HTV?

Many people have commented on the disappearance of music from music television. Fewer people have looked closely at what has been installed in its place. Whereas music videos were once mainstays of MTV and VH1, historical programming increasingly dominates these channels, especially VH1. The move towards historical programming at VH1 began in 1997 with BehindContinue reading “I want my HTV?”

History and the New Year

When I launched Found History over the weekend, I didn’t fully appreciate the timing. It only occurred to me yesterday in the supermarket that late-December is a great time to start collecting examples of non-professional history. For the next two weeks or so, we will be bombarded by year-end retrospectives, “Best of 2005” lists, “TopContinue reading “History and the New Year”

Finding History

With the launch of CHNM blogs this week, I thought I’d better get in the game. In fact, I have been thinking about this site for quite a while. Since at least my undergradute days, I’ve been interested not only in history and historiography, but more specifically in the kinds of history done by non-professionalsContinue reading “Finding History”