The Unwritten Rules of History

Tag: holidays

2019 Holiday Gift Guide for Historians and History Professionals

Header image of three toy Christmas trees against a white backdrop

Do you know a Canadian historian? (::nods::) Are they impossible to shop for because they already own all the books? (::nods vigorously::) Then have we got just the thing for you!

As promised, we’re back with our Fourth Annual Holiday Gift Guide for Historians and History Professionals! This is becoming a veritable Canadian history holiday tradition. I’ll keep the preamble short, but as usual, standard caveats apply:

  • Warning to loved ones of historians and history professionals: It is so lovely that you remembered that we love history and that most of us love reading. However, we strongly recommend against the purchase of history books for holiday gifts, unless they are specifically requested. If you are dead-set on buying a history book for your loved-one, at least make sure that it is: from an academic press (it will say the word University in the title of the publisher) and it is by a person with a Ph.D. in history (Google is your friend – just put their name and the word history to find out). You may also want to make sure that your loved-one doesn’t already own the book in question, or have easy access to it from their institutional library. We have provided a couple of suggestions for non-history books that might be a better fit.
  • While I am Canadian, and many of the recommendations I’ve included down below are specific to Canadian history, this list should be helpful to history professionals no matter their country of origin or residence.
  • Finally, while there are plenty of options here for history enthusiasts, this guide is specifically intended for individuals who are shopping for historians and historical professionals.

I also know that our gift guide is out rather late this year, mostly because I wasn’t planning to do one. And I’m sure that all of my fellow historians and history professionals have already completed their holiday shopping, so this guide is entirely unnecessary, right? 😉

Don’t forget to check out our guides from 2016, 2017, and 2018. While not all of the links work anymore, there are still plenty of fantastic ideas to be found. The leather book weight from 2018 is still a highlight. And don’t forget that the 2017 guide contains additional information if you will be purchasing or making gifts for your Jewish friends.

Once again, I have cheekily divided this list according to academic rank, mostly because I still think it’s funny. Enjoy!

 

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2017 Holiday Gift Guide for Historians

Macro shot of a snowflake crystal, with extraordinary detail.

Do you know a Canadian historian? (::nods::) Are they impossible to shop for because they already own all the books? (::nods vigorously::) Then have we got just the thing for you!

Welcome to the Second Annual Unwritten Histories Holiday Gift Guide for Canadian Historians! Once again, I have compiled a list of gift suggestions for historians and other history professionals!

Some important caveats: this guide does not (with one exception) include books. However, if you do want some book suggestions, check out my previous blog posts on upcoming publications in Canadian history). If you are shopping for a history buff, I would highly recommend the 2017 Book and Gift Guide from Canada’s History.

Second, while I am Canadian, and many of the recommendations I’ve included down below are specific to Canadian history, this list should be helpful to history professionals no matter their country of origin or residence.

And third, I haven’t repeated any of my suggestions from last year, because well, where’s the fun in that? So, for even more suggestions, make sure to check out last year’s gift guide!

Without any further ado, let’s get brainstorming!

 

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Why Does Canada150 Give Canadian Historians a Headache?

Why canada150 gives historians a headache

*Danielle Robinson get the credit for coming up with this title! She’s hilarious. 😉

So, in case you’ve been living under a rock for the past six months, you know that this year Canada is celebrating it’s 150th birthday. While July 1st is technically the day that Canada was “born,” governments at all levels as well as a range of institutions have events planned for the entire year. I’ve mentioned a couple of these on various roundups, like the Canada150 series that many newspapers are running, featuring locals who made significant contributions to Canadian history.

All this sounds great, right?

So why is it that so many historians (and others) are endlessly grumbling about Canada150? Are we all killjoys? Do we hate Canada? Are we secretly lizard-people planning to take over the world? While I can’t comment on the last question 😉 I can tell you that no, most historians aren’t killjoys, nor do we hate Canada. But there are very important reasons why Canada150 is a very problematic campaign. So in today’s blog post, I’m going to talk about a few of the reasons why many Canadian historians start gnashing their teeth whenever someone brings up Canada150.

 

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Holiday Gift Guide for Historians

Gift Guide for Historians

 

As depressing (or not) as it sounds, it’s that time of year again when we show our love for other people by buying them gifts. You may know this time of year as Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Yule, or what-have-you. but you know what it’s really about. 😉 Depending on your personal level of organization, now is the time to start planning and shopping. Especially if you’re a professor, because we all know now is the calm before the storm of finals, final essays, and grade submissions that will keep you busy until at least December 22nd. However, online gift guides for historians, history-buffs, or even academics tend to be limited almost exclusively to books. I don’t know about you guys, but I don’t want more work for the holidays, not to mention random history books by questionable authors from well-meaning gift-givers. (However, if you do want some book suggestions, check out my previous blog posts on upcoming publications in Canadian history).

So with that in mind, I’ve compiled a list of gift suggestions at roughly six different price points. Now, Gwyneth Paltrow I am not, (though this goop guide,  The Thinker, actually has some reasonable suggestions), so I tried to pick things that I would be happy to receive at any time of the year. While the title says that this list is for historians, and my price points have cheeky academic labels, this list has great suggestions for anyone with an interest in history, including archaeology and anthropology. Also, since most gift guides are American in focus, and the only Canadian one I could find was exclusively coins (seriously???), I’ve tried to include specific recommendations that would appeal to Canadians or are available in Canada, as well as more universal gifts.

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