Newsletter No. 84
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Free Pint
"Helping 36,000 people use the Web for their work"
http://www.freepint.co.uk/
ISSN 1460-7239 29th March 2001 No.84
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IN THIS ISSUE
EDITORIAL
MY FAVOURITE TIPPLES
from Tracey Howard-Baker
FREE PINT BAR
In Association with Factiva
a Dow Jones & Reuters Company
Reviewed by Simon Collery
TIPS AND TECHNIQUES
"In the Footsteps of Miss Marple
- Female Detective Fiction Online"
By John Lewell
BOOKSHELF
"Designing Web Usability: the practice of simplicity"
Reviewed by Ian Tilsed
FEATURE ARTICLE
"Quest for Liberty: History of the United States of America"
By Susan Alcock
EVENTS, GOLD AND FORTHCOMING ARTICLES
CONTACT INFORMATION
ONLINE VERSION WITH ACTIVATED HYPERLINKS
<http://www.freepint.co.uk/issues/290301.htm>
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>>> ABOUT FREE PINT <<<
Free Pint is a community of business professionals who use the Web for
their research. Members receive this free newsletter every two weeks
packed with tips on finding quality and reliable business information
on the Internet. Signing up at <http://www.freepint.co.uk/> provides
free access to the substantial archive of articles, book reviews,
industry news and events, with answers to your research questions and
networking at the "Free Pint Bar" and "Student Bar". This newsletter
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EDITORIAL
The big news today is the birth of our son Daniel Joseph last week who
weighed in at 8 pounds 15. Regulars at the Bar were the first to
receive the announcement, and have since been discussing a suitable
Free Pint related nickname. This tradition dates back three years when
I announced the birth or our daughter Imogen in issue 16, who was
christened "Half Pint" by Free Pinters. Since Daniel is that much
smaller he's been tagged the "Free Pint Tot" (as in a dram of liquor),
which is considerably better than one suggestion of "Short"!
We have some classic content for you in today's edition. The first
article reviews sites by authors of female detective fiction whilst
the feature article gives us a whirlwind tour around resources of
interest when studying the history of the US. All this along with the
regular mix of tips, reviews and roundups should mean there's
something for everyone again today.
Thank you to the many Free Pinters who responded to my Editorial in
the last issue with kind messages about how useful you find our
community. You can read the comments in the "Free Pint Feedback"
section at the bottom of the homepage at <http://www.freepint.co.uk/>.
Finally, please do check out the advertisers and sponsors of today's
issue since it is their support which enables this newsletter to be
free. Don't forget also to keep spreading the word about Free Pint to
your colleagues, friends, students or journalists.
Cheers
William
William Hann BSc MIInfSc
Founder and Managing Editor, Free Pint
e: <william@freepint.co.uk>
t: +44 (0)1784 455435
f: +44 (0)1784 455436
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British Library - Consumer Health Care on the Internet, 27 April 2001.
While the internet offers a growing volume of consumer-oriented health
care information, it is not well organised and is of very variable
quality. This half-day hands-on course will help you discover how
search engines work; how to cut through the maze of internet sources;
how to choose where to search for which information, saving you
valuable time and money. For more info contact Tony Antoniou 020 7412
7978 or http://www.bl.uk/services/stb/courses.html
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MY FAVOURITE TIPPLES
from Tracey Howard-Baker
* Harmony Central - First stop of the day for any musician with its
database of all things music related and the most extensive midi,
lyric and tab search engines on the Internet.
<http://www.harmony-central.com>
* Media UK - This site has links, addresses and some contact names to
every newspaper, magazine, radio, television, media and
entertainment related company in the UK. <http://www.mediauk.com>
* Streetmap.co.uk - A must have for any regular traveller with a
flexible search facility and printable diagrams for anywhere in the
UK. <http://www.streetmap.co.uk>
* Mi2n - The most comprehensive and up to date Music Industry News
site there is. <http://www.mi2n.com>
* comdirect - Finally, grab a cuppa and visit comdirect to check up on
the state of the stockmarket & latest share prices, or sign up for a
free watchlist & learn about the trading market with their fantasy
shares game. <http://www.comdirect.co.uk>
Tracey Howard-Baker is an entertainer/music consultant and director
for the non-profit music group the Electric Blues Club
<http://www.electricbluesclub.co.uk>.
Tell us about your top five favourite Web sites. See the guidelines at
<http://www.freepint.co.uk/author.htm> or email <simon@freepint.co.uk>
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ROI Facts For Your Marketing and Strategic Planning
Did you know that the intellectual assets of a corporation are
usually worth three or four times its tangible book value? You
will find that and other useful facts about ROI in "Measuring
and Assessing the Return-on-Investment for your Information
Initiative". This and other presentations are at
http://www.factiva.com/infopro under White Papers and Presentations.
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FREE PINT BAR
In Association with Factiva
a Dow Jones & Reuters Company
Reviewed by Simon Collery
<http://www.freepint.co.uk/issues/290301.htm#bar>
Free Pint Bar - <http://www.freepint.co.uk/bar>
[Note: To read a posting enter the message number in place of XXXX in
the address <http://www.freepint.co.uk/bar/read.php?i=XXXX> or enter
the number in the "Jump To" box on the Bar homepage]
As experienced users of the Internet, most Free Pinters will be aware
that there are scams and hoaxes around every corner, if cyberspace has
corners. Sometimes it's possible to dig up information quite quickly
to decide whether something is genuine or not. Other times it's best
to post a message asking other frequent Internet users for their
opinion (8153). And despite all the news sources, bulletins and
updates available it can still be difficult to pin down a particular
story, if there is one (8306).
In the last two weeks, Free Pinters have supplied sites for finding
chemical compounds (8131), dictionaries (8232), Nordic news (8287),
industrial gases (8156), knowledge audit templates (8205), history
(8256), British politicians (8237) and live UK wind speeds (8309).
Tipplewise, I have taken a look at resources for computing (8132),
Knowledge Management (8321), literature and language (8269) and
country information (8420). As usual, I have also been keeping an eye
on information industry news sources in the Weekly Pub Crawls (8110,
8349) and taking a second look at any Unresolved Requests in both of
the Bars (8291, 8436).
When companies are owned by larger companies (8284) this can somwhat
frustrate a search for information. In fact, searching for individual
companies can be hard for many reasons (8288), so it's always worth
asking for help if you are stuck. You never know what you'll learn
(8317). But most frustrating of all is when a site doesn't have
enough contact information (8421) or just doesn't respond to
communications.
Jobwise, we have heard from people wishing to work in Canada (8160),
Switzerland (8409), Brazil (8207) and Holland (8236). Information has
been sought on good recruitment agencies (8386), independent
researchers in Mexico and the Czech Republic (8188) and research into
the phenomenon of holding more than one job at a time (8410).
The Internet is usually a good place for lists but we are still
looking for a list of European corporate finance companies (8279) and
one of SAP software users in India (8296). And apparently UK unions
that are not members of the TUC can be worked out from available data
(8400), even though there isn't a specific list.
Delving into the miscellany, we find a request for a US equivalent of
Tenders Electronic Daily (8432), a free host for an online radio
station (8407), the origin of "Mufti Day" (8404) and a source of
Telecoms Operations Maps (8213). Advice is sought on marketing and
sales (8347), getting finance for a Web site (8231), writing content
for the Web (8228) and chat room moderation (8417).
Researchers have been grappling with the methodologies and financial
indicators used by investors in evaluating IT projects (8254),
aerospace metal specifications (8136), cybergovernment in France and
Germany (8439), meta data projects, especially alternatives to the
Dublin Core Initiative (8149) and the clothing industry (8230). One
researcher simply asks "does employee training work" (8201). Well,
does it?
Searchwise, I reviewed yet another visual search tool (8218), a good
one this time, and a tool which aims to create a directory on the fly
for your search terms, rather than using a static directory (8382).
One of the developers of this on the fly directory has suggested in a
private email that I judged his project unfairly. I have yet to
receive the clarification I subsequently asked for but I welcome any
reactions to my reviews, especially if this extends understanding of
the subject of the review.
Still on the subject of surfing, one of our subscribers has moved
ISP to find that the new one doesn't have a cache, which speeds
downloading (8329). Does anyone know of a public UK cache he can use?
And the question of email directories comes up again (8157). There
are lots of email directories around, which makes it difficult to find
addresses, but some people would prefer not to have their details
publicly accessible anyway.
Quantitative resources are required for research into international
fuel fraud (8363), historical weather data (8365), the ratio of
computers to pupils in schools (8147), historical retail price index
data (8336) and marketing data collection techniques (8233).
The questions of installing Sage Accounting in Windows 2000 (8229),
converting .asx files to .wav (8368) and writing service level
agreements (8297) have yet to be answered. Other techie questions
were raised about computer aided design programs (8138), sending
pictures by email (8427), chat room software (8320), competitive
intelligence software (8119) and finding Adobe Catalog (8162).
Free Pint Student Bar - <http://www.freepint.co.uk/student>
[Note: To read a posting enter the message number in place of XXXX in
the address <http://www.freepint.co.uk/student/read.php?i=XXXX>]
In the Student Bar people have been researching database and network
design (1227), TV programmes with their own Web sites (1231),
electronic text storage and XML (1242), the future of wireless devices
(1248) and society's reaction to the introduction of various
communication technologies (1250).
Advice has been sought on Web design courses (1228), Library and
Information Science courses (1229) and distance learning MAs in
Information Science (1236).
Someone is looking for downloadable resources on stock market
investment strategies (1253), should you know anything about them, and
someone else seeks statistical information on school children in the
North East of England (1251).
Simon Collery, Content Developer <simon@freepint.co.uk>
If you have a tricky research question or can help other Free Pinters
then do post a message at the Bar <http://www.freepint.co.uk/bar> or
the Student Bar <http://www.freepint.co.uk/student>.
Visit daily for "Today's Tipple" - a different Web site reviewed every
working day at the Bar. Every Thursday there is the "Pub Crawl", a look
at full text articles from a range of information and Internet
publications. Access the archive of Tipples and Pub Crawls at
<http://www.freepint.co.uk/portal/content/tipple.php3>.
To have the latest Free Pint Bar postings sent to you every other day,
send a blank email to <digest@freepint.co.uk>. For the Student Bar
Digest send an email to <studentdigest@freepint.co.uk>.
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TIPS AND TECHNIQUES
<http://www.freepint.co.uk/issues/290301.htm#tips>
"In the Footsteps of Miss Marple
- Female Detective Fiction Online"
By John Lewell
In the heyday of Agatha Christie's Miss Marple, most lending libraries
in the UK boasted a respectable selection of mystery books, with all
the great writers represented. This is no longer true. Today, if you
want to read the best 100 mystery novels you need to buy at least 90
of them, yet only around 20 will be found in even the largest
bookstores.
The answer is to go online, or, if you really want to follow in the
footsteps and indeed the spirit of Miss Marple, get someone else (a
librarian, for example) to go online for you.
To make life a little easier for librarians and mystery lovers alike,
I created femaledetective.com - a site that reviews nearly 200 of the
top mystery writers in the UK, the US, Canada and Australia. To
make my own task easier I excluded male detectives, focusing
exclusively on writers with female investigators.
Creating femaledetective.com - and with it a substantial directory of
links to the mystery world online - has given me a few insights into
how crime fiction is treated on the Internet.
If you want to explore the whole genre, a reasonable starting-place is
therefore femaledetective.com's links directory
<http://www.femaledetective.com/links.html>.
Its categories include: Awards and Events, Archives, Bibliographies
and Directories, Author Sites, Bookstores, Books for Collectors,
Magazines, Mailing Lists, Major Mystery Sites, Organizations, Reviews,
Writers' Resources, and everything else - such as mystery dinners,
pseudonyms, web rings, etc. - tucked into Misc.
Authors' Sites
--------------
The most popular part of the directory is undoubtedly the directory of
authors' links, which takes you to the personal pages of each writer.
As you would expect, the most successful authors have sites that have
been professionally designed, with plenty of pictures, and a very
helpful listing of events such as book signings.
Top authors with first-rate sites and their own domains include Linda
Barnes <http://www.lindabarnes.com/>, Patricia Cornwell
<http://www.patricia-cornwell.com/>, Leslie Glass
<http://www.leslieglass.net/> and Sue Grafton
<http://www.suegrafton.com/>).
One unexpected development recently has been some informal groupings
of novelists for the purpose of promoting themselves on the Web. The
best of these in the United States is the curiously named NMO
Mysteries (NMO stands for "Nuns, Mothers and Others"), which promotes
four excellent novelists who have made friends with each other on book
tours. They are Lee Harris (author of the outstanding Christine
Bennett series), Jonnie Jacobs (Kate Austen mysteries), Lora Roberts
(Liz Sullivan series) and Valerie Wolzien (Susan Henshaw suburban
mysteries). They can all be found at <http://www.nmomysteries.com>.
Major Sites
-----------
There are some huge sites on both sides of the Atlantic
that specialise in crime fiction, most notably Tangled Web
<http://www.twbooks.co.uk>, a UK venture that carries reviews,
latest releases, and discussion in sprawling but always interesting
designs. For female-specific detective fiction, US site Clue Lass
<http://www.cluelass.com> has long been at the forefront, with its
comprehensive directory of awards, writers' resources, reviews,
comment, etc.
Other major sites worth mentioning are MysteryNet
<http://www.mysterynet.com>, a large commercial US site, with games,
reviews, and a penchant for Agatha Christie - and the inevitable
Mysteries.com <http://www.mysteries.com> which also carries TV
listings, extensive searching, site of the week, etc.
Finding Out-of-Print Titles
---------------------------
Locating a copy of an out-of-print novel on the Internet has become
unbelievably simple. The secret is to visit femaledetective.com's
special page
<http://www.femaledetective.com/articles/strategies.html> which
carries an aggregated search engine that looks not only on ABE and
Alibris/Bibliocity but also on BiblioFind - and returns results in a
single list. Go on, try it! You'll be amazed if you haven't already
seen the 123pix service in action. It works for other books besides
mysteries.
Reviews
-------
The advantage of sites such as Tangled Web and femaledetective.com is
that they offer reviews by established authors and critics rather than
the sometimes off-the-wall opinions of people who post reviews to
Amazon and the other online stores.
Other good review sites are Cathy Gallagher's extensive section on
About.com <http://mysterybooks.about.com> and the excellent online
literary magazine January which carries crime reviews
<http://www.janmag.com/crfiction/crfiction.html>.
Many other review sites are listed on
<http://www.femaledetective.com/links/reviews.html>.
Sites for Mystery Writers
-------------------------
Aspiring or published writers can find a wealth of material on the
Internet - and it's well known that mystery writers have a need for
special information. What's a useful alternative to weedkiller for
finishing off Aunt Bessy? How much does a bodyguard earn in Los
Angeles? How long does it take to pick a certain kind of lock?
Answers to all these questions and more can be found by using the
directory at the Mystery Writers' Forum
<http://www.zott.com/mysforum/links.htm>.
For information and help on the actual process of creative writing,
the readers' and writers' colony Painted Rock
<http://www.paintedrock.com> is as good a starting-point as any. It
goes right to the point, with no messing around, just the way the Web
should always be - but isn't always.
Summary
-------
Since the days when Miss Marple shrewdly used her knowledge of
human behaviour to solve otherwise impossible cases, the genre of
female detective fiction has expanded in all directions. From the
brilliant thrillers of Mary Willis Walker to the side-splitting humour
of Janet Evanovich, the genre offers delights for every taste. But if
the reader never goes online, most of the genre will remain hidden.
And that's not the right sort of mystery at all.
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John Lewell is editor of three Internet sites: Metaplus
<http://www.metaplus.com/>, femaledetective.com
<http://www.femaledetective.com/>, Modern Thai Food
<http://www.modernthaifood.com/> and is the European correspondent of
internetnews.com. He is also author of two books on computer graphics,
and of the biographical encyclopaedia "Modern Japanese Novelists"
(Kodansha, NY, 1993).
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FREE PINT BOOKSHELF
<http://www.freepint.co.uk/bookshelf>
"Designing Web Usability: the practice of simplicity"
Reviewed by Ian Tilsed
Jakob Nielsen is renowned as a web usability guru, so when this book
was published last year it understandably commanded attention. It is
the first of two books on the subject of web usability. This first
book is about the 'what' of good websites, with the second intending
to be about the 'how'. Essentially this book extols the virtue of
simplicity and encourages website designers to concentrate on the
users' needs rather than fancy design.
The essence of this fairly large volume (over 400 pages) is explained
and argued across four main sections, namely Page, Content, Site, and
Intranet design. Under page design Nielsen engages with cross-platform
design, linking, style sheets and frames ("just say no"). Content
design includes such topics as writing for the web and the use of
multimedia, where the web is described as an 'attention economy' where
users will swiftly move on if they do not receive immediate benefits
upon arriving at a site. Nielsen then argues for greater consideration
to be given to overall site design in the third main section, where
the importance of such issues as navigation, search capabilities and
URL design are hammered home. The section on intranet design to some
extent repeats earlier material, but Nielsen ably differentiates
intranet from Internet design and illustrates the issues particular to
corporate information infrastructures. Two further chapters,
considering the importance of designing for both accessibility (for
users with disabilities) and the global audience (internationalisation
versus localisation) appear before Nielsen attempts to predict the
future. In characteristic style he anticipates the death of the web
browser, considers bandwidth and searches for a metaphor for the web
in other media. The only web constant, he argues, is change. The
conclusion looks at the main reasons users visit sites and argues
ultimately for simplicity in web design.
Any reader of this book will be left in no doubt that Jakob Nielsen
both passionately believes in web usability and knows exactly what he
is talking about. Packed with full colour screenshots to illustrate
principles, this book sets out the fundamental precepts of good
design. Nielsen brings to his book results of surveys and previous
work to underpin his points, although he is not averse to
occasionally arguing for a point because he feels it should, quite
simply, be so. The text is easy to read, a pleasure with which to
engage and, for me as a 'webmaster', a catalyst for development. It
is a testament to the usefulness of this book that it has lived beside
my terminal at work for the last few weeks as I put the theory into
practice.
It could be said that what Nielsen writes is all common sense.
Perhaps. That said, Nielsen's insight into usability and its
application brings to life a topic too often neglected in favour of
flashy design. Together with his web site <http://www.useit.com/> this
book should be required reading for all those who are serious about
wanting people to use their web sites. I, for one, will look forward
to the second volume.
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Ian Tilsed is a Computing Development Officer for the University of
Exeter Library and Information Service <http://www.ex.ac.uk/library/>
where, among other duties, he is responsible for the library web site
and some popular pages on library and information science resources.
He is a member of the management committee of the UK Online User Group
(UKOLUG), the Internet News column editor for the UKOLUG Newsletter
and a regular reviewer for a number of publications.
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Related Free Pint links:
* Find out more about this book online at the Free Pint Bookshelf
<http://www.freepint.co.uk/bookshelf/usability.htm>
* Read about other Internet strategy books on the Free Pint Bookshelf
<http://www.freepint.co.uk/bookshelf/strategy.htm>
* Details: ISBN 156205810X published by New Riders Publishing
and written by Jakob Nielsen
* Search for and purchase any book from Amazon via the Bookshelf
<http://www.freepint.co.uk/bookshelf>
To propose an information-related book for review, send details
to <bookshelf@freepint.co.uk>.
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FEATURE ARTICLE
<http://www.freepint.co.uk/issues/290301.htm#feature>
"Quest for Liberty: History of the United States of America"
By Susan Alcock
Having spent a year at university in the USA, I found that I have a
natural interest in that country's history, and now that my daughter
is studying American history I have accumulated a number of links to
some very useful Internet sites which I thought I would share with
you. As always, the USA has an immense number of sites on almost
everything. What I will try to do is list some of those which I have
found interesting, but I absolutely know that for every site I mention
there will be a dozen more on the same subject!
General
=======
One of the very best sites is definitely that of the Library of
Congress <http://www.loc.gov>. This must surely be an example for
many other national libraries to emulate. Five million documents,
sounds and images are now available to access online through this
site. The American Memory <http://memory.loc.gov/> section is
particularly useful for anyone interested in history. The New York
Public Library's Digital Public Library <http://digital.nypl.org/>
also has some fascinating material on its site.
Some sites, like The History Place <http://www.historyplace.com/> and
Biography of America
<http://www.learner.org/biographyofamerica/> have good essays and
further links to sites on various aspects of American history. The
well-researched web directory About
<http://americanhistory.about.com/homework/americanhistory/> has some
very useful information on its site, as has the PBS History site
<http://www.pbs.org/neighborhoods/history/>. Cornell
University's Library has an excellent site called The Making of
America
<http://library5.library.cornell.edu/moa/>, which has a digital
collection of primary sources. These are all good starting places to
research the subject.
In addition, lists of links are a good resource and these are some
which I have found invaluable:
BUBL's links on North American History
<http://link.bubl.ac.uk/historynorthamer>; the History of the World's
section on US History <http://historyoftheworld.com/usa/usa2.htm>;
Studyweb <http://www.studyweb.com/links/1912.html> and Red Rock
Elementary School's list of links
<http://www.cia-g.com/~rockets/siteinfo.htm>.
Museums
=======
Museums too are a good place to find useful and interesting
information. The Smithsonian Institution <http://www.si.edu/> has
links to all its various museums across the country. The National
Museum of American History <http://americanhistory.si.edu/> is just
one of these. Achievements such as air and space exploration can be
found at the National Air and Space Museum which is linked from the
Smithsonian site and more information on the US's space frontier and
history can be found at the official NASA site <http://www.nasa.gov/>.
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)
<http://www.nara.gov/> is another useful site to view, especially
exhibits such as the one entitled "American Originals"
<http://www.nara.gov/exhall/originals/original.html>.
Photography
===========
Photographs play a very important part, both in the chronicling of
events, and also because of the very powerful nature of the images.
Good examples of these are the rise of the black civil rights
movement, which is portrayed vividly both on Kodak's site
<http://www.kodak.com/US/en/corp/features/moore/mooreIndex.shtml>,
at the Seattle Times
<http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/mlk/movement/PT/phototour.html> and
there is an excellent tribute by Kodak
<http://www.kodak.com/US/en/corp/features/martinLuther/> to Martin
Luther King. Dorothea Lange's portraits of migrants during the Great
Depression can be viewed on the Library of Congress site
<http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/print/128_migm.html>. The Library of
Congress American Memory <http://memory.loc.gov/> site gives access to
so many photographs that it is worth your while to go and browse.
Anything from the early illustrations of slaves to the Civil War to
industrial life have been digitised and are available for viewing.
Sound recordings are also available online.
News Magazines
==============
News magazines, such as LIFE Magazine <http://www.lifemag.com/Life/>,
TIME <http://www.time.com/time/> and Newsweek
<http://www.msnbc.com/news/NW-front_Front.asp> all have pertinent
articles to current American affairs, but more importantly they will
often have retrospective exhibits on specific topics, which can be
vitally interesting. A good example is LIFE Magazine's tribute to
Larry Burrows, the British-born photographer
<http://www.lifemag.com/Life/burrows/burrows.html> who became well-
known for his powerful Vietnam War portraits. TIME has a photo essay
section on their web site, which is also well worth looking at
<http://www.time.com/time/daily/photoessays>.
CNN <http://www.cnn.com> has an excellent website and it too will look
retrospectively at historical events. A good example is the special
on Vietnam <http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2000/vietnam/>.
The Presidency
==============
Information on the American Presidency itself can be found at
Grolier's Encyclopedia Online
<http://gi.grolier.com/presidents/ea/ea_toc.html>. The White House
site <http://www.whitehouse.gov/> provides useful, although somewhat
staid, information about the First Family over the years. Obviously
presidents have often had a more colourful life than this official
site will mention! The ever-useful Internet Public Library site has
an excellent resource on presidents <http://www.ipl.org/ref/POTUS/>,
with a lot of useful links to relevant sites and primary documents.
Sites on John F. Kennedy and his life and assassination theories
proliferate, but a good place to start referencing him would be JFK
Resources Online <http://users.southeast.net/~cheryl/jfk.html>. The
Watergate scandal and the Clinton crisis
(Arkansas Online
<http://www.ardemgaz.com/prev/Clinton/starrreport.html>) are two other
aspects of presidential history which are still fresh in people's
minds, and will become entrenched historical study in the future.
American Studies Education
==========================
The British Association of American Studies (BAAS)
<http://www.baas.ac.uk/default.html> supports the American Studies
programme in the United Kingdom. About ten universities in the UK
offer "American Studies" as a degree. In addition, a large number of
universities in the USA offer specialised courses in American
history. To list these here would be too numerous, but some of them
have good Internet resources. Universities Worldwide
<http://geowww.uibk.ac.at/univ/> provides a thorough listing, but a
little research will be needed to find resources on American History
within these sites. Often the libraries will host a page of links;
alternatively a School of American Studies will. One good example is
that put together by the library at my own Alma Mater, The University
of Kentucky (Lexington) <http://www.uky.edu/Subject/history.html>.
Native Americans
================
The earliest inhabitants of North America, the Native Americans, are
sometimes overlooked in reviews of the history of the country. Some
useful information about the tribes and their history as well as their
deep concerns can be found on sites such as First Nations Histories
<http://www.tolatsga.org/Compacts.html> and Native Americans.
<http://www.americanwest.com/pages/indians.htm>. The Smithsonian has
a National Museum of the American Indian <http://www.nmai.si.edu/>
which is worth while visiting. Native American Links
<http://crystal.ncc.cc.nm.us/Cool/nalinks.html> provide some useful
leads as does StudyWeb <http://www.studyweb.com/links/2052.html>.
Exploration and Colonisation
============================
Many nations have sent explorers and early colonists to the New World.
To list all the sites available would take too long, but some good
sites include: Columbus and The Age of Discovery
<http://www.rr.gmcs.k12.nm.us/domagala.history.htm> and a Library of
Congress exhibit called 1492: An Ongoing Voyage
<http://www.ibiblio.org/expo/1492.exhibit/Intro.html>.
The Pilgrim Fathers left Plymouth to settle in the New World. A good
site about the Mayflower and all who sailed on her, with some
fascinating details, is Caleb Johnson's Mayflower Web Pages
<http://members.aol.com/calebj/mayflower.html>.
The Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation
<http://www.lewisandclark.org/> examines the opening up of the West.
Black History
=============
Black history is a large part of American history, from the evolution
out of slavery through to civil rights and beyond. Some excellent
sets of links can be found at The Black History Hotlist
<http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/BHM/bh_hotlist.html>, the University
of Washington's African American History site
<http://www.lib.washington.edu/subject/history/tm/black.html> and this
list, collated by Kevin Holloway
<http://www.ghgcorp.com/hollaway/civil/contents.htm>. The Library of
Congress exhibit entitled African American Odyssey
<http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/aaohtml/exhibit/aointro.html> is also
worth viewing.
Early exhibitions on slavery include an excellent site by PBS called
Africans In America <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/>. Another good
site is one by AfroAmeric@
<http://www.afroam.org/history/slavery/index.html>.
The rise of Civil Rights in America is a fascinating area of history
and there are many excellent resources on the Internet. The National
Civil Rights Museum <http://216.157.9.6/civilrights/> hosts an
informative site. The man most closely associated with the movement
was Martin Luther King, and there are two excellent resources on him
at Life Magazine <http://www.lifemag.com/Life/mlk/mlk.html> and the
Seattle Times <http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/mlk/index.html>.
I saw an interesting film once on a group of black American pilots,
and can thoroughly recommend the history of The Tuskagee Airmen
<http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/Quarters/1350/> and
<http://www.afroam.org/history/tusk/tuskmain.html>. While this is a
small aside in the greater history of black America, it nonetheless
plays its part.
The United States at War
========================
America at War <http://www.semo.net/suburb/dlswoff/> provides some
good timelines and details of treaties and other military
documentation. The excellent About series has a section on US Military
History <http://usmilitary.about.com/careers/usmilitary/mbody.htm>,
which provides good links. Out of necessity for conserving space I am
leaving out early battles, such as that of the Alamo and various
Spanish, French, Dutch, Indian and Mexican wars, but links to these
can be found from the sites which I have mentioned.
American Revolutionary War and Declaration of Independence
----------------------------------------------------------
The American Revolution and the subsequent Declaration of Independence
occupy a lot of space in the history books. A couple of good sites
about the revolution are The American Revolution War Page
<http://www.dell.homestead.com/revwar/files/index.htm> and the PBS
site with details of their film Liberty: The American Revolution
<http://www.pbs.org/ktca/liberty> (a pleasing site). The full text of
Abraham Lincoln's famous Gettysburg Address can be viewed (once
again!) on the Library of Congress site
<http://lcweb.loc.gov/exhibits/gadd> and the Declaration of
Independence can be viewed at the National Archives and Records
Administration (NARA)
<http://www.nara.gov/exhall/charters/declaration/decmain.html>.
Civil War
---------
The listing of sites on the Civil War proliferate on the Internet, but
there are some which look both useful and informative. There is one
simply called www.civilwar.com <http://www.civilwar.com/> which is
well-designed and full of information; another put together by the
United States Civil War Society in Louisiana
<http://www.cwc.lsu.edu/>; The American Civil War Homepage
<http://sunsite.utk.edu/civil-war/warweb.html>, with a excellent
listing of links; a site by Jim Epperson called The Causes of the
Civil War
<http://members.aol.com/jfepperson/causes.html>, with links to lots of
documentation; and one which looks at the lives of individuals who
took part in the Civil War, called Lives: The Biography Resource
<http://amillionlives.com/Collect_spec2.html#civil>.
World War I
-----------
World War I: Trenches on the Web <http://www.worldwar1.com/>, while
not particularly aimed at describing only American involvement in the
war, has some very interesting information.
World War II
------------
There are innumerable sites with information on America's role in
WWII. Most can be accessed from the list of general links above. Two
important aspects of American involvement are worth listing - that of
the Pearl Harbor attack
<http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/myths/ph_links.html> and the Atomic bomb
and its devastating effect
<http://www.rr.gmcs.k12.nm.us/domagala.abomb.htm>.
Korean War
----------
The Korean War is described as The Forgotten Victory in this site
<http://www.theforgottenvictory.org/geteducated.htm>, which has some
good educational material.
Vietnam War
-----------
The Vietnam War Internet Project
<http://www.lbjlib.utexas.edu/shwv/shwvhome.html> is an ambitious
site, which includes almost more information than you believed was
possible. It is very comprehensive and provides immense lists of
links. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund
<http://www.vvmf.org/> allows visitors to view the Wall of Remembrance
and leave a virtual message. It is actually quite poignant to look at
the listing of Americans who gave their life in this conflict.
History Central <http://www.multied.com/Vietnam/index.html> has a
section on Vietnam which lists the chronology of events; Vassar
College has put together a good site on The Wars for Vietnam 1945-1975
<http://students.vassar.edu/~vietnam/>; while Edwin E. Moise has
produced a superb and thorough resource site, the Vietnam War
Bibliography <http://hubcap.clemson.edu/~eemoise/bibliography.html>.
Gulf War
--------
Recent history has had the USA involved in the Gulf War
<http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/gulf/thome.html>, an
engagement also known as Desert Storm <http://www.desert-storm.com/>.
Conclusion
==========
History involves more than wars and political events. Hopefully the
links which I have mentioned above will stir your imagination and will
point you to sites with information on all the above and more,
including the social and cultural history of the most powerful nation
in the world.
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