One of our loyal correspondents happened to attend the Social Science History Association meeting in Portland last weekend, where an “Author meets the Critics” session was dedicated to Geoff Cunfer’s book On The Great Plains: Agriculture And Environment. The organizers seemed to presume an adversarial situation, but the economist, historian of science, and geographer who made presentations all sang the book’s praises. Phrases such as “clarity of vision”, “an exemplar of what is possible”, and a “clarion call for more work on land use” were bandied about. Congratulations, Geoff!

Geoff Cunfer also gave a paper at the Social Science History Association meeting, "An Unremembered Diversity" (with Kenneth Sylvester), and Gordon DesBrisay was a so-called critic for a session dedicated to an important new collection of essays, The Marital Economy in Scandinavia and Britain, 1400-1900, edited by Maria Agren and Amy Louise Erickson.

Meanwhile, as if by coincidence, John McCannon was giving his own paper, "On the Edge of Time: Images of the Archaic in Fin-de-Siècle Russian Painting," at the National Convention of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies, in Salt Lake City.