This week the National Endowment for the Humanities announced that historian Drew Gilpin Faust will deliver the 2011 Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities. In other news, AHA President-elect William Cronon provides historical background to recent events in Wisconsin, a judge has rejected the Google Books settlement, and President Obama seeks to reform No Child Left Behind. We also link to The Chronicle’s new Two-Year Track blog, an interactive 1811 map of Manhattan, a year behind the wheel of a 1930 Model A, and a murder mystery.

News

• Drew Gilpin Faust named 40th Jefferson Lecturer in the Humanities
  The National Endowment for the Humanities recently announced that Drew Gilpin Faust, eminent historian and President of Harvard University, will deliver the 2011 Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities.
• Wisconsin’s Radical Break
  AHA President-elect William Cronon places the recent efforts in Wisconsin to “strip public employee unions of most collective bargaining rights” in historical context in a recent New York Times piece.
• Judge Rejects Settlement in Google Books Case, Saying It Goes Too Far
  Google’s settlement in the class-action lawsuit against the Google Books project has been rejected by a judge.
• President Obama Calls on Congress to Reform No Child Left Behind Now
  Lee White of the National Coalition for History reported last week that “President Obama [has] urged Congress to pass legislation to reform the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law before the start of the next school year in September.” See also White’s report on Congress’s “inability to pass a budget for fiscal year 2011.”

New Online

• The Two-Year Track
  The Chronicle is featuring a new blog on its site: The Two-Year Track. It will “post items on career-related issues for those who work or want to work at community colleges.”
• How Manhattan’s Grid Grew
  The New York Times offers an interactive look at John Randel’s 1811 street grid of Manhattan.

Fun

• 365 Days of A
  Ever wonder what it would have been like to drive around at car from the early 1900s? Jonathan Klinger is doing just that, driving a 1930 Model A everywhere for a year and documenting his experiences on his blog. 
• Murder in the Time of Cholera
  From Philadelphia Magazine, a story that combines historians, anthropologists, earth scientists, a 178-year old railroad murder mystery, and… ghosts?

Contributors: David Darlington, Noralee Frankel, Elisabeth Grant, Jim Grossman, and Lee White

This post first appeared on AHA Today.