The online version of the April 2011 issue of Perspectives on History is now available to AHA members (sign in to member services to gain full access). Nonmembers can preview a portion of each article during the first month of the issue’s release. After one month, the content will be freely available to all. Nonmembers can now access the March issue of Perspectives on History.

From the President & Executive Director
AHA President Anthony Grafton offers a peek into classes at Rutgers-Camden and how the history department there “exemplifies some of the core strengths of our discipline.” Then, Jim Grossman, the AHA’s executive director, considers how the digital environment affects teaching history to undergraduates.

Technology
Continuing on the digital theme, three historians (Krista Sigler, Michael Creswell, and Jonathan Rees) demonstrate that new technology is good for more than just entertainment, and explain how to teach with Twitter, Skype, and YouTube.

The Art of…
Jane Caplan gives advice on choosing a dissertation topic in our continuing “Art of History” series, while four articles delve into “The Art of the Article.” Aaron Marrs introduces the panel, Peter Coclanis takes on publishing in journals  while Catherine E. Kelly looks at the alternative of publishing online, and Elizabeth Tandy Shermer presents the benefits of collaborating on publications.

News
Co-editors Konstantine Dierks and Sarah Knott detail what’s in the latest issue of the American Historical Review: a forum on “The Senses in History” and an article on narcotics trafficking and territoriality in the interwar Middle East.

Debbie Ann Doyle reports back from the Humanities and Museums Advocacy Days, in which hundreds of supporters lobbied for funding. Also read about the National Personnel Records Center moving and read the AHA Nominating Committee report.

Lee White, of the National Coalition for History, discusses President Obama’s ideas for reforming No Child Left Behind and what that would mean for Teaching American History grants. He also presents his regular roundup of news briefs from Washington, this installment includes a new head of the Wilson Center and a list of the 2010 National Humanities Medals winners.

More
Continuing the Masters at the Movies series, Joyce Appleby takes a look at Oliver Stone’s Wall Street movies. Robert B. Townsend sits down with Zachary Schrag to discuss Ethical Imperialsim. We then take a look back with two articles: the first on an account of one student’s experience taking his qualifying exam in 1952 and the second on the story of David Maydole Matteson (1871–1949) who gave generously to the AHA at the end of his career. Finally, learn about the lives of Lancelot L. Farrar Jr., Lawrence E. Gelfand, Robert Griffith, Peter Andrew Kraemer, and Otis A. Pease in our “In Memoriam” column.

This post first appeared on AHA Today.