History Blog Award Nominations #2

Best Newcomer is an easy choice, though aided a lot by my ignorance of which sites are new sites. Respectful Insolence qualifies by a few of days.

It’s another off-kilter choice. Orac is a surgeon and most frequently posts on medical and sceptical subjects. Nevertheless I think he’s a fair choice due to his posts on holocaust denial. They be sandwiched by plenty of other (interesting) material, but that’s no worse than a out-and-out historical blog that publishes excellent stuff occasionally.

And Orac’s work is excellent. Today for instance he makes it easy with his post A truly offensive use of Halloween. One reason some undergraduates are doing ancient history is because after six years of school history they’re sick of the Second World War. In the UK both Channel 5 and the History Channel are ridiculed for their reliance on Nazis. So it’s a huge achievement that Orac can say something interesting and compelling on the subject. If the purpose of the awards is to highlight some excellent examples of the diversity and quality of historical bloggers then Respectful Insolence would be an excellent choice.