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Talk:James M. McPherson

most historians
i removed this sentence, because it is opinion and can not be sourced. However most competent historians would argue the presenations at the battlefields are slanted in favor of the pro-slavery, pro-white supremacy Conferderate States of America.

 * That's a pretty broad statement. How do you back it up? "Most competent historians"? Who is deciding what a "competent" historian is here? What's your criteria? And do you have any facts on your battlefield assertions? DesScorp (talk) 17:51, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

McPherson and neo-confederates
The "gatekeeper" would like to see some references for these broad generalizations:
 * 1 the Sons of Confederate Veterans and United Daughters of the Confederacy ... are largely seen as benign heritage organizations... -Seen by whom?
 * Seen by their 100-year history. The only types who see the UDC and SCV as anything other than that are Ed Sebesta-type demagogues.

 * 2 The UDC and SCV were similarly offended by these comments. -There's one reference to one UDC chapter.
 * And for source purposes that chapter is a representative link to the way the UDC and SCV responded. Digging up and linking each and every single individual SCV and UDC chapter would be an absurd exercise, even by your selectively stringent sourcing demands.

 * 3 Can you provide a source for the "outrage" of the SCV?
 * Your selective source stringency is showing again, willmcw. McPherson's comments dominated the SCV and UDC chapter newsletters for several months after the incident, most of which are in print - not the web. Just because you didn't find it on google doesn't mean it never happened.

See above.Rangerdude 06:24, 11 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * 4 For any UDC chapter besides Virginia?
 * 5 McPherson the ire of many Civil War enthusiasts... -Does this refer to the Virginia UDC too? That's a lot of mileage to get out of one webpage.
 * 6 Since when is Sebesta a "leftist" activist? Last week he was an "anti-neo-confederate" activist.

 * Looking at his various blogs (he has several), its fairly obvious he tends to reside more on the left-wing side of the political spectrum. His blogs also link to several left-wing websites, authors, and blogs. DesScorp (talk) 17:51, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

Thanks, -Willmcw 06:08, 11 Feb 2005 (UTC) Note: Critics of McPherson have taken over here and dominated this Wikipedia article. Amazing! I recently learned of his work as a civil war historian. It is clear his accomplishments as an author and historian are worthy. RD, I have no problem with including the information sourced on the Virginia UDC page, and any other information supported by specific, verifiable information. Many, most, some and related vaguenesses with no support should be avoided in an encyclopedia.
 * It's fine to reduce those terms and refine the language to something more precise, but demanding several links for each and every facet of a commonly known incident among the UDC and SCV when the existing one suffices is excessive and goes well beyond the elimination of vagueness.Rangerdude 07:54, 11 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Regarding point #1, lasting 100 years is no guarantee of goodness. If you want to say it is "generally regarded", you are asserting something that is virtually unprovable unless someone has taken a poll. Just omit it.
 * It may or may not be a guarantee of anything, but it is factually correct to note that the SCV and UDC have not encountered much of any criticism ala the Sebestas of the world until the last decade, and even then only from a small number of persons like Sebesta who are on the political fringe. Mainstream groups like their union veterans descendants counterparts and other geneological associations seem to have no problem with the SCV or UDC and often participate in activities together with them.Rangerdude 07:54, 11 Feb 2005 (UTC)

For #2 & #3: If the SCV as a whole has expressed outrage, then the press release should not be hard to find. The SCV has a national governing body. If it wants to be outraged, it is capable of passing a resolution or writing an essay. And if one chapter of one society has expressed outrage, then that should be what we write. Whatever the verifiable facts are. There is plenty of room for facts and citations. There is no room for unsupported generalizations.
 * A press release is not necessarily hard to find (and in fact there were several print articles in the SCV newsletters at the time discussing McPherson). Online electronic versiosn of press releases for a controversy that happened SIX YEARS AGO, on the other hand, are not easy to come by for the very obvious reasons of time and the fact that elderly geneologists aren't particularly known for posting their daily activities on the internet, an especially not 6 years ago when the internet was still relatively new to most people.Rangerdude 07:54, 11 Feb 2005 (UTC)

For #4: If you have a scanner or a good digital camera, and access to the newsletters, then you could scan in some of the articles or LTE's that you would like to use for citations. Otherwise they aren't verifiable. That's one of the Wiki tenets.
 * It is NOT a wiki tenet either that I have to dig up and scan a newsletter for you from half a decade ago to personally satisfy your selectively stringent citation demands on a matter that is already documented beyond any reasonable person's standards on the existing source link. Use a little common sense. It's not as if this controversy is being asserted out of the blue with nothing to back it up - there's a very detailed link that sources it through the UDC and details the progress of the controversy (including a quote where McPherson himself acknowledges his UDC *AND* SCV detractors and tries to respond to them).Rangerdude 07:54, 11 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Regarding your other edits, you've basically reverted all of the editing that I did except for (some of) the new facts that I've added. I see that you wrote most of the previous article, but that doing so does not give an editor "ownership". The amount of space devoted to criticism is far in excess to the description of his many accomplishments, and it needs to be brought into balance.
 * I attempted to incorporate what you added into the existing article. If I have missed something you added, by all means tell me what it is and we can put it back in. However you came along and completely reorganized the existing article without any sound reason offered and with an apparent goal of doing the exact same thing you did on the Sebesta and neo-confederate articles: propping up your side of the issue while downplaying and covering up anything and everything factual that potentially makes your side look bad. For example, others have made material critiques of both McPherson's politics AND his scholarship. One of the critiques of the latter was specified and linked to (i.e. McPherson's allegedly poor handling of economic issues). Yet your edit removed that critique from the discussion of his scholarship, stuck it in the bottom of the article with his political views, and added a positive quote about his scholarship in its place. I have no problem with that positive quote about his scholarship, but there's no reason to remove and relocate negative statements about his scholarship as well.Rangerdude 07:54, 11 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Please do not add ad hominem comments to the edit summaries; they are not necessary or helpful. I do not think that it is appropriate for you to be accusing me of pursuing a POV in editing this article. Please, let's focus on writing a fair, even-handed, verifiable biography of a history professor. Thanks. -Willmcw 07:01, 11 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * I accused you of a POV because you are pushing the same type of POV that caused us to go down this same path in the other articles. In all three articles where we've had these discussions they've been about your edits that try to weaken or remove any material that isn't favorable to your opinion. You now evidently have a favorable opinion of McPherson - which is fine in itself. But, in light of that opinion, you are conducting your edits in a way that minimizes discussion of and diminishes portrayal of facts, events, and critics who reflect unfavorably upon McPherson. As I have said many times, I have no problem if you want to load up the article with every friendly quote of praise for McPherson imaginable and talk about whatever good stuff you want to that he's done. But when you go through and cleanse out factually valid and adequately referenced material (and don't give me this garbage about scanning newsletter images for you from six years ago on a commonly known subject that can be directly inferred from the existing links I have given you) that reflects negatively on him, it IS pushing a POV. Rangerdude 07:54, 11 Feb 2005 (UTC)

More vague asertions
The point is that most historians who run historical organizations write about historical topics in their organization's magazine. McPherson has used it repeatedly to pontificate about modern political issues including twice on Bush and Iraq and another time on the Michigan affirmative action case. That isn't even a simple break from the routine of historical writing - its a consistent pattern. Nor is that the extent of his activism as discussed in the current article. He's also spoken out about modern confederate flag controversies such as South Carolina. There's also the Pacifica interview, which if you read the entire thing you'll find it was a political commentary show called Democracy Now! and the subject was George W. Bush. I'm certain there's plenty of other things he's done, but I don't think that list of repeated and constant modern political commentary is "slightly active" by any means. You're straining at gnats to deny the obvious, will. Some paleo-conservatives may oppose the war in Iraq, but they don't typically speak out in favor of an Affirmative Action court case or sign petitions supporting Bill Clinton. It is also my understanding that McPherson himself is open about his liberal leanings. A quick google search immediately pulls up three favorable articles written about him by leftist organizations that identify his politics as "progressive" or "liberal" Did you simply not read the Pacifica interview despite all our discussions of it? He says very plainly at the end of the interview that he opposes the contemporary use of the flags and criticizes Trent Lott for defending it.
 * 1) McP is "very politically active". The only specifics given are a petition (signed mostly by professors) opposing the Clinton impeachment and two columns in a magazine for professional historians. That counts as "slightly political active", if anything. Is there any other political activity? Is he a party committeman? Alderman?
 * 1) McP "...is a supporter of many liberal causes...". Which ones? Opposition to the rhetoric that led to the war in Iraq is not an especially liberal issue. (Moderates and Paleoconseravatives are opposed to it as well.) Let's list the liberal causes that he supports. There's room.
 * 1) "McPherson has also espoused the removal of confederate flag imagery..." Cite please. I did a search and it didn't show up.
 * "I do know that the issue of the Confederate flag in South Carolina and also in Georgia where the Confederate battle flag was incorporated into the state flag back in 1956, that those, that of those flags has a contemporary political agenda, and to the extent that any politician endorses that, I think Trent Lott did as well a couple of years ago, far more vigorously, I can't support them in doing that."

Rangerdude 08:22, 11 Feb 2005 (UTC) See the DiLorenzo article links for a criticism of his marxist themes. His marxist/revolutionary themes are also discussed in the favorable articles about him that I linked to above. Foner is related to McPherson in that both are well know Civil War historians and both have reputations for marxist-revolutionary themes in their approach to the war.Rangerdude 08:22, 11 Feb 2005 (UTC) Please do not add this material back in until you can support these vague assertions. Thank you. -Willmcw 07:47, 11 Feb 2005 (UTC) Yes there are other critics, particularly at the Rockwell/Von Mises site. DiLorenzo is simply the most prominent of them and one of the best known academics to make this critique. Going through and naming each and every person who has ever blogged a critique of McPherson's economics though would be tedious and cluttery when DiLorenzo, who has a wiki article about him already, more than suffices.Rangerdude 08:22, 11 Feb 2005 (UTC) I've added back some stuff you removed and modified others to include the specifics that you've filled in above. Thanks for providing that info. Regarding the AHA column, his predecessor is given the credit for setting the precedent of writing "president's columns" on politically-related issues. I've added a cite for that fact. Cheers, -Willmcw 09:55, 11 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * 1) "Others criticism of McPherson note that his work is known to exhibit marxist or revolutionary themes - a historiographical complaint that has also been made against Civil War historian Eric Foner." Cite please. I couldn't find this one either. Are you saying that Foner and McPherson are a marxist school of Civil War historians? How is Foner related to McPherson?
 * 1) "His grasp of economic issues ... are described as poor quality by some, including ...DiLorenzo." Is there another critic who describes his grasp of economic issues as poor quality? If so, who? Otherwise we should drop the "some, including" because it implies additional critics. If DiLorenzo is the one critic then we shouldn't put his words into the mouths of others.
 * Thanks for fixing the "Rockford Institute" I'd fixed it to the correct Lewrockwell.com, but then somehow reverted myself in the next edit. I had used the description of Sebesta that the "Democracy Now" webpage uses for him. I don't know why it is important to say "self-described", when other people's terms can be be used to describe him. "Self-described" seems like a prejudicial formulation. NPOV please. Cheers, -Willmcw 21:20, 11 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * self-described indicates that the description of Sebesta, "anti-neo-confederate," is a quote by Sebesta himself. Since Sebesta is a controversial figure who been described by any number of other sources in many different ways it presents a problem of how we identify him. Do we call him an "expert" as he is treated by Pacifica, a virulently left wing source? Or do we go to the other end and call him a "nutcase"? Or a "south hater" as the UDC calls him? The most neutral way around this problem is to quote Sebesta himself and note that he is the source of it. Another issue - the use of singular versus plural to refer to McPhersons critics is problematic. As was the case on the previous articles, using a specifically singular form is misleading because it implies that DiLorenzo is the SOLE person who holds that view, and that is inaccurate just as it is inaccurate to assume that only one UDC chapter was upset by McPherson's pacifica interview since their newsletter is the one on the web.Rangerdude 23:37, 11 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * I suppose we could go through the other mentions of groups and individuals, and change everybody to "self-described." The SCV is a "self-described genealogical society", "DiLorenizo is a self-described economist", etc. I think that it is fair and appropriate to give the guy the reference that he was given on the show since that is the context and the reason he's being mentioned. If you are afraid that it will be taken as a universally accepted description, we can say that he is "described by Goodman as a..." Regarding the number of critics, I'm open to including whatever number is shown to exist. So far, it's the VA UDC and DiLorenzo. Regarding non-web sources, what are they? do you have in your hands on an SCV newsletter expressing "outrage" over McPherson's statemetns? If so, what's the name and date and page number? What evidence, of any kind, do you have? -Willmcw 23:54, 11 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * No. The SCV is by its own structure a geneological society (as in you have to be a descendant of a soldier to join). DiLorenzo is an economist because he has a credentialed PhD in economics. McPherson is a historian because he has a credentialed PhD in history and so forth. Sebesta, however, has no special credentials in anything related to neo-confederate movements and nothing particular about him establishes any credibility he should have beyond the average guy off the street. Because of that he could be easily assigned any number of descriptions and has been called everything from an expert to a nutcase. You may prefer the former and I the latter, but both of those terms would connote a POV so calling him what he calls himself and noting that he is the source of that description is the most neutral way I can think of approaching it. Using Goodman's description of him also gives her very liberal POV undue credibility, as Goodman's view of Sebesta (she considers him an "expert") is NOT universally shared and would be disputed by many people who consider him a non-credible kook. If we let Sebesta speak for himself, however, we find that he describes himself (hence "self-described") as an "anti-neo-confederate" activist. If you remove wording that signifies it's what he calls himself then you leave the description unsourced and without context (aren't you the one who keeps demanding that every detail imaginable be sourced? Or is your selective citation stringency kicking in again?). As to critics being "shown to exist" your selective stringency is indeed kicking in again. Your "standard" - if it could even be called that - for showing something to exist is being able to dig it up on google, which for purposes of citations is a laughable methodology. Using your terminology suggests that DiLorenzo is the SOLE person to criticize McPherson's biases and one single UDC chapter is the SOLE membership of the UDC to be upset over the quote, and that is simply incorrect. A neutral terminology such as that I have offered leaves the issue of concurring voices open without imposing any artificial and factually inaccurate constraint. And quite frankly if you don't know that the SCV and other UDC chapters were upset at McPherson's quote, then you don't know anything about the SCV or UDC and thus you are unqualified to be writing encyclopedia articles about them.Rangerdude 01:03, 12 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * FWIW, as the article is put together now, I think that the source of the criticism is clear enough. As long as we do not add back assertions from unnamed critics or impute emotions to organizations, I am satisfied with the handling of the Democracy Now, Politics, and Criticism sections. Overall, I think that the article could use a bit more of a description of his books and a photo or dustjacket would be cool. Thanks for helping to make this a better article. Cheers, -Willmcw 01:03, 12 Feb 2005 (UTC)

That is fine by me. If you know of a public domain photo of him by all means add it.Rangerdude 01:05, 12 Feb 2005 (UTC)

"Marxist" Eric Foner
If Eric Foner's "...marxist sympathies are well known and openly acknowledged by virtually all people who are familiar with him" then it should not be difficult to name one or two of those people. "unnamed critics" have no place in Wikipedia. Thanks, -Willmcw 02:06, 15 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * It's no matter of "unnamed critics," will. One does not need a source to state that Ronald Reagan was a conservative, that Lyndon Johnson was a liberal, that Henry Wallace was a socialist, or that Eric Foner is a marxist. It is common knowledge to anybody possessing even the slightest familiarity with any of these figures. If you do not have enough familiarity to know this (and it is evident that you lack it on a great many of articles that you attempt to edit), you should not be trying to write an encyclopedia article on them in the first place.Rangerdude 02:13, 15 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * So you can't find even a single authority to cite? Maybe it isn't such common knowledge. If the critics are not named, they are "unnamed critics". -Willmcw 02:17, 15 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * No. I've simply decided that I do not desire to go on one of your deconstructive "source" finding errands over a fact that is common knowledge among anybody who knows the subject matter, which you do not. I no longer see any purpose in responding to the requests of other editors who contribute absolutely nothing new to the articles they attempt to edit and instead send others out on tasks under the threat of deletion. Rangerdude 02:21, 15 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * If you can't be bothered to support your assertions and cite your sources, then don't be surprised when the material is removed. That's the way Wikipedia works. Cheers, -Willmcw 02:51, 15 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Nice try, but last I checked nobody appointed you "Source Policeman." If you find a source is lacking in an article and want to make an issue of it the very first thing you should do is attempt to find one yourself! I am not here to run errands for you, and seeing as Foner's marxist beliefs were a part of the article on him from its very first version long before I arrived there, you have no right to assign that task to me. Going through articles and selectively deleting things that you deem unsourced is deconstructive and approaches vandalism when it is recurring and when it supplants the information with snide unprofessional remarks in the article's text, which you have done several times. Try contributing something to an article for once rather than this silly game of self appointed policeman.Rangerdude 03:02, 15 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Does this rant apply to you?
More guilt by association. Being liberal is bad, as is agreeing with Marxists about anything. Can we have diLorenzo introduced a few more times - maybe we could find out more about him here than there is on his page? and I don't think this article is quite 50% criticism of the guy yet. Maybe we could say he has no economics credentials a few more times. Get crackin'--JimWae 05:58, 2005 Feb 15 (UTC)
 * Who are you addressing this to, Jim? DiLorenzo is mentioned in all of two paragraphs - one summarizing his criticism of McP's scholarship and the other his criticism of McP's political views. It only states that McPherson lacks economic credentials a total of once. And Marxist themes in McPherson's works are the subject of criticism over his scholarship - not a guilt by association thrown in their for no reason. Rangerdude 06:26, 15 Feb 2005 (UTC)

 * DiLorenzo is a nut in any case. The man manages to drag everything he writes around to criticism of Lincoln and the Civil War, including when introducing and editing essays by political philosophers decades dead by 1860; never has there been a more obvious case of axe-grinding and yet here we're projecting that on McPherson. Not to mention it takes a nut to support the Confederate States, since they openly and proudly seceded specifically to preserve and extend slavery. Rogue 9 (talk) 00:41, 31 August 2012 (UTC)

Cleanup
This article needs to be cleaned up - there are significant grammatical mistakes throughout, and some NPOV work could be done too. I can't do this right now because I'm at school, and I'll probably forget by the time I get home, but it needs to be done. – ugen64 16:20, 19 May 2005 (UTC) I would add that this article also needs some substantive discussion of McPherson's ideas, in particular his view of the Civil War as a revolutionary struggle. As it stands this entry is not particularly helpful for someone who is not familiar with McPherson's ideas. One would get the impression from this article that he is mainly known for being disliked by southern neo-confederates. Bryanstreet 16:33, 25 July 2007 (UTC) I took out significant sections of the politics and advocacy section. The previous contributions make it sound like it is somehow suspect for a prominent historian to speak publicly about contemporary issues. This simply is not the case. The examples given, that he publicly opposed impeachment and that he also has opposed the Iraq war, are consistent with mainstream American opinion and hardly radical positions. This article needs more content which fairly describe the work McPherson has done as a scholar. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Bryanstreet (talk • contribs) 20:44, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

predecessors
This is the sentence that I regard as supporting the assertion that McPherson was not breaking ground by using the "President's View" for commentary beyond history. -Willmcw 07:43, Jun 19, 2005 (UTC)
 *  My two immediate predecessors, Lynn Hunt and James McPherson, used the pages of Perspectives to share their thoughts on many matters concerning the writing of history, not excluding political and social commentary.
 * If that is the case, (1) Hunt should be named specifically and (2) a direct link should be made to Hunt's opinion column including note of its subject. Otherwise it's a secondary source hearsay characterization with no real basis for comparison. If it turns out Hunt was advocating historical preservation funding whereas McPherson was ranting about his opposition to the war in Iraq, the two situations are hardly comparable in the sense implied. Find Hunt's material and we'll see based on it whether it is appropriate to include. Rangerdude 18:44, 19 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * (2) here would be original research. This is a qualified opinion by an expert in the field, and should be accepted or answered by an equally reliable source who disagrees. Septentrionalis PMAnderson 01:21, 14 February 2007 (UTC)
 * Hunt's material is on the same website, one year earlier than McPherson. It seems that you don't mind, in this case, removing the informaiton rather than asking for a source first. You jumped on my case for doing less on the Eric Foner article. -Willmcw 00:47, Jun 20, 2005 (UTC)
 * Actually, the source you gave simply happened to be a weak source relating second hand information. Since, unlike my case in the Foner article, you added this material, surely you can identify which article or articles by Hunt you are specifically referring to. Rangerdude 04:10, 20 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * I took Hunt's word for it. I didn't reasearch the underlying material. You're welcome too. Cheers, -Willmcw 08:35, Jun 20, 2005 (UTC)

NPOV
The issue of mentioning DiLorenzo's involvement with the League of the South is problematic under WP:NPOV as the selective presentation of this fact in an article that is not about DiLorenzo has the potential to carry with it both strong positive and negative POV's due to the controversy surrounding the organization. Of all the potential introductions given for DiLorenzo, the choice of highlighting the most controversial organization (when, for example, DiLorenzo is also far more closely affiliated with several other organizations such as the Von Mises Institute) indicates a clear attempt to bias the POV of this article against/towards DiLorenzo based upon one's perceptions of the LOS. That creates a POV problem, as per the NPOV policy, "The neutral point of view is not a "separate but equal" policy. The facts, in themselves, are neutral, but the simple accumulation of them cannot be the neutral point of view. If only the favorable (or the unfavorable) facts of a point of view are shown in an article, the article will still be non-neutral." In light of this, attempts to selectively highlight a fact that has strong non-neutral connotations may be construed as POV pushing and should be avoided. Rangerdude 18:57, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
 * It has to be mentioned because it is important to judge DiLorenco's authenticity. The fact that DiLorenzo is affiliated to the Von Mises Institute is not important in this case to judge his authenticity. That's why does not have to be mentioned. You say: "If only the favorable (or the unfavorable) facts of a point of view are shown in an article, the article will still be non-neutral." Right. So let's have a look at the Academic critcism part. There are IMHO two strong positive facts and one neutral fact.
 * The caption implicates that DiLorenzo is an academic. Academic implicates neutrality and academic work. The impression of the reader must be high authenticity.
 * it is mentioned that he is an economic. Same as academic. That gives a high weight to the "McPherson's grasp of economic issues" assertion.
 * The right way to create a NPOV is to mention all case relating facts the reader needs to adjudicate.
 * So let's create an NPOV article by mentioning DiLorenzos affiliation to the League of the South or skip that part. When we keep it, all relevant and important information has to be mentioned.
 * E^(nix) 23:29, 4 October 2005 (UTC)

Rangerdude, do you have any informations about the reaction of the academic world towards DiLorenzo's work? Can you proof his reliability? E^(nix) 23:37, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
 * The problem with your argument, E^nix, is that by selectively introducting the League of the South information you are attempting to sway the reader's perception of DiLorenzo depending on his or her opinion of that organization. That's not what Wikipedia is about - it's about allowing the reader to make up his or her own mind. Usually factual details about specific individuals or groups are placed on the article about them (in this case Thomas DiLorenzo) - not in the middle of texts in other articles where they are mentioned as a source. I notice you are new to wikipedia, and accordingly you should review WP:NPOV - a policy of this site that requires neutrality on issues such as these. The provision I quoted above is pertinent to this case as it prohibits the selective inclusion of facts with POV connotation - something your LOS reference violates. While it is fair and factual to mention the LOS on DiLorenzo's own article page, that piece of information is by no means what he's best known for (he's best known as an enconomist and Lincoln biographer) and in fact is a comparatively obscure and politically loaded piece of information about him. It would be the same problem if I were to go around to every single article James McPherson is quoted in and change it to "James McPherson, who is affiliated with a communist political party, ..." While it would be factual to note that, selectively choosing it alone as the main piece of information to include about McPherson would constitute POV promotion. Regarding your question about DiLorenzo's work, I can note that he is a widely published book author and has published several peer reviewed articles in academic journals. Books and scholarly journal articles are generally considered the two main indicators of credibility in academia. Rangerdude 02:52, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
 * Thanks for answering my question. But wouldn't it be better (more "matter-of-factly") to discuss the scientific dispute in the article instead of highlighting unreplied criticism? I guess there must be a dispute if DiLorenzo is writing books and is publishing scholarly journal articles. I think this would improve the article.
 * E^(nix) 10:02, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
 * Actually the criticism was part of a replied exchange between the two - DiLorenzo and McPherson. It happened about a year ago in North and South Magazine - one of the main Civil War history magazines in the U.S. DiLorenzo wrote an article for a series they did on Lincoln that emphasized the role of tariffs in the war, suggesting the south was unduly burdened by them. McPherson replied to it in the same issue by criticizing DiLorenzo's tariff arguments and asserting the north to have been the main tariff payer. In the next issue DiLorenzo replied to McPherson, critiquing his lack of statistical evidence and his lack of "even elementary economic theory" behind his assumptions. Rangerdude 15:31, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
 * This does not belong here; if American Civil War ever expressly reflects McPherson's views on the causes, it might be relevant there. Unless there were consensus, or even an even split, that McPherson's scholarship is incompetent, this would be a WP:BLP violation. Septentrionalis PMAnderson 01:26, 14 February 2007 (UTC)

Thank you, Rangerdude, for your last contribution. Well, I think we did a good job. It's much more informative now. I'm finishing my involvement in this article now. E^(nix) 11:11, 6 October 2005 (UTC)

Yet another sentence
The (he has none) assertion has to be cut off. IMHO can be assumed that in 40 years practicing as Doctor of Philosophy McPherson has had enough time and intellectual skills to learn everything about economics he needs to know for his work. Learning about economics includes the training of economic grasp. So it can rather be assumed that McPherson has SOME (maybe still not enough) economic grasp than to assume that he has none as the sentence (he has none) does. E^(nix) 23:29, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
 * I disagree. Unless you can show that McPherson has scholarly credentials in the field of economics it is not valid to revise the article in a way that assumes that he does. Simply having a PhD. does not make somebody an economist or grant him experience in that field - their are thousands of PhD.'s out there in hundreds of different fields who have not picked up an economics textbook since high school, if even that. For all we know about McPherson at the time he has no formal scholarly credentials in the field of economics & thus it is not our place to speculate that he somehow picked them up during his career in a different field. Rangerdude 02:56, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
 * Why are we pointing out that he doesn't have those credentials? There are dozens of credentials that he doesn't have but we aren't mentioning those. Should we mention the lack in the article of every professor who has made some comment outside his main field? -Willmcw 07:53, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
 * Because his lack of economic training is the specific criticism made of McPherson's work by DiLorenzo. Rangerdude 15:16, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
 * (he has none) concerns both, lack of formal scholarly credentials and lack of self trained economic expertness. We know about lack of formal scholarly credentials but we don't know about the actual economic erxpertness of McPherson. So the not fact supported sentence (he has none) had to be removed. Let's not point it out as Willmc says. Everything about McPhersons credentials is said in the head of the article. That's adequate information.
 * E^(nix) 10:20, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
 * Nowhere does the current version say anything either way about "self training" - it says specifically "scholarly credentials in economics" and McPherson simply does not have any - which is what DiLorenzo critiqued him for when McPherson attempted to conduct an economic analysis of trade in one of their exchanges in a well known Civil War magazine, North and South. Rangerdude 15:16, 5 October 2005 (UTC)

SCV Outrage
We still need a source for the SCV's outrage. Thanks, -Willmcw 06:27, 15 November 2005 (UTC)

NPOV - If you're going to damn McPherson, damn him with what was actually said, don't omit anything or shape the article to POV.
I immediately tried to confirm the context of these arguments, regarding McPherson's comments, as the article is definitely NPOV in its present form. The only remaining online segment from the "Democracy Now!" radio show is McPherson responding after Ed Sebesta had already made his arguments about various groups, including the Museum of the Confederacy, being "neo-Confederate". It is harder to shade exactly whether McPherson (and Sebesta) were referring to the HISTORICAL reason why these groups were formed, or whether they were referring to the PRESENT makeup of such groups, because the earlier segment from Sebesta does not exist where we can listen to it, or read its direct transcript. In other words, was Sebesta claiming that a group such as SCV was started in the 1800s with "Neo-Confederate" aims, or is he claiming that today the group has these motives? Therefore, is McPherson agreeing that historically, these groups were "neo-Confederate", or was he agreeing that they currently have a motive of "white supremacy". Context is important in making these accusations, and certainly in how they are discussed here. Far from what was previously written in the article, which claimed that McPherson accused board members of being "neo-Confederate," he went out of his way to compliment the museum and note that they had made strides in putting together a professional museum that could compete with any major museum in the US. What he specifically argued was that there was a "dimension" in which some hobbyists and museum supporters/board members could be considered "celebratory," while others would be considered "genuinely historical." This is the full, unexpurged commentary on that radio segment: '''MCPHERSON: I do think though, that the Museum of the Confederacy, as it exists today, is in a different category. Its founding motives, back in the 1890s, at the same time that the United Confederate Veterans, and the Daughters of the Confederacy and the Sons of Confederate Veterans were founded, its founding motives were celebratory. But over time, and especially in the last decade or two, it has become a much more professional, research-oriented, professional exhibit-oriented facility.''' Q: ...(asking about the Lone Star Ball) '''MCPHERSON: I, I can't ... I think the motives of people who fundraise money for the museum, and who attend balls in period costume and so on, probably range from celebratory to genuinely historical. So there is a dimension to that. But I do think that the Museum of Confederacy is now a research and professional museum in the same category as other highly regarded museums around the country.''' '''Some of its supporters, I'm sure, some of its sponsors, some of its members of the boards of trustees, are undoubtedly neo-Confederate. I do know that back in 1992 and 1993, the Museum of Confederacy had a special exhibit on slavery and on the relationship of slavery and the Civil War, which the Old Guard in Richmond, who identified with the Confederate heritage, were very angry about, because that exhibit made all the same kinds of points that Sebesta or I, or I would make about the Civil War, that slavery was at the root of the conflict that led to the war. That slaves played a major part as labor force for the Confederacy, but also a major part of soldiers for the Union. They've also had a good exhibit on Reconstruction, and on the creative, positive roles that blacks have played in Reconstruction. They have, they have moved away from the celebratory pro-slavery heritage that was involved in their founding.''' Additionally, the linked webpage that calls for a boycott of McPherson appears to be a Virginia chapter of SCV only. Did other chapters call for a boycott? Is there proof that this boycott was system-wide? Did the Daughters of the Confederacy join in the boycott? Any other group? This organization (SCV) is one that has had divisiveness and a split on other issues. There have been controversies regarding racism and. The way the article currently stands, there's almost as much about the Virginia chapter of the SCV as there is about McPherson - who is the article about? Perhaps this really belongs in a larger article regarding controversies about these Confederate organizations, rather than McPherson. Politely, 67.10.133.121 06:39, 14 November 2006 (UTC)
 * I encourage you to edit the article to better summarize the available sources. -Will Beback · † · 08:10, 7 December 2006 (UTC)

Hello, last time i checked, this was an encyclopedia, not a boxing match. Why don't you just find another article if you guys just keep changing this one every five minutes? You can get a free website and write whatever you want but don't go over to wikipedia and do it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Andrew Szanton (talk • contribs) 01:32, 9 November 2007 (UTC)

McPherson as a source: Lacks neutrality? Undue Weight?
I offered some cited material from McPherson at the Gettysburg Campaign wiki site on the subject of R.E.Lee and his military strategy in Maryland.

An editor strongly suggested I get another source to maintain "a neutral point of view without giving undue weight to a singular author's point of view." Are you kidding?

Since when is it nessesary to "back up" McPherson? Is this also required when citing Douglas S. Freeman, Shelby Foote, Allan Nevins, Bruce Catton and others among this pantheon of US historians?

To say "it's a good idea to get more than one source" is nonsense. If an editor thinks another is needed, let them go and find one that suits his or her.

Too many "award winning" editors at Wiki as it is, too few real contributors. 36hourblock (talk) 21:34, 24 May 2011 (UTC)

External links modified
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title: Talk:James M. McPherson


text:
Steve Alford

Stephen Todd Alford (born November 23, 1964) is an American men's college basketball coach and former professional player who is the head coach for the Nevada Wolf Pack of the Mountain West Conference (MWC). Born and raised in Indiana, he was a two-time consensus first-team All-American playing in college for the Indiana Hoosiers. He led them to a national championship in 1987. After playing professionally for four years in the National Basketball Association (NBA), he has been a college head coach for over 30 years.

Alford was named Indiana Mr. Basketball in high school before playing at Indiana University Bloomington under coach Bobby Knight. He helped the Hoosiers claim their fifth national championship, and finished his career as Indiana's all-time leading scorer. Alford was selected in the second round of the 1987 NBA draft by the Dallas Mavericks, and played four years in the league with Dallas and the Golden State Warriors. Alford then became a college head coach. He has coached at Manchester University, Southwest Missouri State University, the University of Iowa and the University of New Mexico. He spent $5 1/2$ seasons with the UCLA Bruins before being fired midseason in 2018–19. By leading Nevada to the NCAA Tournament in 2023, he became the fourth head coach to lead five teams to the NCAA Division I Tournament.

Early life
Alford was born in Franklin, Indiana and grew up in New Castle. He learned to count as a three-year-old by watching the numbers tick off the scoreboard in Monroe City, where his father, Sam Alford, coached the high school team. Sam often moved for various coaching jobs. Steve missed only two of his father's games, once when he contracted chicken pox, and once when he made the regionals of the Elks Club free-throw shooting contest. When Alford was nine years old, he attended a basketball camp put on by Coach Bob Knight. Eventually the Alfords settled in New Castle, Indiana. Steve played on the New Castle Chrysler High School basketball team which his father coached. Steve Alford was known to practice shooting so much that he would wear out six or seven basketball nets each summer and would frequently forgo social activities.

As a high school freshman, Alford barely averaged a point a game. However, he averaged 18.7 points the next season. By his senior year in 1983, before the three-point line was even implemented, Alford averaged 37.2 points per game and earned the Indiana "Mr. Basketball" award. His team advanced to the state quarterfinal but lost to Connersville in the 1983 state tournament. Later, shortly after Alford won a gold medal on the US Olympic team (coached by Bob Knight the head coach of Indiana University's basketball team, where Steve would later play), Steve gave the medal to his father in a tearful ceremony at the high school in tribute to the loss.

College and Olympic career
Alford decided to play basketball for Bob Knight and the Indiana Hoosiers. At Indiana University Bloomington, he became the university's all-time leading scorer with 2,438 points (a record later eclipsed by Calbert Cheaney, who went on to become the Big Ten's all-time leading scorer). Alford was the first player to be named the team's MVP four times. During his final three seasons, Alford earned first team all-Big Ten honors. In the Legends of College Basketball by The Sporting News Alford was No. 35 on the list of the 100 greatest Division-I college basketball players. When The Sporting News named its top ten NCAA basketball players of the 1980s in December 1989, Alford was listed at number ten.

As a freshman, Alford quickly earned the favor of Coach Knight. Dan Dakich, Alford's former teammate and later an interim Indiana coach, said "Steve was incredibly mature as a freshman. He was getting thrown out of practice then. If Coach respects you and knows you can handle it, he'll do that. When I was a freshman, only Randy Wittman and Ted Kitchel, the seniors, were thrown out." That year Alford helped lead Indiana to an upset of the Michael Jordan-led North Carolina Tar Heels in the 1984 NCAA tournament.

For the 1984 Summer Olympics Alford, just 19 years old that summer after his freshman year, was selected to play on the US basketball team, coached by Bob Knight. Alford averaged 10.3 points per game, was second in assists, and shot .644 from the field. He and his teammates won the gold medal. Alford has recounted that during the Olympic training camp, teammate Michael Jordan bet him $100 that he would not last four years on Knight's Indiana team.

As a sophomore, Alford was named to the 1985 NIT All-Tournament team after the Hoosiers finished second behind UCLA. As a junior, he and the 1985–86 Hoosiers were profiled in a best-selling book A Season on the Brink. Author John Feinstein was granted unprecedented access to the Indiana basketball program and insights into Knight's coaching style. The book recounts how Knight once criticized Alford's work habits and leadership ability, telling him he couldn't "lead a whore into bed." Knight later admitted Alford was in fact an incredible worker and leader and the comments were just Knight's method of motivating players. The Hoosiers went 21–8 that year and finished second in the Big Ten, with Alford earning All-America and Big Ten Player of the Year honors.

In his senior year, the Alford-led 1986–87 Hoosiers won Indiana's fifth national championship, when the team defeated Syracuse in title game of the tournament. The game was decided by a game-winning jump shot by Keith Smart with five seconds remaining. Alford shot 7 for 10 from the three-point line and scored 23 points, including a buzzer-beating three-pointer at the end of the first half that positioned the Hoosiers ahead by one point to start the second half.

After graduation, Alford wrote Playing for Knight: My Six Seasons with Coach Knight, a book chronicling his playing experiences during college.

Professional playing career
Alford was drafted 26th in the 1987 NBA draft. Many fans in Indiana expected Alford to be drafted by the Indiana Pacers, but the Pacers selected Reggie Miller and Alford fell to the Dallas Mavericks. Initially the choice angered Indiana fans but ultimately they, and even Alford, embraced the decision. Years later, Alford said "not only was it a much better draft choice than drafting me... Reggie turned out not to be a great pick, he turned out to be great for the state of Indiana." Alford played in the NBA for four seasons, mostly with the Dallas Mavericks, although he spent a portion of one season with Golden State Warriors. Over his career, he started three games, scored 744 points, had 176 assists and shot free throws with an accuracy of 87 percent.

Player profile
Alford quickly became the face of Indiana basketball and a fan favorite throughout the state. Dan Dakich, Alford's former teammate and later an interim Indiana coach, said of him, "Basically, he owns all of Indiana." Alford's wife Tanya said, "Everybody talks about his hair, his all-American image, how mothers would want him to marry their daughter. Everybody thinks he's so perfect. Well, that's a pretty accurate image. That's exactly what he is."

Alford embodied the "David versus Goliath" image of Indiana basketball popularized in the hit movie Hoosiers (released in 1986 while Alford was at Indiana). He was small for a major-college guard, slow without any compensatory quickness and strong only because he ate and flexed himself up to 185 pounds from 150 as a freshman. According to commentators, Alford owed his success to repetition and work. In his workouts he would pick a spot on the floor and take ten shots. If he did not make eight, he would punish himself with fingertip push-ups or wind sprints. At the end of his college career, Coach Knight said, "He's gotten more out of his abilities offensively than anybody I've seen play college basketball. He's about as good a scorer for being strictly a jump shooter as I've ever seen. He's scored more than 2,400 points that way, and that's incredible, considering he doesn't get any tip-ins, drives or dunks."

Alford is considered one of the best free throw shooters in the history of the game. Alford's free throw percentage of .897 (535–596) is ninth best in the history of the NCAA. His form at the foul line is so routine that it inspired a famous mantra from Indiana fans: "Socks, shorts, 1–2–3 swish". Before releasing a free throw, Alford told himself, "Soft over the front edge of the rim," and some people believed they could see his lips move.

Manchester University Spartans
Alford began his college coaching career in North Manchester, Indiana in 1991 as head coach of the Division III Manchester University's basketball program. During his four seasons with the team, Alford had a record of 78–29. When Alford began coaching that team, the team had lost its first eight games. During his first season there Alford won four of 20 games. In his first full season as coach the team posted a record of 20–8. In the next season Manchester posted a record of 23–4, and in his fourth and final season his team finished 31–1.

In 1994 and 1995 Manchester won conference titles, and in Alford's final three seasons the team competed in the NCAA Division III Tournament. Under Alford, the team won three straight conference tournament titles (1993, 1994, 1995). The team advanced to the Division III championship game in 1995, placing second in the nation after suffering its first defeat in 32 games. The loss to Bo Ryan's University of Wisconsin-Platteville team marked the only title game in NCAA history matching two undefeated squads.

In 1993, 1994, and 1995 Alford was named the Indiana Collegiate Conference Coach of the Year. In the 1994–95 season the Manchester team was inducted into the school Hall of Fame. In 1999 Alford was also inducted into Manchester's Hall of Fame.

Missouri State Bears
Following his time at Manchester, Alford was named the head coach at Southwest Missouri State University, now Missouri State University. He began his position there in the 1995–96 season, and would remain there until 1999. During his time at Missouri State, his teams posted a 78–48 record. In 1999, the Bears advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament before losing to Duke. As of 2024, Missouri State has not made an appearance in the NCAA Tournament since Alford's departure.

Iowa Hawkeyes
Alford was named the head coach of the University of Iowa Hawkeyes men's basketball program on March 22, 1999. Although his first game as coach was a 70–68 victory against the defending national champion Connecticut Huskies at Madison Square Garden, his team went 14–16 during his first season at Iowa. During his second year (2000–01) the Hawkeyes went 23–12 in the regular season and 7–9 in the Big Ten Conference regular season, but they won the Big Ten Conference men's basketball tournament with four straight wins against Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, and Indiana. This earned them a #7 seed in the 2001 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, where they defeated Creighton in the first round but lost to Kentucky in the second round.

The Hawkeyes' conference record dropped to 5–11 during the 2001–02 season, but they defeated Purdue, Wisconsin, and Indiana in the Big Ten tournament before losing to Ohio State in the finals. The Hawkeyes played in the National Invitation Tournament that season, but lost to LSU in the first round to finish with a 19–16 record. This was the first of three straight seasons that the Hawkeyes played in the NIT under Alford. They won the first two rounds of the 2003 tournament against Valparaiso and Iowa State before losing to Georgia Tech, finishing with a 17–14 record. That season, leading scorer Pierre Pierce was charged with raping a female Iowa athlete. Alford was adamant about Pierce's innocence. A plea bargain was reached where Pierce pleaded guilty to a lesser charge. He was suspended from the team and redshirted. In 2004, Iowa lost to St. Louis in the first round of the NIT to finish 16–13 despite a 9–7 conference record (the first winning Big Ten Conference record under Alford).

The Hawkeyes finished 21–12 with a 7–9 conference record in the 2004–2005 regular season, but they won their first two Big Ten tournament games against Purdue and Michigan State before losing the third game to Wisconsin, 59–56. They earned an at-large invitation to the 2005 NCAA tournament as a #10 seed, where they lost 76–64 to Cincinnati in the first round. In 2005, in a separate incident, Pierce was charged with sexual assault of his ex-girlfriend, and he was dismissed from the team before charges were filed. However, Alford's reputation among Iowa fans suffered. Pierce later served 11 months in a correctional facility.

During the 2005–06 season, the Hawkeyes went undefeated at Carver-Hawkeye Arena and finished in a second-place tie with Illinois with an 11–5 conference record, one game behind Ohio State. However, the Hawkeyes defeated Minnesota, Michigan State, and Ohio State to win the Big Ten tournament and finish 25–8 going into its third NCAA tournament under Alford. They were seeded #3 in the Atlanta Regional of the 2006 NCAA tournament, but lost in a first-round upset to No. 14 seed Northwestern State 64–63, leaving Alford with only one NCAA tournament win since taking over at Iowa.

During the 2006–2007 season, Alford led the Hawkeyes to an 8–6 non-conference record (losing to in-state rivals Drake and Northern Iowa) and a 9–7 record in the Big Ten Conference (17–14 overall). Iowa failed to make the NCAA tournament or the NIT. It marked the first time since the 1976–1977 season that an Iowa team with a winning record has failed to make either the NCAA tournament or the NIT.

At the conclusion of the 2006–2007 season, Alford resigned from the University of Iowa to accept the coaching position at the University of New Mexico. He led the Hawkeyes to the NCAA tournament three times, but had a 61–67 record in the Big Ten, only once finishing higher than fourth in the conference.

New Mexico Lobos
Alford was named head coach at the University of New Mexico on March 23, 2007, replacing the fired Ritchie McKay. In his first year as the Lobos coach Alford posted a record of 24–9, 11–5 in league play. Twenty-four wins is the most for a New Mexico head coach in their first year. The Lobos were led by future 1st round Boston Celtics draft pick J. R. Giddens. The Lobos were eliminated in the first round of the NIT by Cal.

In his second season, led by seniors Daniel Faris, Tony Danridge and Chad Toppert, Alford guided the Lobos to their first conference championship in 15 years. He earned the MWC Coach of the Year Award for his team's performance. Alford also set a record for most wins in the first two seasons for a UNM head coach. Alford and his New Mexico squad fell just short of the NCAA tourney and ended up with their second consecutive NIT bid. They won a first round home game against Nebraska and lost on a last second buzzer beater on the road to Notre Dame.

His third year, coaching a mostly young, untested team, Alford's Lobos nevertheless won the regular season MWC title for the second year in a row, were ranked in the top 15 for the majority of the year, and earned a #3 seed in the NCAA tournament, the team's first bid since 2005. In the first round, they survived a tough game against Montana 62–57, but despite Dairese Gary's 28 points, fell in the second round to an upstart Washington side. At the end of the season Coach Alford received a ten-year contract extension through the 2019–2020 season.

The 2010–2011 season started with Alford's group at 12–4 after non-conference play, but the team struggled to an 8–8 conference regular season record. Drew Gordon and Dairese Gary led a talented team that underachieved much throughout the year into the conference tournament. The team seemed poised to make a run in the MWC conference tournament, but a tragic ACL injury to Gary in the semi-finals against BYU proved to be too much to overcome for this young UNM squad. Alford also had a confrontation with a Brigham Young player in which Alford called him an "extremely vulgar" name, according to the Wall Street Journal. Their 2010–2011 season ended with an NIT loss to Alabama 74–67. However, with everyone coming back (with the exception of Gary), the following season seemed to hold promise.

The 2011–2012 season began with a rough patch. UNM was picked to win the league for the first time in Alford's five years at the helm, but the team started a questionable 2–2 with losses to home state rival NMSU and a bottom feeder WCC team in Santa Clara. UNM then raced off to a twelve-game win streak and finished the non-conference season at 14–2. UNM then went on to have a 10–4 conference regular season record and a share of the conference title with arch-rival San Diego State. It was only fitting that the regular season co-champions would square off in the MWC tournament title game. With Drew Gordon and Demetrius Walker leading a battle tested UNM team in the championship, Alford and his Lobos prevailed to a 69–58 conference tournament title. UNM received a fifth seed in the NCAA West region, and they defeated Casper Ware and the Long Beach State 49ers in their first game of the NCAA tournament. The Lobos lost to the Louisville Cardinals in their next game.

In the 2012–2013 season, with a vicious defensive team, Alford led his Lobo squad to a 26–5 regular season record, winning the Mountain West Regular Season conference title. Alford won his third MWC coach of the year honor, and New Mexico garnered another Player of the Year award in Kendall Williams. New Mexico was primed to make a deep run in the NCAA tournament after winning the MWC conference tournament for the second straight year. At 29–5 entering the tournament, New Mexico was an early favorite as a Final Four participant by several analysts and publications, but Alford and his No. 3 seed Lobos were upset by an underdog 14th-seeded Harvard team, who won their first NCAA tournament game in school history.

Three Sweet Sixteens in four years
On March 30, 2013, Alford signed a seven-year, $18.2-million contract to become the head coach of the UCLA Bruins, joining a program that has won a record 11 national titles. He replaced the fired Ben Howland, who was coming off a blowout loss in the first round of the 2013 NCAA tournament after UCLA had captured the Pac-12 Conference regular season title with a new up-tempo offense. Overall, Howland won four conference titles and reached the Final Four three straight times (2006–2008) with the Bruins. Alford had a 5–7 NCAA tournament record, and had only advanced his teams beyond the first weekend of the tournament once before, when he led his Cinderella squad from Southwest Missouri State to the Sweet 16 in 1999. UCLA tasked Alford with reviving their offense, connecting with a new generation of players, and rejuvenating its fan base. He accepted the UCLA position just three days after he had signed a 10-year extension at New Mexico. At UCLA's introductory news conference, Alford was questioned about his handling of Pierce in Iowa, and he stated that he did "everything that [he] was told to do." Criticism grew over his hiring, especially over his handling of Pierce. Two weeks after his hiring, Alford apologized for declaring Pierce's innocence "before the legal system had run its course. This was inappropriate, insensitive and hurtful, especially to the young female victim involved, and I apologize for that."

Soon after his hiring, Alford filled his head assistant coaching staff position with good friend and former John Calipari assistant Ed Schilling. Also hired were David Grace, a rising assistant who spent 2008–2013 on the Oregon State staff, and Duane Broussard, who spent 2008–2013 as Alford's assistant at New Mexico. Tyus Edney, who starred on UCLA's 1995 national championship team, continued as director of operations. In his first season, fans accused Alford of nepotism for playing his son Bryce over fellow freshman Zach LaVine. The Bruins had rarely sought players who were not four- or five-star recruits, while Bryce was rated a consensus three-star prospect. The coach groomed his son over LaVine to be the team's backup point guard behind starter Kyle Anderson. Alford directed the Bruins to the title in the 2014 Pac-12 tournament, the school's first conference tournament title in six years. They advanced to the Sweet 16 of the 2014 NCAA tournament—their first regional semifinal appearance since 2008—before falling to Florida, who improved to 4–0 all-time against UCLA in the NCAA tournament.

After Anderson and LaVine left UCLA for the National Basketball Association (NBA), Bryce became the Bruins' starting point guard in 2014–15. Although he was considered more of a shooter than a true point guard,  Alford's son was the team's only legitimate option for the position. The Bruins began the season at 4–0 and ranked No. 22 before losing two of three games at the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament. Beginning with their December loss at home to Gonzaga, the Bruins lost five consecutive games, their longest streak since 2009–10. Losses included a 39-point defeat to No. 1 Kentucky—they fell behind 24–0 and trailed 41–7 at halftime—and by 32 points against Utah. UCLA closed out the regular season with three straight home wins to finish undefeated (9–0) at home in the conference for the first time since 2006–07. The Bruins went 1–1 in the 2015 Pac-12 tournament, but proved most major projections wrong by receiving an invitation to the 2015 NCAA tournament, earning a No. 11 seed. The squad became the lowest-seed UCLA team to ever reach the regional semifinals. They benefitted from a controversial goaltending call and a favorable second-round matchup with No. 14 seed Alabama Birmingham to advance to the Sweet 16, when they lost again to Gonzaga.

Fanbase grows restless (2015–2018)
In 2015–16, UCLA finished with a 15–17 record, the fourth time the program finished with a losing record since 1948, when John Wooden became the coach. The team missed the NCAA tournament for just the third time in 10 years. The Bruins were eliminated from the 2016 Pac-12 tournament after a 95–71 loss to USC, losing three consecutive times in the same season to their crosstown rivals for the first time in 74 years. One week during the offseason, a plane flew over the UCLA campus on two occasions with a banner urging the school to fire Alford. A week later, Alford apologized for what he called an "unacceptable" season, and he returned a one-year contract extension he had received in 2014. He pledged to never allow their defense to rank outside the top 100 nationally. The following year, Alford led a talented squad that featured three eventual NBA first-round draft picks and five future NBA players. The Bruins finished one game out of first place in the Pac-12, and UCLA advanced to its third Sweet 16 in four years as freshmen Lonzo Ball and T. J. Leaf led one of the top offensive teams in the nation.

In 2017–18, UCLA opened its new practice facility, the Mo Ostin Basketball Center. The team again struggled defensively. UCLA qualified for the 2018 NCAA tournament, but lost 65–58 to St. Bonaventure in the First Four for the Bonnies' first tournament win in 48 years. It was the first time in UCLA's history that they had been relegated to a First Four play-in game. It was also the first time in the school's four tournament appearances under Alford that they did not advance to the Sweet 16. Another banner was flown over campus, this time reading "Final Fours not First Fours #FireAlford."

In 2018–19 in Alford's sixth year at UCLA, he brought in a top-10 recruiting class which included 7 ft center Moses Brown. He also added assistant coach Murry Bartow to improve the team's defense. The Bruins were ranked No. 21 in the preseason AP Poll, and they started the season 4–0 to move up to No. 17. However, they lost six of the next nine and finished with a 7–6 record in nonconference play, closing it out with four straight losses, the last of which was a 73–58 defeat to Liberty. The 15-point setback was the most lopsided home loss in Alford's tenure with UCLA. Combined with an earlier home loss to mid-major program Belmont, it was the first time the Bruins had lost consecutive home games to non-Power Five schools since 2012–13. Four days after Belmont, they lost by 29 at Cincinnati, their largest margin of defeat since 2014–15. Their offense had grown stagnant. As the losses mounted, Alford increasingly blamed his players. UCLA had not lost four straight since the end of 2015–16, when they finished the season under .500. They had not suffered four consecutive nonconference losses since 2010–11. On December 31, 2018, two days after the Bruins' loss to Liberty, UCLA announced that Alford had been fired. It was the first time the program had made a coaching change in the middle of the season.

Alford ended his tenure with a 124–63 overall record and 55–35 in the Pac-12. He guided UCLA to the NCAA tournament four times in five years, including three times to the Sweet 16. However, he failed to win a Pac-12 regular-season title, and his only Pac-12 Tournament title was in his first season. He never advanced past the Sweet 16. He was only the second coach in UCLA's 100-year history to never win a conference regular-season title; his highest finish was second place in his first season. During his tenure, UCLA had 11 players selected in the NBA draft, including seven first-round picks.

Nevada
Alford was hired as the coach of Nevada Wolf Pack on April 11, 2019. He replaced Eric Musselman, who left after leading the Wolf Pack to three NCAA tournaments in four seasons.

Personal life
Alford has three children, Kory, Bryce and Kayla. Kory played for the elder Alford at New Mexico and transferred with him to UCLA, and is now head coach at Huntington University. Bryce also played under Alford at UCLA, and ended his career as the school's career leader in three-pointers made. He became a professional basketball player and is currently playing in Germany.

Alford is a Christian. He has spoken openly about his faith, saying, "I'm a Christian first. I'm a family guy second. As much as I like coaching, as much as I like basketball, it's third, fourth, or fifth down the line."

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Steve Alford


text:
Bilasuvar District

Bilasuvar District (Biləsuvar rayonu) is one of the 66 districts of Azerbaijan. It is located in the south-east of the country, in the Shirvan-Salyan Economic Region. The district borders the districts of Imishli, Saatly, Sabirabad, Salyan, Neftchala, Jalilabad, and Ardabil Province of Iran. Its capital and largest city is Bilasuvar. As of 2020, the district had a population of 105,100.

Etymology
The district's name is derived from the city Bilasuvar. "Bile" is derived from the Turkish word “bilya” which means lowland, while "suvar" means a "cavalryman". According to Azerbaijani sources, 10 thousand cavalrymen were deployed in these lowlands during the reign of Sassanid shah Khosrov.

Geography
Total area of the district equals 1358 km2. It occupies the south-western and southern part of the Mugan plain. The total length of the borders is equal to 241 km.

An international customs post is in the Bilasuvar District territory.

The climate of Bilasuvar is rather hot, with dry summers. Temperature varies from 2 °C (in winter) to 26 °C(in summer) with average rainfall 260mm. The main types of soil in Bilasuvar are chestnut soils, grey meadow, steppe saline soils.

Most of the area of the district is below the sea level, 542 hectares of which are forests. Forests have many animals, including deers, bears, boars, goats, wolves, etc.

History
The Persian historian Hamdullah Qazvini wrote that the medieval urban settlement of Bilasuvar was established by the emir of Buveyhi, Pilasuvar in the 10th century, and was hence named after him. In the 14th century, the city declined due to feudal civil strife. The name in Turkic means pure water falls, due to the area's numerous rivers, though given the largely flat terrain the reference to waterfalls is somewhat misleading.

In 1930, Bilasuvar District was created with the centre in Pushkin Settlement. In 1938, the district was renamed Pushkin District.

In 1963, the territory was united with Jalilabad District, and in 1964, it became an independent district again. After the collapse of the USSR in 1991, it returned to its historic name and was renamed Bilasuvar District.

Important historical findings include ruins of Shahriyar-tepe which belong to the Middle Ages, the Shakhriyar fortress which was built in the Iron Age, Kosha-tepe mound which also belongs to the Iron Age. In the city of Bilasuvar ruins of Icheri Aghdam village and the Shahriyar, fortress were found. They also belong to the Middle Ages.

Economy
Bilasuvar is mainly an agricultural region. Main economic activities are livestock breeding, grain, and cotton cultivation. In 2017 41298 heads of large and 138927 of small cattle were registered. Overall, fertile soil amount is 113 thousand hectares, 42.5 thousand of which are sown and remaining are used for pastures. In Soviet-era, 4 state farms were operating in region.

A number of agricultural enterprises also operate in the region, such as "LLC Biləsuvar-Aqro", "Azəryoltikinti" (Asphalt Company), the cotton company "Biləsuvar-Pambıq", etc.

Infrastructure
The district has 9 hospitals with 520 beds, 6 medical clinics, and centre for epidemiology, 11 medical centres. Furthermore, district contains 16 post offices.

Population
According to the State Statistics Committee, as of 2018, the population of city was 102,400 persons, which increased by 26,400 persons (about 34.7 percent) from 76,000 persons in 2000. 51,600 of total population are men, 50,800 are women. More than 26.7 percent of the population (about 27,400 persons) consists of young people and teenagers aged 14–29.

title: Bilasuvar District


text:
Jabrayil District

Jabrayil District (Cəbrayıl rayonu) is one of the 66 districts of Azerbaijan. It is located in the south-west of the country and belongs to the East Zangezur Economic Region. The district borders the districts of Khojavend, Fuzuli, Qubadli, Zangilan, and the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Its capital is Jabrayil, however since the city is completely ruined following its occupation by ethnic Armenian forces, the current de facto capital is Jojug Marjanly until Jabrayil is rebuilt. As of 2020, the district had a nominal population of 81,700.

Etymology
The name of Jabrayil was taken from the name of the village Jabrayil that was the centre of the region. Father Jabrayil, who was the founder of the village Jabrayil, was one of the closes of the ruler by name Sultan Ahmed who lived in the 8th century and the territories between Zuyaret Mountain and the river Araz belonged to Father Jabrayil and his sons.

History
In pre-modern times, the current territory of Jabrayil District is believed to have formed the southern part of the canton (gavaṛ) of Myus Haband (known as Belukan or Dizak in the medieval era) of the historic Armenian province of Artsakh. Historian Samvel Karapetyan considers it likely that most of the area's Armenian population had left by the early 18th century. In the tsarist era, Jabrayil District (which was a part of the Jebrail Uyezd of the Elisabethpol Governorate) was mainly populated by nomadic or semi-nomadic Turkic-speakers (i.e. Azerbaijanis), as well as a minority of sedentary Armenians and a small number of Russian Molokan settlers. The nomadic population was settled in the Soviet period.

Armenian occupation
The territory was occupied by Armenian forces on August 23, 1993, during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War. It was administrated as a part of Hadrut Province of the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, save for the village of Jojug Marjanly, which was recaptured on January 6, 1994 during Operation Horadiz. This village was the provisional centre of this district until the recapture of Jabrayil in 2020.

The region with 1,050 square km area, including 72 secondary schools, eight hospitals, five mosques, two museums, 120 historic monuments, 149 cultural centres and about 100 villages that remained in the area were totally destroyed.

Return to Azerbaijani control
During the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, on October 9, 2020, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defence announced the recapture of the district's central town, Jabrayil, from Armenian forces. On October 20, 2020, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev announced the recapture of Safarsha, Hesengaydi, Fuganli, Imambaghi, Dash Veysalli, Aghtepe and Yarakhmedli villages of Jabrayil district. On October 21–22, 2020, 9 more villages of the district were recaptured, according to Azerbaijani sources. In November 2020, Azerishiq announced that it had begun supplying electricity to the district.

Administrative structure
According to the State Statistics Committee of Azerbaijan Republic as of 2013, there is 1 city, 4 settlements and 92 villages in the district which has a territory of 1050 km2.

Demographics
At the time of the 1979 Soviet census, the ethnic makeup of the district's population whose ethnicity was known (43,047 people) was:
 * Azerbaijanis: 42,415 (98.5%)
 * Russians: 434 (1%)
 * Armenians: 41 (0.1%)
 * Others: 157 (0.4%)

Notable natives

 * Ashiq Qurbani (1477-1???) — was an Azerbaijani poet and folk singer
 * Ashiq Peri (1811–1847) — was an Azerbaijani poet and folk singer
 * Teymur Guliyev — Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars (1937–1953) and the Council of Ministers of Azerbaijan SSR (1953–1954)
 * Ramil Safarov — an Azerbaijani officer, lieutenant colonel
 * Jamil Ahmadov — an Azerbaijani Red Army lieutenant and a Hero of the Soviet Union
 * Ali S.Hasanov — an Azerbaijani politician who serves as the Deputy Prime Minister of Azerbaijan since 1998, former chairman of State Committee of Republic of Azerbaijan for Refugees and IDPs. He also chairs the State Committee for International Humanitarian Aid
 * Elman Rustamov — an Azerbaijani politician. He was the chairman of Azerbaijan Central Bank from January 1995 until April 2022
 * Taleh Kazimov — Governor of the Central Bank of the Republic of Azerbaijan
 * Nasimi Aghayev — is the Azerbaijani ambassador to Germany and the former Consul General of Azerbaijan in Los Angeles (2012-2022)
 * Ashraf Huseynov — was an Azerbaijani mathematician (Professor from 1948, member of Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences from 1962)
 * Majnun Mammadov — an Azerbaijani politician serving as Minister of Agriculture of the Republic of Azerbaijan since 2023
 * Javid Huseynov — an Azerbaijani football manager and former player

title: Jabrayil District


text:
Dashkasan District

Dashkasan District (Daşkəsən rayonu) is one of the 66 districts of Azerbaijan. It is located in the west of the country and belongs to the Ganja-Dashkasan Economic Region. The district borders the districts of Goygol, Kalbajar, Gadabay, Shamkir, and the Gegharkunik Province of Armenia. Its capital and largest city is Dashkasan. As of 2020, the district had a population of 35,400.

History
The district was established on 8 August 1930 and was known as Dastafur (Dəstəfur) until 1956, when it was changed to Dashkasan. The capital was established as an urban facility on March 16, 1948, after the end of World War I, mainly to explore and mine iron ore and other natural resources.

Administrative divisions
The rayon itself was founded as an administrative center in 1930 and was named Dastafur until 1956 when it was renamed Dashkasan. In 1963, the rayon status was eliminated and Dashkasan province was merged with Khanlar District. However, in 1965, it was split again and Dashkasan regained its administrative rayon status. There is one city, six-city type settlements and 42 villages in Dahskasan District. Dashkasan rayon shares an 8 km border with Armenia and 24.5 km border with Shamkir District, 23 km border with Kalbajar District, 41 km border with Gadabay District, 56.3 km border with Khanlar District.

Ethnic groups
Population 30,510
 * Azerbaijanis - 99,5%
 * Russians - 0,3%
 * Others - 0,2%

Religion

 * Islam - 99,8%
 * Other religions - 0,2%

Language

 * Azerbaijani Language 100%

Nature
The district covers the Dashkasan plateau of the Lesser Caucasian Mountain range encompassing parts and tips of Shahdagh and Murovdag ranges. The highest altitudes are at Hinaldag Peak (3,367 meters) and Qoshqar Peak (3,361 meters). Part of Bashkend-Dastafur lowlands also falls in Dashkasan rayon. This part of the region is rich with cretaceous chalk. The average annual rainfall is 600–900 mm. It mostly rains during springtime. The mountains are enriched with oak forests. There is a lot of vegetation used for curing various deceases. Among the treating plants, one can find thyme, achillea, asteraceae, stellaria, mountain viola, etc.

There are also so-called treatment springs containing pure mountain water which cleanse the internal organs.
 * 1) Yumurtalı spring - Qabaqtəpə village;
 * 2) Narzan spring - Yuxarı Daşkəsən settlement;
 * 3) Turşsu spring - Alaxançallı village;
 * 4) Qiblə spring - Qabaqtəpə kəndi;
 * 5) Qayğı spring - Qabaqtəpə kəndi;
 * 6) Böyrək spring - Alunitdağ settlement;
 * 7) İdris spring - Əmirvar village;
 * 8) Seyid spring - Xoşbulaq village.

In Dashkasan rayon, the animal habitat is rich with roe deer, gazelle, deer, Caucasian goat, rabbit, marten, hedgehog, badger, wild bear, lynx, wolf, bear, fox, jackal.

Climate
In the Dashkasan locale the temperature changes from -5 C to -20 C in winter and from +20 C to +35 C in summer. The average annual temperature is 0–100 in Dashkaran. The average monthly temperature in January is -2-140, the average monthly temperature of July is + 5–200. Sometimes the absolute maximum temperature of the air is higher than + 20-310, the absolute minimum temperature of air is lower than 20–300 in summer. In the middle mountain range, the average absolute minimum air temperature changes from +50 to +70 during the year. The average annual soil surface temperature is + 80, the average temperature of January is -50, the average monthly July temperature is 210. The average annual relative humidity of the air is 75% and changes between 67 and 82% per year. The annual rainfalls in the area are 600–900 mm. Most of the rainfalls fall in the spring. The possible evaporation is 300–800 mm from the soil surface in a year.

Natural resources
Starting from Soviet times, the region was one of the strategic centers for mining iron ore, aluminum, cobalt, marble. At the moment, gold, copper, cobalt, iron ore, marble are being mined.

title: Dashkasan District


text:
Balakan District

Balakan District (Balakən rayonu, Билкан мухъ) is one of the 66 districts of Azerbaijan. It is located in the north of the country, in the Shaki-Zagatala Economic Region. The district borders the district of Zagatala, as well as the Kakheti region of Georgia and the Russian Republic of Dagestan. Its capital and largest city is Balakan. As of 2020, the district had a population of 99,100.

Before creation of district
Archaeological finds including many historical monuments and kurgans in the region speak of early human habitation. Balakan was a part of Caucasian Albania. A Greek writer of the time who authored books on the battle between the Roman troops and Caucasian Albanians on the bank of Alazani (Qanıx) river in 65 AD., described the locals as calm, prideful and full of courage.

In the 7th century, Balakan was invaded by Arabs and Balakən settlement was destroyed. After the Arab rule was overthrown in 9th–10th centuries, Balakan established its political and economic links with Shaki. Both provinces developed sericulture as their primary industry.

The etymology of names such as "Getovlar" (similar to Hettax), Hunbulanchay (similar to Huns), Ingiloy (similar to Gellah) and others confirm habitation of the region by early nomadic Turkic tribes.

In 1803, the territory of the Balakan District was incorporated into the Russian Empire and was administratively part of Georgia until 1842, when it became a separate oblast. Two years later, the self-governing communities of Djaro-Belokani was founded. From 1860 until the end of the Russian Empire territory of the district was part of the Tiflis Governorate.

After the independence of Georgia and Azerbaijan in 1918, the territory was subject to dispute between the 2 countries. After the Soviet takeover of Azerbaijan, Georgia established control over region, however, the territory was given to Azerbaijani SSR after Georgia was annexed by Soviet Union.

After creation of district
Balakan District was created on 8 August 1930. The town of Balakən was made the administrative centre of the district. It later grew to become a city-type settlement in 1954 and received a status of a city in 1968. In 1963, the district was incorporated into the Zagatala District. In 1965, it was again re-established independently.

Among the historical monuments are the Parigala, dating to 7th–8th centuries in Qullar village, 17th-century mosque with a 45-meter minaret in Balakən city, Nokho cave in the Qubek gorge pertaining to the Iron Age, ruins and pilgrimage site from the 5th–8th centuries located 2 km west of Mahamalar village, 1st–2nd century BC necropolis 1 km north of the same village, mosque built in 1780 and an underground water storage facilities from the 18th century in Qullar village, a 19th-century fortress and 18th-century mosque in Mahamalar, a 14th-century mosque in Katex village, 17th-century four-edged castle and two tombs, a 14th-century mausoleum in Tülü village, mosque built in 1910 in İtitala village, 14th-century temple in Hənifə village, 16th-century mosque in Xalatala and temples in Mazımçay, ruins of a settlement from Middle Ages on Maklakan mountain.

During World War II, 6,882 residents of Balakan fought Nazi Germany and 2,315 of them died on the front lines. During the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, Balakan lost 152 residents who fought in Karabakh.

Geography and economy
The district is situated at the foothills of Greater Caucasus and is very rich with flora and fauna. Balakan mountains make up the big part of Zakatala State Reserve. The Katex waterfalls are located in the reserve. Due to the existence of many mountains in the rayon, Balakan is rich with many rivers. The mountainous part of rayon is cold, the temperature in the lower parts is mild. Average annual humidity reaches 41%, average monthly temperature is 13 °C. The northern part of rayon is enriched with vegetation, among them hornbeam, alder, oak, chestnut, walnut, acacia trees, as well as raspberry, rose hip and medlar. There are over 30 plants used for medical treatment purposes.

Balakan District is considered one of the most resourceful regions of Azerbaijan by its economic potential, natural resources and cultural heritage. The economy of rayon is based on agrarian sector. Main segments of the agriculture are tobacco growing, horticulture, sericulture and corn cultivation. Additionally, cattle breeding, wheat growing, winemaking and fishery are widely practised. There are 123 agricultural farming businesses in Balakan rayon.

Infrastructure
The 1970-1980s saw rapid economic reforms due to the construction of Baku-Balakan Railway which connected the region with capital Baku and industrial Absheron Peninsula. There are 48 secondary schools with 16,872 (2007 census) students and 1,629 teachers and 24 kindergartens in the region. Additionally, there are 1 stadium, 29 sports facilities and 20 sports complexes. There are 6 hospitals, tuberculosis treatment centre and family planning centres with 126 doctors and 497 nurses. The capital city has one central library which has 49 branches throughout the rayon. Over 370 students study at 7 musical schools.

Demographics
There is one city of Balakən and 59 villages in the rayon. According to the 2018 census, Balakan rayon has 97,600 residents, out of which 14,900 (15%) live in urban and 82,700 (85%) live in rural areas. Men make up 49.6%, women – 50.4% of the population. The population density is 95.7 people per 1 km2. In 2010, there were 1,238 newborns and 510 deaths in rayon. The ethnic composition of the rayon is very rich. Representatives of 27 ethnicities live in Balakan rayon. The largest group, Azeris make up 79.4% of the population (61,170 people living throughout the region), Avars – 18,4% (25,370 people living mainly in Qabaqçöl, Mahamalar and Mazımçay villages), Ingiloys (Muslim Georgians) – 2.4% (2,145 people living mainly in İtitala village) and other ethnicities such as Georgians (23 residents), Lezgins (223 residents), Russians (138 residents), Laks (23 residents), Persians (226 residents), Tatars (27 residents), Tsakhurs (13 residents), Turks (11 residents), Ukrainians (6 residents), Armenians (3 residents) and Talysh (1 resident) – 1.49%.

Population
According to the State Statistics Committee, as of 2018, the population of city recorded 97,600 persons, which increased by 13,100 persons (about 15.5 percent) from 84,500 persons in 2000. 48,400 of total population are men, 49,200 are women. More than 26 percent of the population (about 25,700 persons) consists of young people and teenagers aged 14–29.

Language
The majority of the population speak the Azerbaijan language with a minority of Avar and Georgian speakers.

Festivals
As the district is contributing mostly to the persimmon production in Azerbaijan, Balakan started to host annual Hazelnut Festival since 2017. The festival is organized annually in October–November when the most delicious persimmon grows. In the festival, different varieties of persimmon, culinary products and different compositions made of persimmon are displayed. It also features a field trip to the persimmon garden in the Gerekli village and planting persimmon trees.

title: Balakan District


text:
Khalida Toumi

Khalida Toumi (خليدة تومي) (born 13 March 1958), aka Khalida Messaoudi (خليدة مسعودي), is an Algerian politician. She was the Minister of Communication and Culture until April 2014. She is also a feminist activist. In 2022, she was convicted of corruption and sentenced to six years in prison.

Biography
Khalida Toumi was known as Khalida Messaoudi ou la soufadja before she reclaimed her maiden name. She was born in 1958 in Ain-Bessem, Bouira, in the north of Algeria and entered the University of Algiers in 1977 to pursue a degree in mathematics. After graduating from the École Normale Supérieure, she taught mathematics until 1993.

As a feminist activist, in 1981, she founded the Collectif féminin (Women's Grouping) not only to oppose the ministerial interdiction on Algerian women leaving the country unless accompanied by a male family member, but also to oppose state endorsement of the discriminatory (seen by her) Algerian Family Code, which the National Assembly eventually adopted in 1984. Following the adoption of this code, Toumi presided over the Association for Equality between Men and Women, founded by a group of Trotskyite militants. In 1985, Toumi co-founded and became a member of the executive committee of the Algerian League of Human Rights. She later distanced herself from the Trotskyite militants and in 1990 founded the Independent Association for the Triumph of Women's Rights.

Toumi staunchly opposed Islamist ideology and endorsed cancellation of the January 1992 legislative elections, which the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) was poised to win. She considered the FIS to display "absolutely all the classic ingredients of totalitarian populist movements." She traveled to Western countries to provide an anti-Islamist and anti-terrorist perspective.

A member of the Rassemblement pour la Culture et la Démocratie (RCD), she won a seat in the National Assembly and served as the RCD's national vice president for human rights and women's issues. After profound disagreements with the RCD's president Saïd Sadi, she severed relations with the RCD in January 2001, at the peak of the crisis in her native Kabylie; she was subsequently expelled from the RCD. In May 2002, she became minister of culture and communication, as well as the government's spokesperson, the first woman ever to hold that job. She held that ministerial post in various terms until 2014.

Professional experience

 * 1984-1991 Teacher of mathematics
 * 1992-1993 Member of the (CCN): Conseil consultatif national.
 * 1997-2002 Deputy of Algiers at the People's National Assembly (l’Assemblée populaire nationale).
 * 2000-2001 Vice-president of the (CNRSE) Commission nationale de réforme du système éducatif.

Political activities

 * May 1985 founding member and president of the first Association of Independent Women.
 * March 1985 founding member and Vice-president of the first Algerian League of Human Rights.
 * January 1992 Member of the CNSA and of the CCN.
 * April 1996 – 2001 Member of the secularist party: the RCD, excluded in July 2001.
 * 1997-2002 Deputy of Algiers at the (APN) under the RCD label
 * October 1993 Vice president of Mouvement pour la République (MPR).
 * 9 May 2003 Algerian Minister of Communication and Culture.

title: Khalida Toumi


text:
Beylagan District

Beylagan District (Beyləqan rayonu) is one of the 66 districts of Azerbaijan. It is located in the centre of the country and belongs to the Mil-Mughan Economic Region. It borders the districts of Fuzuli, Aghjabadi, Zardab, Imishli, and the Ardabil Province of Iran. Its capital and largest city is Beylagan. As of 2020, the district had a population of 99,500.

Etymology
The name Beylagan historically used in different forms particularly, Paytakaran, Balasakan, Bilgan, Millar and Beylagan. A number of considerations associated with the toponymy of Beylagan. In accordance with the historical name “Beylagan” derived from the words “pila” (valley) and “gan” (place) and corresponds to the meaning of field or valley.

Another view claims that Beylagan historically situated on the Barda – Ardabil trade way. Because of that reason, the city became one of the main trade centres in the 9th – 12th centuries. The toponymy “Beylagan” interrelated to that historical base, which means trade way or the place where trading took place. According to the other statements the toponymy is related to the name of the “bel” tribe who lived there at that time. “Beylagan” means the place where “bel” tribes are settled regarding that view.

History
There is mention of the name of the district in various historical books. One of the “Roads and Countries” is written by Naila Valikhanli. Dimensions of the main historical trade ways are indicated in that book. At the same time, an indication of the route from Greece to Beylagan shows the significance of the city. According to the sources, the north–south line (Derbent – Ardabil road) of the Silk Road passed through Beylagan. Traders of the city built relations with China, India, Iran, Georgia and Byzantium through thanks to this geophysical condition.

In accordance with the historical sources, Beylagan was founded in the 5th century. In the 13th century, the city was completely destroyed by Mongol invasions. Reconstruction of Beylagan started by Amir Teymur in the 14th century but after his death works in that territory stopped. Ancient Beylagan city was ruined in the 16th century and has never been restored again.

Beylagan district was founded on November 24, 1939, and was called Zhanov from 1939 to 1963. In 1963, the Beylagan District was liquidated and merged with the Imishli district. The name of the district was renamed Beylagan with regard to the 1989 dated decree of the Supreme Council of Azerbaijan SSR. The Center of the district is Beylagan city where got city status in 1966.

Geography
Beylagan is one of the southwestern districts of Azerbaijan and situated in the Mil valley of the Kur – Araz lowland and in the middle of the Kur and Araz rivers. Geographical coordinates are 39°45’ North latitude and 47°30’ West longitude and bordering Agchabadi, Zardab, Imishli, Fuzuli districts and Iran Islamic Republic in the south-east. Some parts of the Harami plain belong to the district and the northeast part is below the ocean level. More than 40% of the territory is 0 – 100 meters, 25% is 100 – 200 meters and 35% is below 0 meters. Absolute altitude changes between 200 – 250 meters towards Harami plain. Generally, Beylagan is considered a seismic active zone.

The territory is completely plain. Relief is covered by sand, gravel and other sedimentary rocks belong to the Anthropogenic period of the Cenozoic era. 4th-period sedimentary rocks are widespread in the district. At the same time, all sedimentary minerals are found in the territory. There is found gravel, sand in the Harami and Arazboyu plains. Researches reveal that there are a lot of potable water resources in the Harami plain and they are partly used. Furthermore, the territory is used as a pasture.

Climate
In the Köppen climate classification, Beylagan has a semi – arid climate with hot summers and mild winters. Geophysical location plays the main role in the formation of the climate. Thus, the area is constantly affected by cyclones and air flows come from tropics and Central Asia. The average annual temperature is 14 °C. January is characterized by an average 1,8 °C and the average temperature is 26 °C in July.

Flora and fauna
Indigenous flora is characterized by semi-arid plants. The coastal area of the Kur river is covered by poplars, mulberry, cypress trees and tugai forests in a small area.

Gazelle, fox, boar, wolf, grey rabbit are characteristic animals for the district. In the Tugai forests and swamp areas, hedgehogs, wolves, boars, snakes, owls and woodpeckers are found. There are ducks, vessels and seagulls in the ponds.

Several indigenous species of plants and animals are protected in the Ag-Gol National Reserve where located in both Agchabadi and Beylagan districts. There are reserved especially migratory birds.

Archaeological monuments
Archaeological investigations in the district prove that people lived there more than six thousand years ago. There are several monuments registered by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Azerbaijan. They are Orangala (relicts of the ancient Beylagan city), Chardakli, Kultapa, Qaratapa, Saritapa, Chataltapa, Garaytapa, Tazakand, the first and second Sultanbud settlements, Saritapa, Sultanbud cemeteries and Beylagan tower.

Religious architecture
Beylagan is the only district in Azerbaijan where the tomb of Prophet Charchis is situated. The tomb was built in the 17th – 18th centuries. Nowadays the tomb of Prophet Charchis is used as a religious sanctuary and people come there from various countries especially, Iran, Georgia and Middle East countries. There is also a mosque named after Prophet Charchis. Other mosques are Dunyamallar, Amina Khatun and Turkish mosques in the district.

Furthermore, there are some sanctuaries of sayyids such as Sayyid Aga, Sayyid Khirda, Sayyid Miryusif and Sayyid Ali Aga in Beylagan.

Statues
There are a lot of statues in the district. Most of these statues are historical and notable people; Akif Akberov (National Hero of Azerbaijan), Garay Asedov (Hero of the Soviet Union), Hazi Aslanov (Hero of the Soviet Union), Nariman Narimanov (politician), Ilham Guliyev, Ilqar Gurbanov, Gadim Aliyev, Mehdi Mehdizadeh, Namig Allahverdiyev, Nazim Guliyev and Sevil Gaziyeva.

Monuments
A list of important monuments of Beylagan includes the Labor Union monument, the March 31, Genocide monument complex of Azerbaijanis, the monument complex in memory of Karabakh war, the monument in memory of the Hero of Soviet Union Garay Asadov and the monument of Heydar Aliyev.

Economy
Economy of Beylagan is characterized by agricultural activities especially cotton, vine, grain growing fields.

Demography
According to the statistics in 2017, the population is 96,4 thousand people. The population of the district includes various nationalities. People's settlement in urban areas is less than villages, respectively 42,16% and 57,84%.

According to the State Statistics Committee, as of 2018, the population of city recorded 97,500 persons, which increased by 18,700 persons (about 18.9 percent) from 79,000 persons in 2000. 49,400 of total population are men, 48,100 are women.

Notable people from Beylagan region
Some of the district's notable residents include:

Historical figures

 * Masud ibn Namndar

Scientists

 * Suleyman Aliyarli

Military

 * Garay Asadov

 * Bahadur Huseynov

Sportspeople

 * Zulfiyya Huseynova
 * Shahin Diniyev

title: Beylagan District


text: Category:Danish civil utility aircraft

title: Category:Danish civil utility aircraft