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Monument with figures dressed as pop culture figures like Superman, Santa, and Ronald McDonald

1989: The Year That Changed It All

… world watched in amazement as events in Eastern Europe transformed the planet. Socialist states that had looked a … Talk , hosts Patrick Potyondy and Leticia Wiggins welcome historians  Nicholas Breyfogle and  Theodora … you're full of optimism, you want to do your best and this coincided with this momentous historical change. So it was a …
Israeli Prime Minister, Levi Eshkol

Six Days That Shook The World

Review of The Six Day War: The Breaking of the Middle East, by Guy Laron (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2017)
… and Egypt in the 1950s and 1960s created the conditions for military coups and for administrations that deemed the application of force a welcome distraction from domestic problems. At the same time, … offensive mindset—“Rabin’s Schlieffenplan,” (145) as Laron coins it in pointed allusion. Rabin's "Schlieffenplan:" an …
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1964.

The (Character) Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.

… The family of Martin Luther King, Jr., much maligned of late for its aggressive copyright control of Dr. King’s works, … King. Jury selection began November 15. The case hardly comes as a surprise. In recent years, the King family has … the Vietnam War. Later that year, the Bureau launched COINTELPRO, an elaborate counter-intelligence program meant …
Egyptian Prime Minister Anwar Sadat, U.S. President Jimmy Carter, and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin signing the Camp David Peace Accords on September 17, 1978.

Can Sharon Too Become a Peacemaker?

… new general Arab-Israeli war with devastating consequences for Israelis, Palestinians and the entire region. These … theme the denunciation of Democrats as being soft on communism, opened up relations with the People’s Republic of … 1970 and think about predicting that Richard Nixon would be visiting China and Russia, tripling trade with both nations, …
Detail from the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol.

Common Good and Common Evil in American Religion

Review of America’s Religious Wars: The Embattled Heart of Our Public Life, by Kathleen M. Sands (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2019)
… you do not discuss religion, sex, or politics in polite company. Sex to one side, in America’s Religious Wars, … us that talking about religion has always been a vehicle for talking about politics in the United States. From the … vehemently against the forces of the New Atheism, a term coined in 2006 to label writers like Christopher Hitchens …
 Reagan in 1982.

Measuring Reagan for Greatness

… of the other rankings in the top ten — Bill Clinton (3), for example, outpolled George Washington (7) — seem unlikely … immortality. A better approach than polling is to compare Reagan with past presidents who are now regarded as … from the rest is their response to national crises. It’s no coincidence that most presidents on the list of greats — …
Albert Bierstadt, Mount Corcoran, c. 1876-1877, oil on canvas

Silent Spring Revolution, a Conversation with Douglas Brinkley

… in 1945, the United States took control of Earth’s destiny for the first time. After the Truman administration dropped … postwar economic boom took hold, with America becoming the world’s leading hyper industrial and military … Revolution , Douglas Brinkley pays tribute to those who combated the mauling of the natural world in the Long …
Isaac W. Williams (front) in a file photo from the 1960s.

Still Fighting the Civil War in South Carolina

… of people, many decked out in hoop skirts and militia uniforms, will drink mint juleps and dance the night away. … "has nothing to do with slavery."  He proposes that it is a commemoration of South Carolinians who "stood up for their … opened a long and painful civil war.  Let's hope that this latest exchange of salvos—another confrontation with …

Colombia: On the Brink of Peace with the FARC?

… June 23, 2016, while most of the world was awaiting the outcome of the Brexit vote, another major historical event was … Santos and the supreme commander of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC, Fuerzas Armada Revolucionarios de … drug cartel (Left) . Secretary of State Colin Powell visiting Colombia in 2003 (Right) . While there were some …
Exiles carry a poster against the communist government of Cuba, in a demonstration in Miami

Cuba in Focus–Again

… again, even on Fidel Castro, whom most of us had almost forgotten — most, that is, except the million-plus … the exiles and the U.S. government joined in a powerful common cause to dump Castro, who, in the peak Cold War … although Americans still need U.S. government permission to visit Cuba legally, many go illegally through third …
Entrance gate of Auschwitz Concentration Camp, "Work Sets You Free," 2013

At the Movies: “Canaries,” A Review of Denial

… In her chapter, Lipstadt places part of the blame for the rise of Holocaust denial on relativist postmodern … of the sort espoused by Richard Rorty. The maneuver is a common one from the perspective of positivism. In The … of it all. However, when the triumphant Donald Trump visited Barack Obama in the White House after the election, …
Earth covered in trees and water

"Pale Blue Dot": History of Our Environment

… Department of History share how environmental history informs our shared future in a world confronted by pandemics, … boys, River and Blue. Folks, you can unveil yourselves and come on to the screen if you'd like. Welcome thank you for … of a fraction of that dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on …

Currency Wars, or Why You Should Care About the Global Struggle Over the Value of Money

… countries worldwide were simultaneously attempting to force down the value of their money in order to reduce the … that these and other countries were entering into a competitive spiral of devaluations in an effort to export … contained. Trade in East Asia was fueled in part by silver coins from Mexico. Prior to the Meiji Restoration of 1868 in …
Monica Lewinsky's official government ID photo from 1997.

Another Watergate?

… and persuaded her to lie about it had not been public for an hour before many observers were uttering sentences … at the Democratic national headquarters at the Watergate complex in 1972. An abbreviated list of what came to be … “a third-rate burglary.” So far, we have no proof that the latest addition to Starr’s amorphous investigation was even …
US Marine Corps during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003.

“Operation Mississippi Freedom”: When State-Sponsored Terrorism Was American

… existed in the United States. The trial of Edgar Ray Killen for the 1964 murders of civil rights workers James Chaney, … including 35 churches and numerous homes in this state. McComb, Miss., came to be known that summer as the bombing … effort succeeded, as the belated indictment of Killen — the latest in a series of Southern atonement trials — …

Socialism Takes Over France, Again?

… (the national colors). The two contenders in the run-off for France's highest office that took place on May 6, 2012 … it mildly. Socialism, at least in the United States, has become a byword among Republicans for fiscally irresponsible … social security system that remains the envy of most visitors—and the pride of most French citizens. It …