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The front of the National Security Administration in Fort Meade, MD

America’s Big Brother

… Leticia Wiggins  Welcome to History Talk, produced by Origins , a project of the … We hope you enjoy what you find. Patrick Potyondy  Welcome to the inaugural relaunch of the Origins podcast. I'm … anything we do digitally is private strikes me is unsurprising in any sort of a way. David Hadley  And I do think that …
Fidel Castro in 1959

Easing Up on Cuba

… is abominable. Meanwhile, other Americans and Cubans increasingly think it’s time for major steps, not baby ones, to … the Cold War was at its peak, and the Soviet Union had become Cuba’s patron, pouring billions annually into its … disappeared, and Russia stopped subsidies to Cuba in 1991. Communism still exists in the world, but it is a diminishing …
soldiers in Iraq

Can Iraq Learn to Live in Peace?

… the inspectors were too few and too weakly supported to overcome Iraqi resistance. But even if the inspections had … through alliance and diplomacy. There are two principal components to creating a WMD-averse environment, both … essentially psychological: a sense of the humanity of opposing forces or neighboring populations, and confidence that …
Reagan in 1982.

Exit Gen. Grant – Enter St. Ronald?

… Republican presidents have occupied the Oval Office since the first, Abraham Lincoln, was elected in 1860. Now, … when was the last time you heard some Republican politician singing the praises of Dwight Eisenhower or even Teddy … to study photographs of official Soviet events to see which Communist Party members were visible and which had been …
 A Chinese laboratory technician conducting tests on SARS.

Corona in Context: Lessons from the SARS Pandemic (2003)

… seventh human coronavirus that scientists have discovered since the mid-1960s (four of which just cause a common cold in humans). A microscopic image of SARS-CoV It … 2002- July 2003. While these numbers are miniscule in comparison to the COVID-19 pandemic, the mysterious nature …
The Humboldt Current: Nineteenth-Century Exploration and the Roots of American Environmentalism, by Aaron Sachs Book Cover

The Humboldt Current: Nineteenth-Century Exploration and the Roots of American Environmentalism

Review of The Humboldt Current: Nineteenth-Century Exploration and the Roots of American Environmentalism, by Aaron Sachs (Viking Books, 2006)
… early in the nineteenth century, but whose adventures and accomplishments were so much admired they made him an … has faded from our imagination. Most people have some passing familiarity with Darwin; one suspects that many … name. By one estimate, 20% of the world's fish catch comes from the extraordinary ecosystem called The Humboldt …
Engraving of Robespierre.

The New Species of Terrorism

… With the horrific assault of Sept. 11, “terrorism” has become the new American watchword and scourge. Yet as George … nor anyone else has defined what terrorism is or where it comes from. Doing so may help us to face a frightening … some 12,000 people deemed enemies of the Revolution. Since the Jacobins governed the state, we wouldn’t call them …
First Cabinet of President Barack Obama in the White House East Room.

The Distant Horizon of a President

… circle had begun to show indiscipline by way of embarrassing leaks; and foreign leaders from Nicolas Sarkozy to … cautious, thoughtful Obama was just plain weak, or worse: incompetent. Well, health care legislation has passed, the … and permanent. Everyone’s attention span is short. But the complex job of the president adheres to a different time …
A Jewish menorah, which is used during Hanukkah.

How Hanukkah Became the Jewish Christmas

… been a minor Jewish festival. Yet this holiday — which commemorates the successful Israelite revolt in the second … assimilate into the prevailing Hellenistic culture — has become “the Jewish Christmas.” How did this happen? And is it … — the rise of department stores, mass marketing and advertising. Christmas parties, gift-giving, and greeting cards …
Computers utilized by U.S. Navy personnel in 1998.

What the Internet Will Bring Us

… ultimate solution to problems of (pick one, or pick many) communication, commerce, travel, learning, teaching, thinking? Much of the … up with the Central Pacific at Promontory Point in 1869, a single track had been thrown across the nation and America’s …
Tilden illustration - a hand on another hand that is on a gun on a table with papers

Top Ten Origins: Other “Unprecedented” Elections in American History

… in the moment. Some, however, really do represent something completely new in American political history, and not always … set subsequent political norms, permanently altered the composition of national political coalitions, or revealed … assumed the Presidency without violence from the losing side. 2. 1824 Cartoon depicting 1824 presidential …
Two women in black hijab in Yemen

Yemen: Inside The Forgotten War

… of Syria , and Syria's Islamic Movement and the 2011-12 Uprising. ( Image Source ) … Eric Michael Rhodes: Welcome to History Talk , the podcast that brings together … operations or U.S. counterterrorism effort in Yemen since 2001. As a dimension, I would think about the proxy …
Vladimir Putin seated and surrounded by military officers

World War II Memory in Putin's Russia

… Vladimir Putin has gone to extraordinary lengths to commemorate the Second World War. Even though the war ended … Dr. Nicholas Breyfogle  Hello, and welcome to World War II Memory in Putin's Russia, brought to … of the Soviet Union, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania increasingly condemned the 1939 Nazi Soviet Pact. In response, the …
Glacial ice on Lake Baikal

Climate Change and Human Life

… Leticia Wiggins  Welcome to History Talk , produced by Origins: Current Events … Potyondy  And I'm your other host, Patrick Potyondy. Discussing climate change is nothing less than discussing human … or even millennia changed here and how have humans really come to shape the climate? And Sam, if you wanted to start …
President James A. Garfield

The Assassination of President Garfield

… As the president made his way to the train, chatting companionably with Secretary of State James G. Blaine, a man … and reporters delved further into the mind of the assassin, Charles Guiteau, they found that the answer lay with … ballot, Congressman and Senator-Elect Garfield emerged as a compromise candidate, ultimately winning the nomination on …
The Lorraine Motel

Putting Race on Display: The National Civil Rights Museum

… Leticia Wiggins   This is your host Leticia Wiggins and welcome to History Talk , the history podcast for everyone … host. In late spring of 2014, the finishing touches were completed on the redesign of the National Civil Rights … Act of 1964.   Leticia Wiggins   The redesign was the first since the museum opened in 1991. Interactive Media, oral …

Russia, Gay Rights, and the Sochi Olympics

… delegation to Sochi. Inadvertently, the Sochi games have become the gay games. Homosexuality in Russia Today The … against gays—both official and street-level—has worsened since the law’s passage last summer. Some Russian … the diverging paths of Russia and Western countries when it comes to homosexuality. Russian public attitudes are …
The FBI’s finely tuned image as a scientific, fact-driven investigative force, cultivated in images like this, often overshadowed how the Bureau’s priorities on issues such as homosexuality were shaped by popular fears rooted in homophobia.

G-Men, Gays, and Government

Review of Hoover’s War on Gays: Exposing the FBI’s “Sex Deviates” Program, by Douglas M. Charles Lawrence, Kansas: University of Kansas Press, 2015.

1989 Twenty Years On: The End of Communism and the Fate of Eastern Europe

… congregated in streets and squares and demanded the end of communist rule. These are indelible images deeply impressed … anniversary brought discord. People could not agree on a single celebration and the festivities were split between … Party forced the resignation of their aging leader, Todor Zhivkov. Opposition groups organized anti-government …

Dispatches from the Armenian Revolution

… [photo by author]. Although the revolution focused on a single demand (the resignation of … role in the mobilization of the population. Indeed,  some commentators noted  that it had more in common with “democratic movements in Latin America [in the …
poster supporting those lost in Pearl Harbor

Mobilizing for Common Purpose in the COVID Era

… Just how has American society mobilized for a sense of common purpose in the past? And why have we seemed to lose that sense of common purpose today in the midst of the coronavirus … conflict. Wallace Robinson, 1915. German submarines were sinking American ships, or British ships (like the …
A French Quarter Pontalba Row building.

A Postcard from New Orleans, Louisiana

… The St. Louis No. 1 Cemetery sits on Basin Street, within the Tremé neighborhood and about a block north of New Orleans’s famed French Quarter. Completely walled in, the cemetery is unwelcoming. The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans placed …
The Roosevelts: An Intimate History BluRay DVD Cover

9/24/2014: At the Movies: Catching Up With The Roosevelts

… we think about this political family, but it is a mostly comprehensive overview in Ken Burns’ trademark engaging … FDR into the candidate he was in 1928, in particular by focusing on his empathy for the suffering of others. Burns … . This episode lays out the standard New Deal narrative as comprehensively as it can moving quickly through the …