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A Biafran child suffering the effects of starvation due to the federal blockade during the Nigerian Civil War

“No Victor and No Vanquished” - Fifty Years after the Biafran War

… and cultural challenges. The crisis that would become the Nigerian Civil War began on January 15, 1966 when a … in July 1966. This countercoup turned out to be bloodier, and this time, Igbos were the victims. Many … which varied in accordance with political and economic expedience. On the eve of the First World War in 1914, the …
Cover of A Tale of Two Monasteries: Westminster and Saint-Denis in the Thirteenth Century by William Chester Jordan.

To Serve God and the King?

Review of A Tale of Two Monasteries: Westminster and Saint-Denis in the Thirteenth Century, by William Chester Jordan (Princeton University Press, 2009)
… and Saint-Denis were among the most organizationally complex and bureaucratically advanced entities operating below the level of the state in medieval Europe. As a consequence they have left historians … guide. Jordan has written widely on various subjects in medieval French history, and is perhaps the greatest living …
Florida Supreme Court during the 2000 presidential election recount.

Disputed Elections: An American Tradition

… to contested elections. When elections were questioned, common sense, rather than adherence to technicality, … and wrong initials of first names and last names were commonplace. Rather than throw out the ballots, as electoral … to electoral law. Thousands of other ballots with incomplete punches have not been counted because the …
This painting, which dates from 1859, reimagines the toppling of the equestrian statue of George III in New York City. Erected in 1770, the statue featured the regent garbed in Roman military regalia on horseback, in the fashion of Marcus Aurelius. It is doubtful that Native Americans, women and children were in attendance at this episode of iconoclasm by the Sons of Liberty.

Ten Memorable Monument Takedowns in History

… that of Nero’s by Vitellius. Damnatio memoriae was most common after regime change. Note however, that the names of … Iconoclasm was outlawed. The restoration of icons is commemorated today as the “Feast of Orthodoxy.” 3. A Papal … government passed a parliamentary resolution against “superstition and idolatry” and much iconoclasm ensued. The …
President George W. Bush with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley in 2006.

Is Iraq Vietnam?

… South Vietnam’s governments also had serious problems. The Diem regime (1954-63) wanted to defeat or at least contain the Viet Cong but could not rally non-Communist South Vietnamese behind it, prompting the United … to happen. (Similarly, some Americans in 1963 thought that Diem could continue in office if he fired his brother Nhu – …
Portrait of Jane Addams

Million Moms March in Noble Company

… children. What is different today is the often fatal outcomes of children's brutality towards one another, owing to … when one looks at gun deaths in the United States compared with other industrialized nations, that has … limitations of that perspective, too. Though the march's website invites "mothers, grandmothers, stepmothers, …
Cartoon in Punch, 1906.

For Iraq, a Lesson from Africa

… own independence from tyranny. But before 9/11, astute commentators warned about grandiose calls for democracy to … the rule of law governs, and where with democracy will come responsibility for the political classes and the masses … opportunity, and one that the rest of the world should welcome. People who have their own property have a vested …
The Beatles, upon their arrival at Kennedy International Airport in New York City on February 7,1964.

“I Want to Hold Your Hand”

… crowd relentlessly screamed at the sight of them.  Still to come were the increasingly more abstract and innovative compositions, the abrupt withdrawal from touring, the … smaller labels with lesser promotional capacity claimed the commercial rights to their earlier recordings. Then, in the …
President Lyndon B. Johnson giving a speech about the Voting Rights Act with a statute of President Abraham Lincoln in the background.

The Republican Party and African-Americans: The Real History

… to give black men full citizenship. For that much, Bush and company can claim a worthy lineage. But as early as 1876 — … the Democrats' political machines eagerly absorbed the newcomers. Republican machines, by contrast, reacted coolly … a vigorous civil rights bill, but the legislation almost died because of a Senate filibuster by Southern Democrats. …
Depiction of Isaac Newton

A “God Particle” for Isaac Newton’s Birthday

… he stood on the shoulders of giants, so perhaps he’d welcome the gift.   Newton is famous for Principia Mathematica … here . Or, to tailor your explanations to various audiences, try this hilarious guide from The Guardian . Most … affects the other: God suffers nothing from the motion of bodies; bodies find no resistance from the omnipresence of …
View of Tbilisi as seen from Narikala, the city's medieval citadel.

A Postcard from Georgia and Azerbaijan

… cultures, and belief systems. In the Late Antique and medieval eras, Christianity, Zoroastrianism, Islam, and … was crucified. Elias bought Jesus’ robe from a Roman soldier at Golgotha and brought it back to Mtskheta. As he … only after St. Nino spent an entire night praying for it to come back. From its bark, once it was grounded, flowed holy …
The Dream of Worldwide Democratic and Social Republics – The Pact Between Nations, a print prepared by Frédéric Sorrieu, 1848.

Nationalism in Decline

… concerns. Whether subduing Iraq and Afghanistan, combating sex trafficking, restricting nuclear weaponry or … the United Nations, the grandest of all supranational bodies. A contested child custody case in Chile will be … or raising the bar on human rights, supranational bodies loom large in the domestic affairs of the world’s …
Demolition of Alexander III Monument, Moscow 1918

Russia’s February Revolution and the Precarious Politics of Nostalgia

… battles with police, and, crucially, the mutiny of soldiers tasked with quelling the protests. Alarmed, Chairman … To delay is impossible.” The tsar did not reply, instead complaining that “Again that fat-belly Rodzianko has written … radical Petrograd Soviet (“Council”) of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies. That the Provisional Government continued …
Henry Ford with a Model T in 1921.

What Bill Ford Is Learning from Great-Grandpa

… Now that Ford Motor Company has announced its “Way Forward” restructuring plan, … founder Henry Ford. When Bill Ford’s new print and TV commercials proclaim that “Innovation Is Our Mission,” he … pictures and words in ads was certainly a risk. When Henry died in 1947, his once heroic reputation had sunk so low — …
Two vials of modern insulin named Actrapid (left) and NovoRapid (right) by the manufacturers.

The First Insulin Injection as a Treatment for Diabetes

… a chronic condition that can have serious, life-threatening complications if left untreated. Diabetes is caused when the … concoctions of herbs and seeds and, by the 18th century, dietary changes. In 1870, French pharmacist Apollinaire … most famously observed the importance of a sugar-free diet during the Franco-Prussian War. Research into the …

The Soviet Collapse

… In 1985, it seemed the Soviet Union would last forever. Its Communist Party rulers held a monopoly on political power. … of Eastern Europe —land won by the blood of Soviet soldiers in World War II —as tantamount to treason. They … to an end. Even more unexpectedly, one of the world’s two superpowers also came to an end. Since the October …
A glass negative of Warren G. Harding.

Sex Scandals and U.S. History

… George Santayana made one of the world’s best known comments about history when he said that those who learn … triumvirate of 1920s conservative Republican presidents, died in 1923 amid bribery and corruption scandals that were …

Baptized in the Jordan: Restoring a Holy River

… five meters away on the opposite shore, two Jordanian soldiers looked on from the shelter of a reed-covered platform – no visitors had come to visit their side of the river yet that day. As the … Francesca de Châtel, 2013. According to the Yardenit website , this is one of the only places along the Jordan …
A KFC in Hanoi, Vietnam

Kentucky Fried Globalization

… American press corps will find a better way of handling the complex cultural dimensions of Vietnam’s re-engagement with … played up the irony of an icon of U.S. enterprise being welcomed by a once bitterly anti-American Communist Party. Once again, they have speculated that a …
Omagh, Northern Ireland in 2001.

Taking the Guns Out of Irish Politics

… The decommissioning of weapons in Northern Ireland ought to be a … from an IRA arms dump by dissidents. Twenty-nine people died and more than three hundred were injured in this … If it does not, then people who are not yet born may die as a historic conflict enters its ninth century. Sean …
A Sea Fight with Barbary Corsairs by Laureys a Castro, c. 1681

Hostage Taking in Algeria Is a 200-Year-Old Story

… The State Department is probably very pleased with the outcome of last week’s hostage crisis in Algeria, although … who joined the remnants of the earlier group (some had died or been released earlier). Not until 1796 did the new … for the captives pushed the government toward an expedient but costly resolution that involved paying large …
Woman reading inside a newsstand in the 1950s.

Journalists and the Bomb

… atomic bombing of two Japanese cities. Most reporters and commentators who write about Hiroshima and Nagasaki … A few months later, one of the most popular radio commentators during the war years, Raymond Swing, declared … perhaps the most respected and influential newspaper commentator of all time, added his voice to the list of …
The Sofia Monument to the Soviet Army painted in the colors of the Ukrainian flag din support of the 2014 Ukrainian Revolution.

World War II in Eastern Europe: Many Lands, Many Memories

… the countries formerly designated as the “ East European communist bloc ” displayed a remarkable solidarity in … defending their country, even when that meant killing soldiers and civilians beyond the boundaries of one’s own … of sexual violence during the war remains woefully understudied and under-represented in the memory of World War II.  …
A wood engraving of President Woodrow Wilson from 1918.

The Osama bin Laden of 1916

… the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. The comparison is appropriate. In both cases an attack without … as “a new day that will live in infamy.” Forgotten in the comparisons to December 7, 1941, is the date of an earlier … between 1916 and 2001 are imperfect. Villa killed U.S. soldiers during his raid, not civilians. His reasons for …