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Pope Leo XIV in the popemobile at his inauguration, 2025.

Faith, History, and the City of God in the 21st Century

… Rome . If  warnings of the imminent rise of superhuman AI come to pass, he may be the last pontiff crowned during the … the papacy of Leo XIV may herald the end of an era,  recent commentary celebrates several notable firsts.  Besides being … soul … made after the image and the likeness of God.” Addressing the College of Cardinals this year, Leo XIV  observed …
The Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, Ukraine.

Rus not Russia

… not acknowledge. Rusian pilgrims travelled to Santiago de Compostela in northern Iberia, as we see from the … belongs to all of them collectively, at least in part, since they have all also made their own history over the nearly 800 years since the kingdom of Rus lost its functional unity. The …
Various sedimentary rock strata are visible in many areas of Badlands National Park.

Ten Moments of Insight in America’s National Parks

… the intellect with emotion and place. You can follow our common fight for independence and creating and keeping a … a ranking of the best—something that really is impossible, since all of us bring different sets of values and … and headed to the Lamar Valley, it was like entering a completely different park. The traffic drops off and the …
This postcard depicts a recreation of the Arbella, the ship that carried John Winthrop and his fellow Puritans to present-day Massachusetts.

From Forgotten Phrase to American Myth

Review of As a City on a Hill: The Story of America’s Most Famous Lay Sermon , by Daniel T. Rodgers (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2018)
… seemed to me, foreshadows what the United States would become more than the Puritan outpost of Boston. After all, … Winthrop Fleet, which was funded by the  Massachusetts  Bay Company, came ashore in 1630. Ditto across the 19th century, … In a particularly splendid chapter, Rodgers describes the single instance when the phrase “city on a hill” had real …
David Ben-Gurion proclaiming Israel's independence beneath a large portrait of Theodor Herzl.

Zionist Idea of Security Blocks Path to Peace

… as a permanent fact of life. The Zionists aimed to overcome that psychological infirmity by making the Jews a … merely having a land and government of their own, but exercising a “normal” degree of national power on the stage of … broke out again. For Israel, the only alternative to real compromise was to show more power. The tanks and missiles we …
A group of boys at Chirec International School in India playing Cricket, 2015.

Cricket without Boundaries: The Story of a Global Game

… time that the United States hosted an international cricket competition. In fact, the first international cricket game … records, and in 1744, members of the London Cricket Club composed the first known written rules of the game.  … decline coincided with the Civil War, as Americans increasingly turned to baseball.  Yet cricket did not immediately …
Film poster for Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (1995).

Top Ten Origins: Bollywood Films

… were Bollywood films. In recent decades, Bollywood has become popular across the world with sizeable audiences in … productions range widely. They can be artistic or cheaply commercial. They can have low production values or high … in Hindi cinema at the time. The production budget for a single song, “Why Fear When You Are in Love,” was almost as …
El 5 de julio por S. Davies, Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

What’s Really At Stake in the Venezuelan Election

… will be no grounds for the United States to reject its outcome. Both U.S. presidential candidates have made … Cuba’s Fidel Castro “raised serious questions about his commitment to leading a truly democratic country.” Of … like a “monkey,” they complain, pointing to his impromptu singing and folksy digressions on his six-hour-long weekly …
School Lunch Politics: The Surprising History of America's Favorite Welfare Program, by Susan Levine Book Cover

Playing Politics with Our Children's Health

Review of School Lunch Politics: The Surprising History of America's Favorite Welfare Program, by Susan Levine (Princeton University Press, 2008)
… Americans' budgets. According to the report, the pain of rising food costs extends beyond the nuclear family to the … early twentieth century to the present, highlighting the complex interaction of politics, economics, nutrition, and … strings together, Levine reveal what turns out to be the complexity of the school lunch program, and she weaves these …
War News from Mexico (1848).

“Hostilities” and War Powers: Let’s Choose the Constitution

… Nadler of New York warned that "if we don't want to become an empire instead of a republic," Congress must …  Congressman Nadler disagrees.  "The president is becoming an absolute monarch," he said.   As a Democrat, … declaration.  While one might legitimately argue that chasing Pancho Villa was indeed a "police action," it's …
illustration of Prince George IV

Unspoken Anxiety or Vivid Metaphor?

Review of Itch, Clap, Pox: Venereal Disease in the Eighteenth-Century Imagination, by Noelle Gallagher (New Haven: Yale, 2019)
… (syphilis), artists explored social phenomena including commercialization, globalization, gender, race, and class. … Gallagher describes how scarring from venereal disease was compared to battlefield wounds as marks of honor, and were … history. The four chapters, especially when read as comprising two thematic arguments about the imagination of gender …
William Howard Taft, 27th President of the United States.

Zealous Moderates: Barack Obama and William Howard Taft

… season brings a new round of presidential analogies and comparisons. Two years into his presidency, Barack Obama has already seen his share. Supporters have compared him to Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry … Sound familiar?   With his first big initiative–revising the tariff–Taft deferred its drafting to the leaders of …
Coach Bob Knight holding a chair

Bob Knight: A Latter-Day MacArthur?

… rash act against a national celebrity. Meanwhile, Knight complained that he was a victim of changing expectations … trustee critical of Brand's action invoked a pointed comparison: "President Truman fired General MacArthur.  … free from administrative interference. Indiana, said an opposing coach, was the one institution where the basketball …
March on Washington

The Unfinished Struggle: Civil Rights and the March on Washington

… On August 28th, America will commemorate the anniversary of the March on Washington for … John Lewis (chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee), Martin Luther King, Jr. (president of the … on Washington has been credited with helping to spur the passing of the Civil Rights Act in 1964 and the Voting Rights …
The Beatles arrive in 1964 to meet their new fans in America.

50 Years Ago: the Beatles, Rock, and Race in America

… would help define American life for generations to come. In 1964, the relatively new musical genre of rock and … as different and prohibited for white youth. Restrictive housing practices and economic disparities limited housing … in race music and began to provide more of these records to complement the demand. Radio DJs like Alan Freed started …
Marlin Stutzman US senate campaign, 2016 (Support a Balanced Budget Amendment)

An Amendment Whose Time Has Never Come

… to popular enthusiasm for a simplistic solution to fiscal complexities, a responsible minority treated the … The answer to all of these questions is “yes,” raising hope that today’s legislators will reason historically … checkbook where failure to limit household spending to income courted disaster. This analogy ignored the reality that …
A map showing Israel and Palestine

Palestine and Israel: A Case of Incomplete Decolonization

… framework of decolonization struggles. Violence has accompanied decolonization whenever the goal of political … of a late twentieth-century drive of colonial peoples to become sovereign nation-states. Much of the fury behind the … It is seen as a viable, moral and democratic polity. Since the critical factor in anti-colonial nationalist …

Where have you gone, Holden Caulfield? Why We Aren’t ‘Alienated’ Anymore

… Over the last year, we have come to know a good deal about Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab. … about him, the odder it seemed that he should have become a terrorist. This fresh-faced twenty-three-year old … anymore. In the midst of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, an MTV poll finds 75 percent of …
Illustration of Packing Room in Opium Factory at Patna, India

The World of Opium: From “Free” to Illicit Trade

Review of Opium’s Long Shadow: From Asian Revolt to Global Drug Control , by Steffen Rimner (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2018)
… of Chinese defeat in the face of British imperial power and commercial interests. China wanted to stem the flow of opium … to prioritize anti-drug trafficking laws as an important component of their activities. In his aptly named Opium’s … by anti-opium activists in Britain. A vital aspect of using a transnational framework to study world history is the …
In an address to a joint-session of the US Congress on September 20, 2001, US President George W. Bush demanded that the Taliban deliver Osama bin Laden and destroy bases of al-Qaeda.

Bush Should Consider the Fate of Wartime Presidents

… nation must choose between alternative ways of life, “communist or free,” Truman declared. Truman shook off fears … taught the nation that in a cold war the only possible outcome is stalemate, not permanent safety. As dreams of … the limitations and frustrations of an ongoing cold war. Since the early Cold War years, our real national goal has …
Mural in Guernica based on the Picasso painting. 

Guernica and the Horrors of Modern War

… Guernica was not the first strategically insignificant, non-combatant town ever to be targeted for aerial bombardment, … in collaboration with the Spanish Nationalists under the command of General Francisco Franco , left little doubt that … were apt in the context of a civil war. In the years since its painting, Guernica has frequently been regarded as …