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Journeys to the Other Shore: Muslim and Western Travelers in Search of Knowledge, by Roxanne L. Euben book cover.

Journeys to the Other Shore: Muslim and Western Travelers in Search of Knowledge

Review of Journeys to the Other Shore: Muslim and Western Travelers in Search of Knowledge, by Roxanne L. Euben (Princeton University Press, Princeton 2006)
… easily between historical periods, and languages. Her command of her own discipline, political theory, and other … racial, and ethnic differences within the West. Euben also complicates the idea of a singular Islam and instead … a way that will appeal to specialists, and not a general audience. At times her language is convoluted and her …
Portrait of Galileo Galilei by Justus Sustermans

400 Years Ago the Catholic Church Prohibited Copernicanism

What lessons can be learned from the thought and actions of Galileo, who became the “Father of Modern Science”?
… continues to our day. Do these Church actions prove the incompatibility between science and religion? What lessons can … into trouble. A geocentric model of the solar system (top) compared to the heliocentric model (bottom) Galileo … In February-March 1615, one Dominican friar filed a written complaint against him, and another one testified in person …
Sébastien Slodtz's statue of Hannibal Barca.

On the Verge of War, Look Before You Leap

… the terrorist attack seems too much to bear. Professional commentators, and current and former government officials … Serbia refused to extradite him, mighty Austria felt itself compelled by great-power politics (not to mention by the … war.” His unit had killed and wounded several American soldiers and taken others prisoner. President James K. Polk, …
The Postcolonial State in Africa: Fifty Years of Independence, 1960-2010, by Crawford Young Book Cover.

Fifty Years and Counting

Review of The Postcolonial State in Africa: Fifty Years of Independence, 1960-2010, by Crawford Young (Chicago: University of Wisconsin Press, 2012)
… State , the preceding volume to this work, Young adopts a comparative approach. As he outlines in his introduction, a … his detailed footnotes, Young manages to avoid creating a superficial work. Rather, he offers a thoughtful macro-level …
Seen in 1986 with Ford Island in center. The USS Arizona Memorial is the small white dot on the left side above Ford Island.

Pearl Harbor Myth Poses Dangers

… to fight on until the enemy is utterly vanquished has become our shared myth. But its appeal is as dangerous as it … sameness: Sept. 11 = Dec. 7. With this false equation, the complex history of United States – Muslim relations may be … Harbor attack. Ira Chernus is a professor of religious studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder and a writer …
A bison in Yellowstone National Park.

Why the Buffalo Still Roam

… ethics of the robber barons. Between 1871 and 1883, commercial hide hunters slaughtered buffalo by the millions. … the resulting public outcry finally allowed Congress to overcome the railroads and pass a law creating meaningful …
US Capitol, meeting place of Congress.

After Past Scandals, Real Reforms

… getting Congress to rein in lobbyists? Can any good really come out of congressional efforts to thwart corruption? The cynics say no. Yet democratic reforms have come out of past scandals. Many pessimists claim that reform … vice president. Indictments and convictions today are coming fast and furious. Gilded Age outrages mounted quickly …
 This is the logo of the Heaven's Gate cult.

Gullible Americans?

… of the Heaven’s Gate suicides now blame everything from comets to cults to cyberspace to the dead themselves — the “weak” among us, as commentator David Gelernter put it. Perhaps when we have … leaves many Americans unprepared to confront life’s complexities, challenges, and disappointments? More than a …
Map showing position of North Korea relative to China

What Are They Thinking in Beijing?

… protests in Hong Kong that have directly challenged Chinese Communist Party (CCP) policies and yet have not been … November as the leader of the Politburo’s powerful Standing Committee. But we shouldn’t make too much of Jiang’s passing …
Rosie Castro with her sons, Joaquín, left, and Julián, April 23, 2006 (ZUMA Wire/San Antonio Express-News/Helen L. Montoya)

No Julian Castro without Mother Rosie Castro

… woman has held that position.   But Julian Castro did not become mayor on his own. He attributes his rise to the Chicano … activists held their own reunion in El Paso, Texas, to commemorate the 1972 national convention held in that city … recorded, taught, or known. Texas Board of Education committee member Mary Helen Berlanga tried to add stories …
Wall street and Broadway, New York City

A New Deal Prescription for Gordon Gekko

… resonated strongly in the 1980s, because they reminded audiences of the behavior of Ivan Boesky and other … investments broadly through risky buyouts of disparate companies. Often they stuffed their pockets with cash while … was the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933, which separated commercial and investment banking and restricted the use of …
Cover of Apache Diaspora by Paul Conrad.

“Diaspora” as a Creative and Historical Force

Review of The Apache Diaspora: Four Centuries of Displacement and Survival, by Paul Conrad (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2021)
… of “violence.” Pekka Hämäläinen made an argument that the Comanche past constituted an “empire.” Benjamin Madley, … one overarching Apache ‘tribe’ or nation.” Despite this complexity, the author sticks to this Euro-American … of scholarship typically based in African diasporic studies, Conrad’s use of the term highlights the long history …
Pledging his support, President George W. Bush talks via telephone to New York Governor George Pataki and New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.

Wilson and Bush: Unready Internationalists

… President Bush is presiding over what is fast becoming a foreign policy disaster. The war in Iraq is a … standing in an increasingly dangerous world. Pundits have compared Bush to Woodrow Wilson because of his championing … of democracy. A less flattering, but more insightful, comparison would emphasize they shared an initial lack of …

Colombia: Al Borde de la Paz con las FARC?

… Moon, el presidente de Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos, y el comandante supremo de las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de … futuro presidente de Colombia, fue asesinado en las calles de Bogotá enfrente de su oficina. El asesinato en sí … y el robo. Con el tiempo, las FARC se hizo grandemente dependiente de secuestros como su fuente de ingresos, así como …
Evo Morales in 2006.

Once More, Bolivians Seek Independence

… are only make things worse. America’s goals in Bolivia come down to two things: limiting the production of cocaine … elite. The target of the demonstrations, in which soldiers shot some 70 protesters, was a government plan to … national resources that will benefit the country. Bolivians compared the recent protests to the most famous rebellion in …
 A Chinese laboratory technician conducting tests on SARS.

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

… discovered since the mid-1960s (four of which just cause a common cold in humans). A microscopic image of SARS-CoV It … the globe—to Canada, Singapore , and Vietnam—as the first “super-spreaders.” Layout of the ninth floor of Hotel … of Hanoi and who first identified the disease for the WHO, died of the disease on March 29. Though his death was …
Artistic rendition of Space Station Freedom with the STS Orbiter Vehicle

No Cheap Ticket to Outer Space

… millions of dollars, or approximately $10,000 a pound. By comparison, sending a 180-pound history professor across the … a few chosen astronauts. The Bush administration ought to commit itself to spending money now to develop new launch … of space and difficulty in developing and deploying new, complex technologies. Vanguard, America’s first satellite in …
Cover of A Decade of Upheaval: The Cultural Revolution in Rural China by Dong Guoqiang and Andrew G. Walder.

The View from the Countryside

Review of A Decade of Upheaval: The Cultural Revolution in Rural China, by Dong Guoqiang & Andrew G. Walder (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2021)
… According to official accounts from the Chinese Communist Party, “The ‘cultural revolution,’ which lasted … (1958—1962) and his fear that enemies in the Chinese Communist Party planned to place China back on the … is a short book, but it makes a sizable contribution to studies of the Cultural Revolution. Paradoxically, however, the …
Logo of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.

Time to End Deregulation

… the CEOs of transnational firms such as Enron, WorldCom and Global Crossings in our “deregulated” economy have … instituted when it established the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 1934. The Securities Exchange Act compelled publicly traded firms to provide listings of their …
Visitors stroll the first section of the High Line Park, over the 18th Street crossing. Frank Gehry's IAC building is in the background.

The High Line: It’s About the Real Estate

… spirit. Even in the mid-19th century, New York City was in competition with new garden suburbs that beckoned well-to-do … dwellers with natural landscaping, open space, and cheap commuter steamer and train service into the city.   …
Mr. Professor by Joan Carlsson, Flickr, CC BY-NC 2.0

Needed: A New Deal for Academics

… on faculty hires. Suddenly, new Ph.D.s found themselves competing with a hundred or even a thousand other candidates … despondent souls at any academic conference, squirming uncomfortably in their suits and waiting — always waiting for the interview that never comes. How can we assist them? Should we even try? In an era …
Spirits of Defiance: National Prohibition and Jazz Age Literature, by Kathleen Drowne Book Cover

Spirits of Defiance: National Prohibition and Jazz Age Literature

Review of Spirits of Defiance: National Prohibition and Jazz Age Literature, by Kathleen Drowne (Columbus: Ohio State University, 2005)
… to loosen his creativity and imagination. As we have come to know Fitzgerald the person, the chances are good … prohibition became the fulcrum of moral and civil disobedience by those who formerly considered themselves … were the era's cultural form of political civil disobedience; these actions infused prohibition with political …
General George S. Patton waving to crowds in Los Angeles, California in 1945.

Pragmatic de-Baathification is Key to Rebuilding Iraq

… this policy on grounds of administrative convenience or expediency.” (This situation replicated itself in the communist states of eastern Europe; Vaclav Klaus, the first … Nikolas K. Gvosdev is a senior fellow for strategic studies at The Nixon Center in Washington and a writer for the …
President George W. Bush delivers his remarks on the global war on terror during a visit Thursday, Sept. 7, 2006, to Atlanta

War and “The Law of Unintended Consequences”

… advocated by Secretary of State Colin Powell? Or will war come in the form of numerous military strikes that engage … as some of the president’s trigger-eager advisers recommend? We should hope for the former, because a massive … created chaos in Russia, and offered an opportunity for a communist minority to seize power and begin a nightmare of …