American Militarism: Part One (Rachel Maddow)
On April 14th my better half and I dined with another couple at Tre Scalini in South Philadelphia before scurrying over to Irvine Auditorium on the University of Pennsylvania campus to listen to Rachel Maddow speak about her book, Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Power. Ms. Allyson Schwartz, currently a member of the U. S. House of Representatives and a recently announced candidate for Governor of Pennsylvania, gave Ms. Maddow a glowing introduction. So, too, did Philadelphia’s Mayor, Michael Nutter. Although she charmed her audience with wit, humor and a velvety-fisted critique of the many idiocies that pass for policies in the Republican Party these days, one might guess that the people who actually came to hear Ms. Maddow speak about her book were disappointed. After … Read entire article »
Filed under: Book Reviews, Current Events, Military History
Thinking About Racism as the Election Draws Near
Last month professors Josh Pasek, Jon Krosnick and Trevor Thompson published a remarkable paper titled, “The Impact of Anti-Black Racism on Approval of Barack Obama’s Job Performance and on Voting in the 2012 Presidential Election.” The paper is based upon three online surveys of at least 1,000 Americans; one conducted in 2008, one in 2010 and a third that ended in early September of this year. The surveys enabled the authors to measure the existence of both explicit and implicit racism among people who call themselves Democrats, Independents and Republicans. Explicit racism, as measured in these surveys, is nothing like the explicit racism that existed fifty years ago. Lee Atwater, a bare knuckles campaign advisor to both President George H. W. Bush and President George W. Bush, explained the … Read entire article »
Filed under: African-American History, American History, Cultural Criticism, Current Events, Race/Racism
Why Bush, Cheney and the Neocons Failed to Protect America from al-Qaeda’s Vicious Attacks
Today is 9/11. After I read Kurt Eichenwald’s New York Times Op-ed, “The Deafness Before the Storm” ( http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/11/opinion/the-bush-white-house-was-deaf-to-9-11-warnings.html?ref=opinion ), all the memories came back. Also coming back were all the infuriating memories suggesting that the Bush administration’s obsession with removing Saddam Hussein from power created a national security black hole into which sank all the bubbling intelligence about the increasing threat posed by al-Qaeda. Mr. Eichenwald’s Op-ed is an eye-opener. Although everyone capable of steaming up a mirror (when placed under his nose) knows about the August 6th daily brief titled, “bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.,” Eichenwald demonstrates that President Bush received more daily briefings about the threat posed by al-Qaeda than previously imagined. “The direct warnings to Mr. Bush about the possibility of a Qaeda attack began in the spring … Read entire article »
Filed under: American History, Bush Administration, Current Events
Part One: Making it Up as We Go Along: Religion in Human Evolution
Human Evolution Masters of the Planet: The Search for Our Human Origins, by Ian Tattersal, Palgrave Macmillan, 2012, $26.00 The Social Conquest of Earth, by Edward O. Wilson, W. W. Norton, 2012, $27.95 Scholars who teach and write about “Big History” (such as David Christian, in Maps of Time or Fred Spier, in Big History and the Future of Humanity) incorporate scientific discoveries made during the twentieth century to demolish the young earth claims that Christians have made, based upon primitive calculations derived from genealogies found in the Bible. Rather than “give heed to fables and endless genealogies” (1 Timothy, 1:4) only to conclude that the world is no more than 5,000 to 10,000 years old, historians like Professors Christian and Spier use scientific evidence provided by geologists, archaeologists, paleontologists and astronomers who have demonstrated … Read entire article »
Filed under: Book Reviews, Christianity, History
America’s Historical Illiteracy: A Review of The Future of History, by John Lukacs
“To be ignorant of what happened before you were born is to remain a child always.” ~Cicero In 2008 Common Core published a study by Frederick M. Hess which examined the knowledge of history and literature possessed by 17 year-old high school students in the United States. The results were depressing. Less than half of the 1,200 students questioned were able to identify the Renaissance or even the infamous Senator Joseph McCarthy. Only 50% could explain why the Federalist Papers were written and fewer than half could correctly identify the half century in which the Civil War was fought. More than one fourth of these students believed that Christopher Columbus sailed for the New World sometime after 1750. As Mr. Hess notes, these questions … Read entire article »
Filed under: Book Reviews, History
The Myths That Buttress America’s First National Pastime: A Review of Baseball in the Garden of Eden by John Thorn
It was Cardinal Fleury, adviser to the king of France, who observed (around 1720) that “a man of mediocre status needs very little history; those who play some part in public affairs need a great deal more; and a Prince cannot have too much.” [John Lukacs, The Future of History, p.4] Obviously, he was writing some five decades before Colonial Americans threw off British rule — and nearly a century before U.S. voters (largely men of “mediocre status”) launched a political revolt against the type of aristocratic rule that the Founding Fathers represented and envisaged. Consequently, as H. L. Mencken observed, the United States found itself in the grip of third-rate men. “Third-rate men, of course, exist in all countries, … Read entire article »
Filed under: Book Reviews, Featured, History
Igor Sutyagin and I. F. Stone: Spies?
A Review of Spies: The Rise and Fall of the KGB in America, by John Earl Haynes, Harvey Klehr, and Alexander Vassiliev My first and only meeting with Igor Sutyagin occurred on 7 September 1998, in what was then the Taiga Café of Moscow’s Aerostar Hotel. A senior scholar in the Department for Military-Political Studies at the Institute for the USA and Canada Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Sutyagin was given the task of dining with an American “People to People” delegation – of which I was a member – and briefing its members on the economic crisis ravaging Russia since its catastrophic default just three weeks earlier. Although we peppered Igor with questions about Russia’s economic collapse, his answers … Read entire article »
Filed under: Book Reviews, Russian History
The Nation: Editor's Picks
- Why Investors Must Do More Than Divest From Fossil Fuels June 17, 2013 Dan Apfel
- The Making of a Global Security State June 17, 2013 Tom Engelhardt
- Will Obama Blow His Chance With Iran's New President? June 17, 2013 Bob Dreyfuss