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HNN Rundowns


Up Front: Election 2012

“Hope and Change” Born Again: The New, Improved Version
Ira Chernus's MythicAmerica

The old slogan takes on a new meaning with a second term.

How Obama Won Ohio
David Stebenne

Yes, he had a better ground game, but it was thanks to organized labor and Citizens United.

We All Live in Obamerica
Gil Troy

Obama is no anomaly -- he's the emblem of a profoundly transformed America.

What Sunk Mitt: GOP Extremism
Robert Brent Toplin

There's no getting around the fact that what the GOP was selling, the voters weren't buying.

Google+ Hangout Chat on Election 2012

Publisher Rick Shenkman, editor David A. Walsh, blogger Gil Troy, and historians Ed O'Donnell and K.C. Johnson liveblog election night.

A Look at the Charter School Battle in Washington State
Nancy Beadie

If Initiative 1240 passes today, it'll be open season on public schools.



Blogs

Obama vs. Boehner: Who is the True Jeffersonian?
Ira Chernus's MythicAmerica

The metropolis of government vs. the metropoles of big business.

An Election Day Plea: Accept the People's Verdict
Gil Troy

After an incredibly bitter and divisive election, it's important to accept the legitimacy of the winner.

Morons in Africa
Jim Loewen

Why Charles Murray is dead wrong about IQ and race.

Finally, the Election is Over
Steve Hochstadt

After two years and hundreds of millions of dollars, few have changed their minds.

Ryan's Hope...
Josh Brown's Life During Wartime

A boy and his inspiration.


News at Home

I Hope Obama Wins, But I’m Still Mad at Him
Leigh Ann Wheeler

What happens when women’s rights become a means to someone else’s end.

Why Has Mormonism Been Such a Non-Issue in This Election?
David Prior

Neither the Democrats nor the Republicans have the incentive to bring it up.

Mitt Romney’s Leadership Style
Andrew M. Obritsch and Aubrey Immelman

His political personality can be best described as "dutiful conformist."

Campaign Finances and Original Intent
Ray Raphael

The Founders never intended something like Citizens United.


News Abroad

The Foreign Policy Case Against Barack Obama
Walid Phares

He's consistently mismanaged crises in the Greater Middle East.

The U.S. *Has* Pulled Off Successful Embassy Rescues Before
Timothy R. Furnish

Nanking in 1927, Saigon in 1968.

Ninety-Five Years Since the Balfour Declaration
Daniel Mandel

The British didn't intend it, but they changed the course of Jewish history.


Hurricane Sandy

Letting Go of "Mother Nature"
Nancy C. Unger

Hurricane Sandy should teach us the dangers of anthropomorphizing and feminizing the natural world.

New York City and Hurricanes: A Brief History
Mariana Villa

Sandy was far from the first.

Hymn to Working-Class New York
Mark Naison

It's the working people of New York who in moments of crisis sacrifice themselves for others.


Historians & History

1965: When the "Sixties" Really Started
James T. Patterson

In 1964, the country seemed on the cusp of a golden age. In 1965, things fell apart.

Jacques Barzun, 1907-2012

The seminal scholar proved that even at 92, a great thinker can have something new to say.


Books

Review of I Told You So: Gore Vidal Talks Politics -- Interviews with Jon Wiener
Ron Briley

We won't see the likes of a public intellectual of Vidal's style again.

Review of J.K. Rowling's The Casual Vacancy: A Novel
Jim Cullen

Like Dickens, there's a surprising toughness beneath the sentiment and humor.



2012-10-31 14:58

Up Front

HNN Hot Topics: Natural Disasters

In the wake of Sandy, a look back at other historic hurricanes, floods, and other natural disasters in American history.

Blogs

Let's Make Sure this Natural Disaster Doesn't Become a Political Disaster
Gil Troy

My plea to state and country officials: Let Election Day proceed as normally as possible

From “Who Lost China?” to “Who Lost Libya?”
Ira Chernus's MythicAmerica

Those familiar with U.S. foreign policy since the 1940s can hardly avoid drawing comparisons.

Why Obama Will Win This Election
Steve Hochstadt

Two words: Republican failures.

High Speed Amtrak: Part II
Jim Loewen

Amtrak's Quik-Trip from Chicago to St. Louis.

With Apologies to Browning...
Josh Brown's Life During Wartime

The GOP's rape problem.


News at Home

The Curious Creation (and Unintended Consequences) of the Electoral College
Ray Raphael

The Framers would be aghast at our electoral politics today.

Presidential “Czars”: A Constitutional Aberration
Mitchel A. Sollenberger and Mark J. Rozell

Obama has appointed more executive branch czars than any other president.

Barack D. Eisenhower
Dennis Gaffney

Why Obama is like Ike.

Hetch Hetchy Redux: An Effort to Turn Back the Environmental Clock
Nancy C. Unger

Inside the efforts to drain the San Francisco reservoir.


News Abroad

Face/Off: The Last 2012 Presidential Debate
Timothy R. Furnish

On foreign policy, the candidates are practically identical.

Big Maps, Big Dreams, and the Failure of the Obama Doctrine
Nick Turse

Don't count on the Pentagon ever changing its first principles.

Why the Only Solution is the Two-State Solution
Asher Susser

A one-state solution means the end of a Jewish Israel.


Historians & History

The Importance of Doing Recent History
Renee Romano and Claire Potter

Navigating a bewildering world of new sources, new media, and information overload.

The Inevitability of the Cold War
Michael Dobbs

Six months in 1945 determined the course of the next half-century.

The Forgotten Los Angeles Race Riot
Robin Lindley

Interview with Historian Scott Zesch on the Chinatown Massacre of 1871


Culture Watch

Coast to Coast, Presidential Election Ignites New Look at Campaigns and Politics
Bruce Chadwick

'Tis the political season on-stage as well as off.

When History Repeats Itself on A Summer's Day
Bruce Chadwick

But does anybody really care?


Books

Review of Emily Bernard's Carl Van Vechten and the Harlem Renaissance
Doug Ireland

Carl Van Vechten stand as a beacon of light to those truly committed to grappling with queer and black issues.

Review of Paul S. Boyer's American History: A Very Short Introduction
Jim Cullen

A solid, workmanlike, and inexpensive approach to U.S. history for students.


2012-10-09 10:56