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Week of September 9, 2013

#1 Our Other September 11
by Rick Perlstein

What the hell were we doing in Chile?

THE NATION


#2 Stop Blaming Colonial Borders for the Middle East’s Problems
by Nick Danforth

Borders are intrinsically artificial constructs, anyway.

THE ATLANTIC


#3 The Decades-Old Slight that Poisons U.S.-China Relations
by Rana Mitter

Heavy-handed American support of China in World War II is still remembered.

FOREIGN POLICY


#4 There's No Unlimited Right to Bear Arms
by Joseph J. Ellis

Not even Scalia argues there is one.

LOS ANGELES TIMES


#5 A Noble Failure: Woodrow Wilson’s Presidency Considered
by Michael Kazin

One can say the same of A. Scott Berg's new biography.

THE DAILY BEAST


#6 The Futile War on Tipping
by Stephen Mihm

Tipping only came into vogue after the Civil War, but good luck trying to get rid of it.

BLOOMBERG


#7 JFK vs. the Military
by Robert Dallek

During the Cuban missile crisis, Kennedy struggled as much with the Pentagon as he did with the Kremlin.

THE ATLANTIC


#8 Obamacare: New Fight, Old Tactics
by Nelson Lichtenstein

Resistance to Obamacare is reminiscent of the so-called "massive resistance" of Southern segregationists.

LOS ANGELES TIMES


#9 The Rise of the New New Left
by Peter Beinart

Millennials don't subscribe to the same Clintonite-Reaganite consensus.

THE DAILY BEAST


#10 Farewell to Catalonia?
by Artur Mas

Catalonia is its own nation with its own unique history, Catalan president Artur Mas argues, and it deserves independence from Spain.

NEW YORK TIMES