Roundup: Historians' Take

Martha C. Nussbaum: Why are Liberals so Impressed by China and Singapore’s School Systems?

[Martha C. Nussbaum is professor of law and philosophy at the University of Chicago. She is the author, most recently, of From Disgust to Humanity: Sexual Orientation and the Constitution.] American leaders, impressed by the economic success of Singapore and China, frequently sound envious when talking about those countries’ educational systems. President Obama, for example,

Xu Guoqi: Where Are China’s Soccer Stars?

[Xu Guoqi, a history professor at the University of Hong Kong, is the author of “Olympic Dreams: China and Sports, 1895-2008,” “China and the Great War” and the forthcoming “Strangers on the Western Front: Chinese workers and the Great War.”] The total population of this year’s world cup countries is about 1.5 billion. Why then is China — a nation of 1.3 billion — not able to produce a 11-member team to the World Cup when even its destitute neighbor, North Korea, has managed to be t

Sung-Yoon Lee: U.S. Misses History Lessons on Korea

[Sung-Yoon Lee is adjunct assistant professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, and associate in research at the Korea Institute, Harvard University.] ...Between the last decade of the 19th century and the Korean War, patchily remembered in America as the "Forgotten War" despite the loss of 54,246 American lives, there were four other wars in Korea and its vicinity. The US was involved in only the fourth, the Pacific W

Jonathan Zimmerman: Americans Have Reasons to Root for Ghana

[Jonathan Zimmerman teaches history at New York University and lives in Narberth. He taught in NYU's study-abroad program in Ghana in 2008 and 2009.] I'm an American, but I used to live in Ghana. So last weekend's World Cup match between the two countries presented a sports-fan dilemma. I ended up rooting for Ghana. And so should you, once you've absorbed the shock of its 2-1 overtime victory over the United States. The first reason is the simplest: Ghanaia

Victor Davis Hanson: The Danger of Moral Equivalence

[Victor Davis Hanson is a classicist and historian at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and author, most recently, of "A War Like No Other: How the Athenians and Spartans Fought the Peloponnesian War."] British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain was ecstatic after the Munich Conference of 1938. He bragged that he had coaxed Adolf Hitler into stopping further aggression after the Nazis gobbled up much of Czechoslovakia. Arriving home, Chamberlain pro

Gary Wills: McChrystal Does Not Matter

[Garry Wills is Professor of History Emeritus at Northwestern. His most recent book, What Jesus Meant, was published in 2006.] The initial reaction to Michael Hastings’s Rolling Stone articleon General McChrystal was disturbing. The emphasis has been on the early parts of the article, with McChrystal’sdismissive attitude toward the President and his administration. Instant discussion focused on the person McChrystal—should he be fired, or resign, or have his resignation accepted? Th

Daniel Pipes: Faisal Shahzad, Jihadi, Explains Terrorism

[Mr. Pipes (www.DanielPipes.org) is director of the Middle East Forum and Taube Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University.] Jaw-dropping court testimony by Faisal Shahzad, the would-be Times Square bomber, single-handedly undermines Obama-administration efforts to ignore the dangers of Islamism and jihad. Shahzad’s forthright statement of purpose stands out because jihadis, when facing legal charges, typically save their skin by ple

Alison LaCroix: The Use and Misuse of Legal History in McDonald

[Alison LaCroix is Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School.]Ever since the Court issued its decision in D.C. v. Heller in 2008, many legal historians have found themselves in the odd position of feeling compelled to defend their methodology against triumphalist congratulations from those outside the field.  In the wake of a decision that found both Justice Scalia and Justice Stevens invoking the Glorious Revolution, early colonial regu

Saul Cornell: Judicial Activism, Historical Revisionism, and the Legacy of the Roberts Court

[Saul Cornell is a professor of history at Fordham University, and signed an amicus brief in favor of the respondent city in McDonald v. Chicago.]For those fortunate enough to be at the Supreme Court today the announcement of the Court’s decision in McDonald v. City of Chicago was a riveting experience.  Visitors were treated to a theatrical experience that few will forget, a dramatic reminder of how deeply divided the Court is on the issue of guns. &nbs

Baktybek Abdrisaev and Alexey Semyonov: Back on Track in Bishkek

[ Mr. Abdrisaev, distinguished visiting professor of history and political science at Utah Valley University, was Kyrgyzstan's ambassador to the United States and Canada from 1997 to 2005. Mr. Semyonov is vice president of the Andrei Sakharov Foundation.] Kyrgyzstan's citizens once again demonstrated their democratic resolve Sunday when they came out in force to ratify a new constitution. The event was significant in its timing, given that the nation has just suffered through almost

Burt Folsom: What Works and What Doesn’t Work in the U. S. Economy

[Burt Folsom is professor of history at Hillsdale College.] Happy news! The economic summit this week rejected President Obama’s idea for a global stimulus. But the notion that a second stimulus in the U. S. will work better than the first is alive and well among the president’s advisors. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and others have compared our current economy with that of the Great Depression in this way: In 1937, they argue, the U. S. cut back spending and a recession ensu

Eric Rauchway: Of Shakedowns and Slush Funds

[Eric Rauchway is a professor of history at UC Davis.]In response to the Mississippi River flood of 1927, the administration of Calvin Coolidge dispatched Herbert Hoover to serve as what we would nowadays call the “czar” of the flood relief effort. Among other tasks, Hoover set about raising money for a cleanup and reconstruction fund. From John M. Barry,

Giles Slade: Oh Boy, Russian Spies!

[In 1994, Giles Slade completed a vicious and protracted doctorate in cultural history, and now describes himself a ‘recovering academic writer.’]It's a little known fact, but the Cold War actually began in my hometown of Ottawa in 1945 when Igor Gouzenko, a radio cipher clerk at the Russian Embassy, attempted to defect to the RCMP carrying a briefcase full of pay documents indicating there was a vast network of Russian agents throughout North America. It was 1945. Gouzenko

Victor Davis Hanson: McChrystal’s Tragedy

[Victor Davis Hanson is a classicist and historian at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and the author, most recently, of The Father of Us All: War and History, Ancient and Modern.] 1) McChrystal, in fact, is a brave and heroic figure deserving our respect. But among friends and with a mole in his midst, he still himself deprecated the commander in chief. His staff took care of the VP, the national security team, and most of the diplomatic personnel involved in Afghanista

Michael Kazin: Necessary Changes of Mind

[Michael Kazin is co-editor of Dissent and a professor of history at Georgetown University. He is completing a history of the American left to be published in 2011 by Knopf.] Sometimes, Leon Wieseltier’s eloquence disguises a murky argument. “Political conviction cannot be indifferent to events,” he writes in his last Washington Diarist, “but not every event is an occasion for new thinking.” The Iraq war turned certain liberals (unnamed) who once believed “in the responsibility of A

Victor Davis Hanson: Saving Obama From Himself

[Victor Davis Hanson is a classicist and historian at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and the author, most recently, of The Father of Us All: War and History, Ancient and Modern.] Do you remember candidate Barack Obama offering his hope-and-change platitudes in front of the fake Greek columns during the Democratic convention? Or earlier pontificating at the Victory Monument in Berlin? Why didn't an old cigar-chomping Democratic pro take him aside and warn h

Isabella Ginor and Gideon Remez: How Not to Block a Mideast Bomb

[Isabella Ginor and Gideon Remez are research fellows at the Truman Institute of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Their book, Foxbats Over Dimona, won the Silver Medal in the inaugural award of a new book prize from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.] You are the leader of a strong Middle Eastern state. You have fairly solid intelligence that your most formidable adversary is about to acquire nuclear weapons. The leaders of this rival nation, while uttering pious but ambi

William J. Astore: Leave Afghanistan Now

[William J. Astore is a retired lieutenant colonel (USAF). He taught cadets at the Air Force Academy, officers at the Naval Postgraduate School, and applauded thousands of troops as they crossed the stage to graduate from the Defense Language Institute. A TomDispatch regular, he currently teaches history at the Pennsylvania College of Technology. He may be reached at wastore@pct.edu.]Winston Churchill's

Max Boot: Obama Shone in McChrystal Affair

[Max Boot is the Jeane J. Kirkpatrick Senior Fellow in National Security Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. He is writing a history of guerrilla warfare and terrorism.] "Faced with crisis, the man of character falls back on himself. He imposes his own stamp of action, takes responsibility for it, makes it his own." So said Charles de Gaulle, who knew a thing or two about handling crises. We have just been through a crisis triggered by an article in R

Dana Frank: A Year Later, Obama Still Shores Up the Honduran Coup

[Dana Frank is a professor of history at the University of California at Santa Cruz and the author of a number of books, including "Bananeras: Women Transforming the Banana Unions of Latin America." She can be reached at Progressive Media Project, 409 East Main Street, Madison, Wis. 53703; e-mail: pmproj@progressive.org] A year after the coup in Honduras, the Obama administration, to its shame, has thrown itself fully behind the