Roundup: Historians' Take

The Colonist of Good Will: On Albert Camus

by Thomas Meaney

"Algerian Chronicles" shows that Camus still has something to say to us -- not about terrorism but economic justice.

A Noble Failure: Woodrow Wilson’s Presidency Considered

by Michael Kazin

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

The Great Stagnation of American Education

by Robert J. Gordon

For most of American history, parents could expect that their children would, on average, be much better educated than they were. But that is no longer true.

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.

Be Careful What You Wish For

by Murray Polner

AIPAC is making a full court press to pass the AUMF on Syria.

How the Black Death Spawned the Minimum Wage

by Stephen Mihm

How a European labor shortage after the plague led to greater economic equality.

Syria in Historical Context

by Victor Davis Hanson

What Is To Be Done About Higher Education?

by Jonathan Rees

You can’t have a race to the bottom when the bottom is gone.

The New Economy of Letters

by Jill Lepore

All the noise has silenced the modest, the untenured, and the politically moderate.

The West's Chemical Weapons Hypocrisy

by Juan Cole

British firms received licenses to sell chemical agents to Syria in 2012... and that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Obama’s Dithering on Syria

by Conrad Black

Our national interest in Syria has yet to be defined.

Inside the Coursera Hype Machine

by Jon Wiener

How will Coursera make money off of its free education-for-the-masses model?

On Privatization's Cutting Edge

by Rick Perlstein

(Illegally) selling the police powers of a city: coming near you!

Roosevelt Museum Revitalized

by Alexander Heffner

Reviewing the new additions to the FDR library.

Andrew Delbanco: Lincoln's Long Game

At the time of his first inauguration, it was widely noted that President Obama was a great admirer of Abraham Lincoln. Those who thrilled at the election of our first black president thought his decision to swear his oath on the same Bible Lincoln had used was fitting and proper. Those who distrusted him found it excessive and vain.

Claire Potter: The Ten Commandments of Graduate School

So you are starting graduate school, eh? Against all of our best advice here in the blogosphere, you are determined to embark on the scholarly life.  Well, you know what I have to say about that?Good luck and godspeed! Keep your feet dry and your spectacles up to date! Cover your head when the sun is too bright! Don’t fly with ballpoint pens in your luggage! Get a cat!

Stephen Mihm: How Computers Took Over Trading

The malfunctions that froze trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market for three hours this afternoon -- just two days after options markets were roiled by mistaken trades sent by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. -- are the latest in a series of high-profile mishaps most likely triggered by errant computer programs.

Daniel Pipes: Obama's Foreign Fiasco

It's a privilege to be an American who works on foreign policy, as I have done since the late 1970s, participating in a small way in the grand project of finding my country's place in the world. But now, under Barack Obama, decisions made in Washington have dramatically shrunk in importance. It's unsettling and dismaying. And no longer a privilege.

Juan Cole: Bradley Manning in a World of Cheneys, Hadithas, and NSA Domestic Surveillance

The sentencing of Bradley Manning to 35 years in prison came because he leaked government documents, mostly with a low level of classification that probably shouldn’t have been classified in the first place. 

Angela Y. Davis: Indefinite Solitary Confinement Violates Human Rights

California prisoners are now in their 33rd day of a hunger strike; what they are risking their health and possibly their lives for is basic: an end to indefinite solitary confinement, a practice that most countries recognize as a violation of basic human rights.