Roundup: Historians' Take

Julian E. Zelizer: 2010 makes Democrats nervous

[Julian E. Zelizer is a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School. His new book, "Arsenal of Democracy: The Politics of National Security -- From World War II to the War on Terrorism," will be published this fall by Basic Books. Zelizer writes widely about current events.] Democrats are getting nervous about the way that events have been unfolding this summer. Although few Democratic officials have concluded that i

Arthur Milnes: Carter presidency looks better with time

[Arthur Milnes, a fellow of the Centre for the Study of Democracy at Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, is the editor of "In Roosevelt's Bright Shadow," a collection of U.S. presidential addresses in and about Canada, published by McGill-Queen's University Press.] The most exciting facet of American political history is the fact the subject area never remains static. Unlike what is often the case in Canada, common assumptions about leaders are constantly challenged by

Thomas J. Sugrue: The New American Dream: Renting

[Thomas J. Sugrue is Kahn professor of history and sociology at the University of Pennsylvania. He is writing a history of real estate in modern America.] "A man is not a whole and complete man," wrote Walt Whitman, "unless he owns a house and the ground it stands on." America's lesser bards sang of "my old Kentucky Home" and "Home Sweet Home," leading no less than that great critic Herbert Hoover to declaim that their ballads "were not w

Eric Zencey: G.D.P. R.I.P.

[Eric Zencey, a professor of historical and political studies at Empire State College, is the author of “Virgin Forest: Meditations on History, Ecology and Culture” and a novel, “Panama.”] IF there’s a silver lining to our current economic downturn, it’s this: With it comes what the economist Joseph Schumpeter called “creative destruction,” the failure of outmoded economic structures and their replacement by new, more suitable structures. Downturns have often given a last, fatality-

Andreas Umland: Europe's Share in the Ukrainian Malaise

[Dr Andreas Umland is a lecturer in contemporary East European history at The Catholic University of Eichstaett-Ingolstadt in Upper Bavaria, general editor of the book series “Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics and Society”, and co-editor of the German-Russian journal "Forum for the Ideas and History of Contemporary Eastern Europe".] Much can be heard from Western visitors of Ukraine or observers analyzing the post-Soviet region that Kyiv politics today is a “mess.” Hardly an

Niall Ferguson: A runaway deficit may soon test Obama’s luck

[The writer is Laurence A. Tisch Professor at Harvard University and author of ‘The Ascent of Money’] President Barack Obama reminds me of Felix the Cat. One of the best-loved cartoon characters of the 1920s, Felix was not only black. He was also very, very lucky. And that pretty much sums up the 44th president of the US as he takes a well-earned summer break after just over six months in the world’s biggest and toughest job. His stimulus bill has clearly made a signifi

Barry Rubin: Obama Administration Says ... Hooray for Jihad

[Barry Rubin is director of the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center and editor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA) Journal. His latest books are The Israel-Arab Reader (seventh edition), with Walter Laqueur (Viking-Penguin); the paperback edition of The Truth About Syria (Palgrave-Macmillan); A Chronological History of Terrorism, with Judy Colp Rubin, (Sharpe); and The Long War for Freedom: The Arab Struggle for Democracy in the Middle East (Wiley). ]

Victor Davis Hanson: Angry rich liberals

[Victor Davis Hanson is a classicist and historian at Stanford University's Hoover Institution.] Scolding Americans for our various sins is proving popular among an elite group of self-appointed moralists. Take well-meaning environmentalists who warn us that our plush lifestyles heat up and pollute the planet. To listen to former Vice President Al Gore or New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, we must immediately curtail our carbon emissions -- or face planetary dest

Maurice Isserman: 3 Days of Peace and Music, 40 Years of Memory

[Maurice Isserman is a professor of American history at Hamilton College. Among his books are "America Divided: The Civil War of the 1960s" (third edition, revised, Oxford University Press, 2007), with Michael Kazin.] In describing the 1913 reunion of Union and Confederate veterans at Gettysburg, the historian David Blight noted that "the veterans were men out of another time, icons that stimulated a sense of pride, history, and amusement all at once." To America

Ronald and Allis Radosh: What Harry could teach O about Israel

[Ronald and Allis Radosh are the authors of "A Safe Haven: Harry S. Truman and the Founding of Israel."] PRESIDENT Obama was disappointed that his June 3 meeting with Saudi King Abdullah brought no Saudi concessions to move the peace process forward. From day one, the president has pressured the Israelis to halt all settlement activity. Having been tough on them, he believed that he could ask something in return from the Arabs. Instead, sources re

Daniel Pipes: Western Conquerors or Liberators of Muslims?

[Daniel Pipes is director of the Middle East Forum and Taube distinguished visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University.] For over two hundred years, Europeans who defeat Muslims militarily then claim they intend to restore, protect, and liberate their new subjects. I offered three examples of this phenomenon in an article published in 2001: "People of Egypt," Napoleon proclaimed upon his entry to Alexandria in 1798, "You will be

An Interview with Charles Geisst: How Americans Got Into a Credit Card Mess

[Charles Geisst is a professor of finance at Manhattan College]You write that one of the major myths about American society is that we used to be prudent with our money and only recently did we go astray. What's the real history? Americans are speculative people. During and after the Civil War, for instance, there was a lot of stock market and commodities speculation—people trying to make a quick buck. But it was only when financial institutions picked up on that

Catherine Lutz: Obama's empire

[Catherine Lutz is a professor at the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University and editor of "The Bases of Empire: the Global Struggle against US Military Posts".] In December 2008, shortly before being sworn in as the 44th president of the United States, Barack Obama pledged his belief that, "to ensure prosperity here at home and peace abroad", it was vital to maintain "the strongest military on the planet". Unveiling his national

Lisa Levenstein: A Phila. hospital that was a model of care

[Lisa Levenstein is an assistant professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and the author of "A Movement Without Marches: African American Women and the Politics of Poverty in Postwar Philadelphia" (2009). She can be contacted at levenstein@uncg.edu. ] Americans looking to improve their health-care system - and wondering about the implications of more government involvement - can find valuable lessons

Juan Cole: Iran ... Beware Neocons Bearing Boycotts

Hamid Dabashi at CNN points out that the US executive's (the Obama administration's) plans to engage Iran may come up against Congress's desire to act aggressively toward the country, either through crippling sanctions or covert operations. A recent congressional hearing on Iran chaired by Howard Berman stacked the decks in favor of the Neoconservatives, 4 to 2 (with discredited out

Clare Spark: On The ABCs of Staying Alive and Preserving The Planet

I. Life is just a bunch of stories, or so sayeth some high-achieving men who were or are close to me: all “narratives” are idiosyncratic to individuals or groups, they believe(d). In the case of one trendy political scientist, his anti-science, irrationalist world view proved fatal, and he was dead at 64. Another friend/mentor was dead at age 55. Both men were academic stars whose careerist allegiance to anti-medical, anti-science views deprived them of the accumulated knowledge of medicine and

Priya Satia: Brilliant insights that led us astray in Iraq

[The writer is assistant professor of history at Stanford University and author of Spies in Arabia.] Psychologists have been studying the hunches that alert US soldiers in Iraq to danger. They have found that the much-cited “gut instinct” is a kind of hyperempirical ability: through long experience, the soldier is able to process sensory observations emotionally before he or she is conscious of what the brain has registered. It is reassuring to know that US soldiers in

Juan Cole: Ahmadinejad sworn in

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was sworn in as president of Iran on Wednesday, to scattered protests. Several hundred protesters were said to have marched around the parliament building where the ceremony took place, despite a heavy police presence. Cell phone and text messaging services are said to have been interrupted by the regime.Ahmadinejad responded to news reports that Western European nations such as Germany and the UK would decline to send official messages of congratulation to him,

Julian E. Zelizer: Why Obama's plans are stalled

[Julian E. Zelizer is a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School. His new book, "Arsenal of Democracy: The Politics of National Security -- From World War II to the War on Terrorism," will be published this fall by Basic Books. Zelizer writes widely about current events.] The second hundred days of Barack Obama's presidency have in many ways been more revealing than the first hundred days. We have learned a lot, n

Edwin Black: Cash for Clunkers—A Historic Mistake

[Edwin Black is the New York Times best selling investigative author of IBM and the Holocaust, Internal Combustion and The Plan: How to Save America When the Oil Stops—or the Day Before (Dialog Press). More information about The Plan can be found at www.planforoilcrisis.com.] (This continuing coverage of America’s oil crisis arises from the The Plan: How to Save America When the Oil Stops—or the Day Before .) The Cash for Clunkers program co