Roundup: Historians' Take

Ruth Rosen: How to return Mother's Day to its original meaning

[Ruth Rosen, former columnist for the Los Angeles Times and the San Francisco Chronicle, is professor emerita of history and currently teaches at University of California-Berkeley. She is the author of The World Split Open: How the Modern Women's Movement Changed America.] The hawking of Mother's Day is hardly new. This year, within an hour, my e-mail inbox filled up with Plow & Hearth's ads for "Pretty & practical outdoor gifts for Mom," eBag's promise to offer &q

Nick Bravo & Jana Remy: What’s Not New About Swine Flu

[Nick Bravo is a Ph.D. candidate in Twentieth-Century Chicano/a History at the University of California, Irvine. Jana Remy is the founder of the Making History Podcast and is finishing her dissertation in American medical history at UCIrvine.] Shockjock Jay Severin just got suspended by his radio station after a disturbingly xenophobic and racist tirade that, for all its hate, remains surprisingly unoriginal. Here’s what he said: “We should be, if anything, surprised that Mex

Dominic Tierney: How Somali Pirates Could Take Obama Hostage

[Dominic Tierney is assistant professor of Political Science at Swarthmore College and a research fellow at the Belfer Center, Harvard University, 2008–2009. This essay is based on his presentation at FPRI on April 27, 2009.] In April 2009, the story of Richard Phillips’ capture by Somali pirates, and his dramatic rescue by Navy Seals, became one of the major news stories. The incarceration of Americans by foreign actors, as hostages and prisoners of war, has incredible emotional an

Manisha Sinha: The Grand Old Party of Secession

[Manisha Sinha is an Associate Professor in Afro-American Studies and History at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.] Is the Grand Old Party, the party of Abraham Lincoln that saved the Union and destroyed southern slavery, becoming the party of secession and political extremism? Recent events that indicate an affirmative answer to this question would make most Republican Party founders turn in their graves. Some Republicans have even unearthed the constitutionally and militar

Andreas Umland: Will There Be a Second Crimean War?

[ Dr Andreas Umland is 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". He also administers the website “Russian National

Tom Engelhardt: Everyday is Doomsday in Washington

[Tom Engelhardt, co-founder of the American Empire Project, runs the Nation Institute's TomDispatch.com. He is the author of The End of Victory Culture, a history of the Cold War and beyond, as well as of a novel, The Last Days of Publishing. He also edited

Stanley I. Kutler: No more judges on the supreme court

[Stanley Kutler taught legal and constitutional history at the University of Wisconsin.] Since US supreme court justice David Souter informed President Barack Obama of his intention to retire from active service, media speculation has percolated over a likely successor. The great majority of names floated have been women, many of whom had also been mentioned earlier, considering justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's recent health issues. And not surprisingly, some names offer a twofer, with

Allan H. Meltzer: Why the Federal Reserve must start to demonstrate the kind of courage and independence it has not recently shown

[Allan H. Meltzer, a professor of political economy at Carnegie Mellon University, is the author of “A History of the Federal Reserve.”] IN the 1970s, with inflation rising, I often described the Federal Reserve as knowing only two speeds: too fast and too slow. At the time, the Fed’s idea was to combat recession by promoting expansion, printing money and making it easier for businesses and households to borrow — and worry only later about the inflation that resulted. That strategy

Richard Toye: Gordon Brown and the credit crunch in historical perspective

[Richard Toye is Associate Professor in the Department of History at the University of Exeter and the author of Gordon Brown and the credit crunch in historical perspective. In 2007 he won the Times Higher Education Young Academic Author of the Year Award for his book Lloyd George and Churchill: Rivals for Greatness. He is currently completing a book on Winston Churchill and the British Empire.] In 1977, a group called Counteract released a satirical LP called The Cuts Show, in prot

Richard Toye: David Cameron's history lesson (UK)

[Richard Toye is Associate Professor in the Department of History at the University of Exeter and the author of Gordon Brown and the credit crunch in historical perspective. In 2007 he won the Times Higher Education Young Academic Author of the Year Award for his book Lloyd George and Churchill: Rivals for Greatness. He is currently completing a book on Winston Churchill and the British Empire.] During the Budget debate, David Cameron gave MPs a history lesson. The 'fundamental trut

David Hall-Matthews: History could have predicted a global financial crisis

[Dr. David Hall-Matthews is a Senior Lecturer in International Development at Leeds University, having trained as an economic historian. His particular interests are long-view global political economy, South Asian history and development, and global food insecurity.] During Wednesday's Budget debate, David Cameron rightly ridiculed Gordon Brown's claim to have ended boom and bust. For the leader of any national economy - especially the U.K. with its particularly high exposure to glo

Julian Zelizer: Grateful Dead on health care

[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.] All the stars seem to have aligned for the passage of national health care reform. Victory, supporters say, is inevitable. During the past week,

Daniel Martin Varisco: Our soldiers are bringing bibles to Afghans? Really?

[Daniel Martin Varisco is Chair, Anthropology Department at Hofstra University.] Bible Translation map for Afghanistan from Mission Atlas ProjectSo much for the secular state. When the founding fathers envisioned the transformation of the thirteen original colonies into the United States of America, the explosive baggage of a state religion was wisely foregone. Contempo

Arthur Herman: How Churchill Dealt with Thugs

[Arthur Herman's "Gandhi and Churchill: The Epic Rivalry That Destroyed An Empire and Forged Our Age," a Pulitzer Prize finalist, appears in paperback this month.] PRESIDENT Obama's forays into history, especially European history, are interest ing but not always accurate. Who can forget his description during the presidential campaign of African-American GIs liberating Auschwitz? (It was the Russians.) Or his admission during his recent European trip that he didn't know h

Orin Kerr: The Myth of Justice Souter as a Yankee Republican

Some people say that Justice Souter is a Yankee Republican, and that he seems like a liberal only because the GOP has shifted so far to the right. In an earlier day, the argument runs, he would have been considered a Justice on the conservative side. I confess I find this claim puzzling, and I wanted to offer some thoughts about why. First, consider the fact that the two Justices on the current Court who vote most frequently with each other are often Justice Souter and Justice Gin

Stephen T. Asma: Ancient Antidotes for Timeless Troubles

[Stephen T. Asma is a professor of philosophy at Columbia College Chicago. His books include Stuffed Animals and Pickled Heads: The Culture and Evolution of Natural History Museums (Oxford University Press, 2001) and Buddha for Beginners, recently reissued by Hampton Roads Publishing.] In Somerset Maugham's novel The Razor's Edge, the main character, Larry, leaves behind the rat race of the stockbroker's life and explores the East in search of meaning. When his millionaire friend, G

Howard Markel: American Epidemics, a Brief History

[Howard Markel, a doctor and professor of medical history at the University of Michigan, is the author of “Quarantine” and “When Germs Travel.” Sam Potts is a graphic designer.] ALL epidemics are different in their own way, and the current swine flu outbreak — which by Friday had sickened 141 people in 19 states, and caused deaths and illness in Mexico and 13 other countries — is no exception. Yet, as you can see from the chart below, which provides details on a selected handful of

Jim Sleeper: Yale lessons in ’69 and ’09

[Jim Sleeper is a lecturer in political science and 1969 graduate of Yale College.] Forty years ago I spent the weeks between final exams and my Yale Commencement in Israel on an Arab-Jewish relations project. That country had recently won the Six-Day War and seemed morally and physically indestructible. But Yale had taught me to look for undersides, and I went to find them and help if I could. As a graduating senior I, too, seemed morally and physically indestructible. So di

Andrew J. Bacevich: Farewell, the American Century

[Andrew J. Bacevich is a professor of history and international relations at Boston University. His most recent book, The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism, is just out in paperback.] In a recent column, the Washington Post's Richard Cohen wrote,"What Henry Luce called 'the American Century' is over." Cohen is right. All that remains is to drive a stake through the heart of Luce'

Jonathan Zimmerman: Our Very Own Father Charles Coughlin?

[Jonathan Zimmerman teaches history at New York University and lives in Narberth. His e-mail address is jlzimm@aol.com.] Is Fox News host Glenn Beck our own Father Charles Coughlin, the "radio priest" who railed against Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1930s? That's become a common refrain among liberals, who hear echoes of Coughlin in Beck's attacks on President Obama. Conservatives recoil at the charge, of course, noting that