Roundup: Talking About History

Orlando Figes: The Nazi-Soviet Pact

[Orlando Figes is Professor of History at Birkbeck College, University of London. He is the author of many books on Russian history, the latest of which is The Whisperers: Private Life in Stalin's Russia (2007). His books have been translated into more than 20 languages.]In the second of a series of articles marking the outbreak of World War II 70 years ago, historian Orlando Figes analyses what the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact meant for Europeans in 1939 - and what it means today.

Terry Teachout: The New-Media Crisis of 1949

[Mr. Teachout, the Journal's drama critic, writes "Sightings" every other Saturday and blogs about the arts at www.terryteachout.com.] The digital apocalypse continues to blight the lives of television producers, music-industry executives and newspaper publishers, all of whom are scrambling to figure out how to reconfigure their business models in such a way as to allow them to make an honest buck. They're trying to second-guess t

Robert McCrum: The Second World War: six years that changed this country for ever

[Robert McCrum is assistant books editor for the Observer.] When I was born in 1953, just after the coronation of Elizabeth II, I had a ration book. This flimsy, red cardboard log now looks like a passport to another country. Many things about that postwar Britain have become unrecognisable: cod liver oil, steam trains, rag-and-bone men, bobbies and telegram boys on bicycles and standing to attention for the national anthem at the end of cinema programmes. Looking back

Artyom Krechetnikov and Steven Eke: The 1939 Nazi-Soviet Pact

[Artyom Krechetnikov and Steven Eke work for the BBC's Russian Service]The 1939 Nazi-Soviet Pact is controversial even today, with historians divided over its importance. In the first of a series of articles marking the outbreak of World War II 70 years ago, the BBC Russian Service's Artyom Krechetnikov and Steven Eke analyse the significance of a treaty that helped set the scene for war. Signed on 23 August 1939, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was accompanied by a s

Ted Sorensen: Kennedy family's remarkable story

[Ted Sorensen was special counsel and adviser to President John F. Kennedy.] The death of John F. Kennedy's sister Eunice Shriver, the founder of the Special Olympics for the developmentally challenged, has given rise to a wealth of news stories -- obituaries and otherwise -- about the recurring tragedies endured by what some call America's "royal family." All of these comments are well intended but off the mark. The Kennedys have been a re

Alastair Gordon: The American National Exhibition in Moscow, 1959

[Alastair Gordon is a contributing editor for WSJ magazine.] This summer marks the 50th anniversary of the American National Exhibition in Moscow, a golden moment in Cold War one-upsmanship and cultural thaw. Most people know about the so-called “Kitchen Debate,” the heated exchange between Vice President Richard Nixon and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev that took place in a model kitchen on the opening day of the fair. But most don’t have a clue of where or why it happened.

Amantha Perera: How the Virgin Mary Survived Sri Lanka's Civil War

For Catholics around the world, Aug. 15 is among the holiest of feast days. It marks the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, when the mother of Jesus is believed to have been physically taken into heaven after death so that her body would not suffer earthly decay. For the Catholics of Sri Lanka, Aug. 15 this year marked a similar miracle: the survival of a 500-year-old statue of the Virgin, through the fiery tumult of a quarter-century of civil war, which was re-ensconced in a jungle church that was

Gregory McNamee: Hawaii: A Pineapple Republic on the 50th Anniversary of Statehood

[Gregory McNamee is a contributing editor for Encyclopædia Britannica, for which he writes regularly on world geography, culture, and other topics. An editor, publishing consultant, and photographer, he is also the author of 30 books, most recently Moveable Feasts: The History, Science, and Lore of Food (Praeger, 2006).] RSS Britannica Blog via RSS RSS Posts by Gregory McNamee via RSS print Print Image of gmcnamee Hawaii: A Pineapple Republic on the 50th Anniv

Roscoe Born: What really happened in The Journal's investigation of the JFK victory over Hubert Humphrey in the 1960 West Virginia Democratic primary

As a long-ago friend and colleague of Bob Novak when we both worked for The Wall Street Journal in Washington, I lament his passing. In my 45 years in this business, I never knew a reporter who worked as hard as Bob. His typewriter and piled-high desk were only about three feet from mine, so I knew something of his work ethic. Later, his long-running syndicated column, though by definition filled with opinion, showed that he never quit reporting—as illustrated in the Valerie Plame case.

Charles Powell: Without visionary politicians, the Berlin Wall would still stand

[Lord Powell was private secretary and foreign policy adviser to Margaret Thatcher, 1983-1990.] The next few months mark the 20th anniversaries of the greatest events in Europe since the end of World War Two in 1945. They include the fall of the Berlin Wall, the overthrow of Communism in Eastern Europe, the reunification of Germany and the end of the Cold War. The collapse of the Soviet Union was to follow not long afterwards. Taken together, they were a political earthquake whose t

David Marples: Reviewing a Nazi-Soviet Pact 60 Years On

[David Marples, a professor of Russian history at the University of Alberta, Canada, is the author of “The Collapse of the Soviet Union, 1985-1991.”] Sunday marks the 70th anniversary of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, a nonaggression treaty between the two totalitarian powers of the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, as well as a secret protocol that divided Eastern Europe into spheres of influence between Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin. In May, President Dmitry Medvedev auth

Colleen Raezler : Woodstock Wasn't the Only Thing Happening 40 Years Ago

While some in the media have been dusting off their love beads, bell-bottoms and broomstick skirts in an effort to wax nostalgic about Woodstock, the VFW has reminded its members that the world did not stop for those four days in August 1969. In fact, for 109 American soldiers, the world ended that weekend. VFW Magazine honored those soldiers in the August 2009 cover story, “While Woodstock Rocked, GIs Died.” Much has been made over the “half a million stro

Jim Fusilli: Wobbly performances, technical problems marred Woodstock

[Mr. Fusilli is the Journal's rock and pop music critic.] As a music festival, Woodstock was pretty much a bust. The promoters couldn't get some of the artists they wanted—John Lennon, Led Zeppelin, the Jeff Beck Group, the Doors and Roy Rogers among them. Managers insisted on booking their unknown artists as the price to get their famous clients. Iron Butterfly didn't show up. Not enough talent was contracted for three days and nights. Hired to perform with his band th

Frank Gannon: Richard Nixon's Legacy of Parks Programs

[Frank Gannon won a White House Fellowship and served in the Nixon White House 1971-4. He accompanied Richard Nixon to San Clemente aboard Air Force One on August 9th and organized the researching and writing of the President’s memoirs, RN.] President Obama and his family enjoyed and praised the beauty of Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon during their recent whirlwind western tour. And Douglas Brinkley has written a doorstopper celebrating TR’s role in creating our National Parks.

Roger Simon: The birth of political television

[Roger Simon is the Chief Political Columnist of Politico.com.] In March 1948, Don Hewitt was 26 years old and working at Acme News Pictures in New York handling photographs when a friend called from CBS telling him there was a job for him there. In 1948, CBS meant radio, and Hewitt was confused. "What would a radio network want with a guy with picture experience?" Hewitt asked. "It's television," his friend said. "What

Tony Perrottet: Fast Food Nation: A short and sweet history of in-and-out dining

[Tony Perrottet's new book, Napoleon's Privates: 2,500 Years of History Unzipped, is a literary version of a Cabinet of Curiosities (HarperCollins, July, 2008; napoleonsprivates.com). He is also the author of Pagan Holiday: On the Trail of Ancient Roman Tourists and The Naked Olympics: The True Story of the Ancient Games.] America was booming in the Gilded Age, the era after the Civil War when robber barons hammered out vast empires and enormous fortunes were made overnight in New Y

Max Hastings: Churchill's charm offensive made Allied victory possible

[In an extract of Finest Years: Churchill As Warlord, Max Hastings tells how Churchill realised Britain's only chance of beating Nazi Germany lay in persuading the United States to join the war.] Winston Churchill was standing in front of the washbasin in his bedroom and shaving with his old-fashioned Valet razor when his son Randolph burst in. Churchill had been prime minister for a week, taking over in a crisis as German troops were on the march, scything through Be

Jonathan Steele: History is much too important to be left to politicians

[Jonathan Steele is a Guardian columnist, roving foreign correspondent and author.] On the dot of 7pm families and strangers took each other's hands and stepped into the main road, some carrying flags, others with lapel badges showing the swastika beside the hammer and sickle. Organisers claimed a million and a half were taking part, but from where I stood in a Lithuanian field on a sunlit evening 20 years ago this Sunday, the mood was as impressive as the numbers. Defi

Gregory McNamee: The Death of Federico Garcia Lorca (Time for Spain to Face History)

[Gregory McNamee is a contributing editor for Encyclopædia Britannica, for which he writes regularly on world geography, culture, and other topics. An editor, publishing consultant, and photographer, he is also the author of 30 books, most recently Moveable Feasts: The History, Science, and Lore of Food (Praeger, 2006).] On August 18, 1936, a 38-year-old Spanish poet named Federico García Lorca was taken from a jail cell in the city of Granada, escorted to a courtyard in the hills o

Daniela Gerson: How migration transformed Martha's Vineyard

[Daniela Gerson is a journalist specialising in immigration. Reporting for this story was supported by funding from the Institute for Justice and Journalism] One December morning in 1986, a Brazilian immigrant named Lyndon Johnson Pereira strode down the ferry dock of Martha’s Vineyard, an island south of Cape Cod in Massachusetts. A job tip had lured the young man with shaggy brown hair and blue Converse sneakers to leave Boston, where he had been working as a dishwasher for a litt