Roundup: Talking About History

Gary Younge: White History 101

[Gary Younge, the Alfred Knobler Journalism Fellow at The Nation Institute, is the New York correspondent for the Guardian and the author of No Place Like Home: A Black Briton's Journey Through the Deep South (Mississippi) and Stranger in a Strange Land: Travels in the Disunited States (New Press). He is also a contributor to The Notion.] Wha

Damian Whitworth: What on earth did Antony ever see in her?

A silver coin from 32BC that went on display at Newcastle University on Valentine’s Day bears an unflattering image of Antony and Cleopatra. Contrary to popular belief, he had bulging eyes and a hooked nose, and she, as The Sun so pithily put it, was “a minger”. Cleopatra VII did not look like Elizabeth Taylor. Or rather she did look like Elizabeth Taylor, but as the screen legend is now, rather than as she was when she made eyes at Richard Burton in the 1963 film. I

Kathleen Parker: History lost on Presidents Day in frenzy of spending, waste

IN today's anti-patriarchal climate, it isn't surprising that the birthday of America's "Father" has been reduced to a free day and cheap sheets. To some extent, Washington might be pleased. Prosperity and freedom, after all, are the happy offspring of America's struggle for independence. Our unalienable right to the pursuit of happiness finds expression each year on the third Monday of February in the linen section of Wal-Mart. Before you hit the sales, thoug

Rose Russell: Black history not only about slavery and Martin Luther King

Here we are halfway through Black History Month and I'm just now writing about it. I probably should have waited until May, or maybe September, to write about black history. I can imagine people checking their calendars, wondering, "what's up with her writing about black history in the spring or fall and not February?" Maybe then people would begin to understand that they can discuss black history and hold related events any time of year. And also

Daniel Mendelsohn: Anne Frank's Father's letters tell a familiar story

[Daniel Mendelsohn, a professor of humanities at Bard College, is the author of “The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million.”] AS soon as I read last week about the discovery of the desperate, faded letters written by Anne Frank’s father, I knew my mother would call. “Did you see the paper?” she asked. Yes, I said, I had. “Did you read the letters?” Yes, I said, I did. “I couldn’t,” she murmured. “It’s too sad. They’re too much like my uncle’s.” Yes, I said, I knew.

Phillip Lopate: Robert Moses ... Time to revise our feelings about him?

ERICH VON STROHEIM was billed in his acting days as “The man you love to hate.” For the last 30 years, Robert Moses has been cast in that same role, as the villain responsible for everything that went wrong with New York. Even those newly arrived to the city knew enough to boo when his name came up at dinner parties. Moses (1888-1981) lived a long time, and his impact on the physical character of New York City was greater than that of any other individual in its history. This imperi

Russell Baker: Reconstructing Ronald Reagan

[Mr. Baker is a former columnist at the NYT.] Of the seventeen presidents the United States has survived since Theodore Roosevelt declined his third term, none is so mystifying as Ronald Reagan. A New Deal Democrat until the age of fifty, he became the most revered Republican of his generation; a child of the working class, he inspired business to heightened resistance to labor. Admired for his belligerence toward the Soviet Union—"the evil empire"—he became the great pea

Simon Tisdall: US bill on Armenian genocide angers Turks

It seems an odd way to treat a friend. Washington's relations with Turkey, a key Nato ally, have been on the slide since 2003 when Ankara's parliament refused to allow US troops to transit into Iraq. That infuriated the Bush administration. Ensuing chaos in Iraq and the impetus the occupation has given Kurdish secessionism infuriated Turks in their turn. Iran and Hamas are other points of strain. One recent poll found that 81% of Turks disapprove of US policies. Now the relationship

Michael Vlahos: Has the American narrative authored its own undoing?

[Michael Vlahos is principal professional staff at the National Security Analysis Department of The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory.] We are losing our wars in the Muslim world because our vision of history is at odds with reality. This is a well-established condition of successful societies, a condition that inevitably grows more worrisome with time and continuing success. In fact, what empires have most in common is how the

Michael Currie Schaffer: George W. Bush claims the mantle of Teddy Roosevelt

[Michael Currie Schaffer is a staff writer at The Philadelphia Inquirer. ] "T.R.? He's No T.R." Thus, in last Sunday's New York Times, began the latest round of mockery about one of President Bush's increasingly far-fetched historical comparisons. The editorial excoriated the environmental record of the wilderness-drilling, Halliburton-coddling second Bush, who, the paper argued, was no match for the wildlife-loving, trust-busting first Roosevelt. The pattern,

Erin Texeira: Is Black History Month Getting Diluted?

[Texiera is a national writer for the AP.] Black History Month: Come February, the now-familiar observance seems to inspire ever more -- and ever more random -- celebrations. The players are both big and small. Multinational corporations mount billboard campaigns, while community centers hold fashion shows and tourist spots highlight their connection to black history. But does saturation equal success? While the concept of Black History Mont

Mark Mardell: Denying war crimes

[Mr. Mardell is the BBC's Europe editor.] The Germans, who are the current holders of the EU presidency, are very keen to bring in a Europe-wide law making it an imprisonable offence to deny genocide or war crimes. So, it would become a crime to deny the fact of the Holocaust, the Rwandan genocide or the Yugoslav war crimes. Or would it? On first reading, it is clear enough: the proposed law says "publicly condoning, denying or grossly trivialising crimes of genoc

Eleanor Randolph: Robert Moses, Builder, Left Behind His Power Tool

A series of splendid museum events across New York City has recharged the 50-year debate about the legacy of Robert Moses. Did this powerful planner, who died in 1981, make today’s thriving New York possible? Or did he arrogantly destroy neighborhoods, often the poor and black ones, that got in his way of a grand metropolitan vision? The latest response is that he did both, as these three exhibitions — at the Museum of the City of New York, the Queens Museum of Art and Columbia Univ

Darryl James: Black History or African History?

[Darryl James is an award-winning author who is now a filmmaker. His first mini-movie, “Crack,” was released in March of 2006. He is currently filming a full-length documentary. James’ latest book, “Bridging The Black Gender Gap,” is the basis of his lectures and seminars. Previous installments of this column can now be viewed at www.bridgecolumn.com. James can be reached at djames@theblackgendergap.com.

David Lanoue: How will fickle history treat Bush?

[David Lanoue is professor and chair of the Department of Political Science at the University of Alabama.] As the ides of February approach, Americans eagerly anticipate that great shopping-mall holiday, Presidents' Day, a celebration that combines the observance of more than 20 decades of U.S. history with 20 percent discounts on women's shoes. This would seem, then, to be an appropriate time to reflect on the deeply discounted presidency of George W. Bush, a man who

Tom Wheeler: The Telegraph as a Window Into the Mind of the 16th President

[Tom Wheeler is the author of "Mr. Lincoln's T-Mails: The Untold Story of How Abraham Lincoln Used the Telegraph to Win the Civil War."] The Abraham Lincoln whose birthday we celebrate today is known for his soaring prose. What we remember, however, is Lincoln's planned prose; he kept no diary or other record of his innermost thoughts. Yet insight into our greatest president is possible through the nearly 1,000 messages he sent via the new telegraph technology. These 19th-

William Fisher: Jim Crow Remembered

[ William Fisher has managed economic development programs in the Middle East and in many other parts of the world for the US State Department and USAID for the past thirty years. He began his work life as a journalist for newspapers and for the Associated Press in Florida. Go to The World According to Bill Fisher for more.] Bob Herbert of the New York Times has written a couple of gut-wrenching columns recently about Gary Tyler, a 16-year-old black youth who in 1974 was accused of

David Margolick: Emancipate Lincoln from the Penny

[David Margolick, a contributing editor at Vanity Fair, is the author of “Beyond Glory: Joe Louis vs. Max Schmeling, and a World on the Brink.”] ... [The Lincoln penny, designed by Victor David Brenner.] Since its debut on the centennial of Abraham Lincoln’s birth, in 1909, probably no art object in human history has been reproduced more often: by the end of last year, 444,039,035,418 times, and counting. That’s nearly half a trillion images of a benevolent, accessible, vaguely sm

Larry J. Hackman: 6 questions for the new congress about presidential libraries

[Larry J. Hackman is the former director of the Truman Presidential Museum and Library. He lives in Kansas City.] ... Unfortunately, presidential libraries most often receive widespread attention when controversy is generated by tangential matters, such as the Bush policy center, in the excitement over a new library, or when a president is buried at one of them. Important underlying issues get lost in the hubbub. A thoughtful congressional oversight hearing on these matters, one not

Harvey Sicherman: Saddam Hussein ... Stalin on the Tigris

[Harvey Sicherman, Ph.D., is President of the Foreign Policy Research Institute and a former aide to three U.S. secretaries of state.] The hanging of Saddam Hussein on December 30, 2006, ended the life of a tyrant extreme even by Middle Eastern standards. Shaping himself consciously after Stalin, he ran Iraq for twenty-four years, earning the hatred of most of his people for his murderous methods. Saddam also spent half that time waging war against Iran and then Kuwait. He put Iraq