Culture Watch

Books: William B.Pickett's Eisenhower Decides to Run

by Steven Wagner

The first generation of historians to study Dwight D. Eisenhower portrayed him as a relatively passive player in his own political career. According to their view, he delegated many of his duties to his subordinates: John Foster Dulles made foreign policy, George Humphrey made economic policy, and Sherman Adams handled the day-to-day business of the White House. If the 1950s were a time of peace and prosperity it was not because of anything that Eisenhower did, but rather because he

Is Embedded Journalism Really New?

by Tom Engelhardt

Years ago, New Yorker writer Janet Malcolm produced a book, The Journalist and the Murderer, in which she claimed that the essence of journalism was betrayal. Actually, she took an extreme example of journalism -- a reporter who entered into a contractual relationship with his subject -- but she made literal a certain feeling familiar to most reporters of betraying one's subject in th

Has Something Gone Terribly Wrong at Columbia University?

by Daniel Pipes

"U.S. flags are the emblem of the invading war machine in Iraq today. They are the emblem of the occupying power. The only true heroes are those who find ways that help defeat the U.S. military." Those words were spoken recently by Nicholas De Genova, a professor of anthropology and Latin American studies at Columbia University. De Genova went on, in words that will long shame his university, to call on U.S. soldiers to "frag" (i.e., murder) their officer

The Difference Between TV Coverage of the War in Vietnam and the War in Iraq

by HNN Staff

THENFrom Edward Jay Epstein, News from Nowhere (1973): Although it is possible to transmit war films electronically by using the satellite relay in a day to the United States, the costs are considerable--a five-minute transmission costs more than $5,000, as opposed to $20 or $30 for shipping the same film by plane. So, with the exception of momentous battles , such as the Tet offensive in 1968, almost every network film is sent by plane, even though thi

That Patriotic and Awful Song: ”Battle Hymn of the Republic”

by Robert Bray

For a while the televised sounds and sights of Friday’s service of remembrance at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London were cheering in a time of sorrow: Britain, while mourning for its many citizens dead in the attack on the World Trade Center, was also mourning in fraternity with the United States and its far greater loss. But then the surge of good feeling suddenly vanished. I heard a familiar melody and the occluded voices of hundreds in the congregation singing the first verse of the 'Battl

Should We Be Worried About Anti-Semitism on the Left?

by Norman Markowitz

Virginia, congressman Jim Moran's statement before a church group suggesting that powerful "Jewish" organizations are leading the country to war has produced denunciations from a wide variety of sources--from conservative media which revel in the fact that Moran is regarded as a liberal Democrat to liberal Jewish Democrats who have suggested that Moran, who has issued an apology, not run for re-election. While the incident may seem minor, it brings up a thorny

Why "Gangs of New York" Doesn't Deserve an Oscar

by Robert Brent Toplin

When the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences bestows its award for Best Picture on March 24, Gangs of New York will be among the five motion pictures under consideration. Probably the Academy's members will not agree with Miramax, which promoted its film as the greatest historical epic since Gone With the Wind. Those who vote for the Academy Awards are also unlikely to agree with the Atlanta Constitution's film critic, Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, who called Gangs "one of the most thrilling history lessons ever put on the screen." The movie's director, Martin Scorcese, may finish in a competitive place in the race for Best Director, but that honor could come in recognition of lifetime achievement rather than particular skill in crafting his latest production. Gangs of New York is not a great work of drama, and it is certainly not a fine example of cinematic history.Martin Scorcese seems to have forgotten to include a fundamentally important element that is at the core of most successful historical cinema: the uplifting morality tale about good people struggling against evil forces. Some historians may find this pattern of hero-versus-villain storytelling disturbingly simplistic, but successful Hollywood artists recognize the potency of morality tales for exciting audience interest in stories about the past.

The Way the Defense Industry Really Operates

by Thomas Fleming

Following is an excerpt from Thomas Fleming's latest work of historical fiction, Conquerors of the Sky (Forge), the story of the"men and women who make America's planes." In the course of the book, which focuses on the creation of the fictional airline company, Buchanan Aircraft, Mr. Fleming reveals the frustration of airline designers who wanted government

Why Booker T. Washington Is Still Relevant

by Carol M. Swain

The older I get, the more I appreciate Booker T. Washington’s educational philosophy of self-help and self-reliance for the masses of blacks. His teachings are all the more striking, since they are directed to a populace that emerged from slavery with little more than the clothes on their backs. Although Washington is often criticized for accepting second-class citizenship for his race, there is much wisdom in his pragmatic approach to fostering black empowerment. Washington wis

"Gods and Generals" is Good Hollywood -- Don't Go See It

by Patrick Rael

Gods and Generals, Ted Turner and Ron Maxwell's followup to 1993's Gettysburg, wants to be a quintessential Civil War epic. It succeeds. First of all, it is long, timing out at almost four hours (six hours for those with the stamina to make it through the DVD version). More to the point, though, "G&G" has everything Hollywood requires of its Civil War epics. It's all here: citizen soldiers, brother against brother, displaced families, meditations on war, inspiring speeches, officious bureaucrats, foolish generals, and remarkable generals.

A Consumers' Republic

by Lizabeth Cohen

Following is an excerpt from Ms. Cohen's new book, A Consumer's Republic: The Politics of Mass Consumption in Postwar America (Knopf, 2003). The flourishing of mass consumption was first and foremost a route to recovery and sustained health of the economy, but it also provided a ready weapon in the political struggles of the Cold War

"Red Emma" and Free Speech at Berkeley

by Norman Markowitz

Emma Goldman, socialist, anarchist and feminist, died in exile from the United States in 1940, as the swastika was about to fly

Why Are Arch Conservatives Ganging Up on the Middle East Studies Association?

by Juan Cole

I had never even heard of Stanley Kurtz before he began attacking the Middle East Studies Association (MESA). He is woefully mi

So Emma Goldman's Still a Threat?

by Ronald Radosh

That anarchist agitator is stirring up trouble once again, even though she passed away in 1940. No doubt Emma Goldman would have bee

Why is the Weather Underground Still Making News?

by John McMillian

When Malcolm Cowley wrote about the "quaint mania of passing one's life wearing oneself out over words," he was referring to the temperament of the artist, to the

Larry King Interviews Bob Jones: We Don't Have to Make the Future Ugly by Dragging in History

Following is an excerpt from"Larry King Live," which aired on CNN Friday December 20, 2002. Mr. King interviewed Dr. Bob Jones III, president of Bob Jones University. LARRY KING: What is the perception do you think the media has made Bob Jones to be? BOB JONES: I think they have made it to be a whipping boy. I think they've made it to be, again, part of this keeping the pot stirred. They've got to find somebody to say something against. They've got to have an issue. I

Review of Tona Hangen's Redeeming the Dial: Radio, Religion, and Popular Culture in America

by Kenneth Heineman

In Redeeming the Dial: Radio, Religion, and Popular Culture in America, Tona Hangen has written an informed, engaging work of history. Hangen's writing style is evocative and her command of archival materials and the secondary literature worthy of praise. It is pure delight to come across a scholar who supports contentions with data, understands context, and writes with clarity and grace. Even more remarkable, she is able to make sense of the frequently convoluted scholarly literat

Roots of a Rhodes Scholar Radical

by Edward J. Renehan Jr.

Sidney Hook Was Right, Arthur Schlesinger Is Wrong

by Ronald Radosh

Just Who Was Harley Earl?

by Yanek Mieczkowski

"My name's Harley Earl." So says the nattily dressed man appearing in the new television advertisements for Buick cars. Buick, the ads proclaim, represents the "Spirit of American Style." Just who was Harley Earl? He's c