Recently Published

Fuzzy Thinking: Obama, Capitalism, and Socialism

by Walter G. Moss

Fuzzy thinking is rampant among us. Michael Moore, out with his new movie "Capitalism: A Love Story," is often an incisive critic of corporate abuses and powers that threaten to weaken democracy, but he is inaccurate when he declares that the “opposite of capitalism is democracy.” In the ongoing debate on health care legislation, some of Obama’s opponents charge him with trying to institute socialism. Again, inaccurate. Confusion abounds. What is capitalism? What is s

The Tyrannical History of Military Tribunals for Civilians

by Greg Robinson

Barack Obama was swept into office on a promise to close down the prison that the Bush administration created at Guantanamo in order to evade the constitutional protections offered prisoners in the United State

Misremembering Martin Luther King

by Simon Balto

If Martin Luther King, Jr. hadn’t been taken from us 41 years ago, one can only imagine the way his head would spin at popular and political misremembrances of his legacy and memory.  I thought of this most recently while driving outside of Milwaukee, when I found myself doing a triple-take at one of the billboards commissioned for the National Black Republican Association’s (NBRA) “

The Madhouse of Colonial Williamsburg: An Interview With Shomer Zwelling

by Priscilla Hart

Chartered in 1770, Williamsburg's "Publick Hospital" was established "for the support and maintenance of Ideots, Lunaticks, and other Persons of unsound Minds" who threatened colonial society. The hospital hoped to restore its patients to their mental health -- or "reason," according to Enlightenment terminology -- and to provide a therapeutic environment for mentally ill individuals who had been placed in colonial jails or left unattended by their families. The

Why The Return To Zion? The Jewish Connection To The Land of Israel

by Alex Grobman

Not long after the establishment of the State of Israel, Abba Eban, Israel’s representative

What Happens to the Papers of Dead Historians?

by David Liebers

For intellectual historians, biographers and students looking for senior research projects, the archives of former historians are often indispensable troves of  information.  Letters between scholars often cut to the center of the most pressing arguments in the field, and notes and drafts of books aid in understanding the intellectual development of historians.  Several prominent historians have passed away in recent months.  Among them, John Hope Franklin, Pro

U-Turn at the UN? President Obama Reveals an Unconventional Approach to Troubled World Body

by Louie Milojevic

In his first address to the United Nations Barack Obama tried something that none of his predecessors had ever contemplated; he spoke to the General Assembly as President of the United States, and not as the leader of the free world. Political leanings aside, American presidents from Harry S. Truman to George W. Bush have used the United Nations as a platform from which to project national power and ensure the continuity of the ‘American way’ in international affairs.  A bedroc

Was William Calley a Scapegoat?

by Gary Kulik

After 40 years, 2nd Lt. William Calley is back in the news. For many years now the young lieutenant convicted in 1971 of the murder of 22 Vietnamese villagers at My Lai has been regarded as a scapegoat. A recent New York Times editorial raised the stakes, calling him a "classic scapegoat." The occasion of the editorial was a speech this past August that Calley gave at a Kiwanis Club gathering in Columbus, Ga. Calley told his audience that "not a day that

The New Relevance of Friedrich Engels: An Interview with Tristram Hunt

by Aaron Leonard

Dr. Tristram Hunt is one of Britain’s best known young historians. Educated at Cambridge and Chicago Universities, he is lecturer in British history at Queen Mary, University of London and author of

When the Rabbis Marched on Washington

by Alex Grobman

At a time when the American Jewish community organizes annual marches in support of Israel, it is imp

The 1990s as History

by William O'Neill

I began writing my book during the 1990s with the idea of duplicating my history of the 1960s, Coming Apart, which came out in 1971 hot on the heels of that turbulent decade. But other projects intervened and the

Are We Racing Toward Armageddon?

by Michael Baigent

The race toward Armageddon is the stumbling toward self-destruction. Armageddon! The great battle against the Antichrist; when the red mist of a vast firestorm is to descend from above to envelope all living creatures in its deceptive embrace, leaving the god of

Woman, Man, Neither? The Predicament of a World-Class Runner

by Elizabeth Reis

Caster Semenya, the South African runner who won the women's 800-meter race at the World Track Championships in Berlin last month, has been unofficially declared intersexed. If she is, it means that she was born with some discrepa

Keeping Israel On The Defensive As Long As Possible With Lie After Lie

by Alex Grobman

Opponents of Israel repeatedly accuse her of being an occupier, disenfranchising the Arabs and

A Young Palestinian’s Diary

by Kimberly Katz

While many new books on Israel/Palestine pore over the conflict and its lack of resolution, the details of identity formation, the political trials and triumphs on each side, few books give the reader a he

The Moderometer: Charting Obama's Zig-Zag, August 19 to September 2

by Gil Troy

 This is part of an ongoing project to track the ideological shifts of t

California in an Age of Abundance, 1950-1963: An Interview With Kevin Starr

by Aaron Leonard

University of Southern California Professor Kevin Starr has just released the eighth book in his “Americans and the California Dream” s

Tweeting History

by Christine Kelly

Average history buffs have a lot on their minds other than history.  They enjoy the occasional TV documentary on the building of the Hoover Dam.  They have visited their region’s selection of quaint local history museums.  Their ability to relay the details of the Allied assault on Nazi territories has impressed friends.  For the buff, history is a source of fact-filled enjoyment, and while he or she would love to spend his days reading War and Peace and critiq

Have You Used an iPhone History App?

by David Austin Walsh

John Clevesy had just gotten married.

The Weakness of National Military Strength

by Lawrence S. Wittner

During 2008, the nations of the world spent nearly $1.5 trillion on their military forces.  That is what has been reported by the highly-respected Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, which noted that the five biggest spenders were the United States ($607 billion), China ($85 billion), Fra