Recently Published

The Disturbing Parallels Between University Speech Codes and Old South Demands to Limit Freedom of Speech

by Charles W. Nuckolls and David T. Beito

"In the South,” Faulkner said, “the past is not dead. It isn't even past." How true, especially when the segregationist legislation of the early 1950s reappears in the guise of protection against hate speech. Recently, the Faculty Senate of the University of Alabama passed a resolution calling for restrictions on speech that might be offensive to someone. The irony is that the new rules duplicate, almost word for word, laws passed by hysterical southern legislators in r

Why Democrats Are at a Disadvantage When the Media Just Report "Both Sides"

by Robert Mutch

This may not be the dirtiest presidential election ever, but the level of political discourse isn't what makes the current campaign different. Rather, it's how that discourse is, or isn't, paid for. Although charges that Bill and Hillary Clinton were murderous drug runners might have set a new standard for vicious dishonesty, not to mention hilarity, historians of American politics prefer to look further back. Most agree that the benchmark for dirt was established by the John

Will the American People Forgive Howard Dean for His Scream?

by Nancy C. Unger

Howard Dean's current bid to chair the Democratic National Committee is a test case of his political viability. It's his first political quest since a spirited speech, endlessly rebroadcast and lampooned, derailed his innovative and well-funded 2004 presidential campaign. Virtually no account of Dean's current candidacy has failed to mention his "I Have a Scream" performance and the subsequent collapse of his presidential campaign. It has seemed that the image of Dean whoopi

Why 2 Historians Now Have to Fear the Chemical Industry

by Jon Wiener

Twenty of the biggest chemical companies in the United States have launched a campaign to discredit two historians who have studied the industry's efforts to conceal links between their products and cancer. In an unprecedented move, attorneys for Dow, Monsanto, Goodrich, Goodyear, Union Carbide and others have subpoenaed and deposed five academics who recommended that the University of California Press publish the book Deceit and Denial: The Deadly Politics of Industrial Pollution, by

President Bush's Cynical Use of the Word Freedom

by Eric Foner

George W. Bush's second inaugural address cynically invoked noble ideals for ignoble ends. In the course of twenty minutes, Bush used the words "free," "freedom" and "liberty" no fewer than forty-nine times. Freedom lies at the heart of American political culture, and as groups from abolitionists to modern-day conservatives have realized, it gives legitimacy to political goals of all kinds. The historic rallying cry of the dispossessed, freedom can also be

The Iraq Election: First Impressions

by Juan Cole

I'm just appalled by the cheerleading tone of US news coverage of the so-called elections in Iraq on Sunday. I said on television last week that this event is a"political earthquake" and"a historical first step" for Iraq. It is an event of the utmost importance, for Iraq, the Middle East, and the world. All the boosterism has a kernel of truth to it, of course. Iraqis hadn't been able to choose their leaders at all in recent decades, even by some strange process where they chose unknown leaders.

Brian Lamb Interviews President Bush

On January 30, 2005 Brian Lamb interviewed President Bush on C-Span. Below are excerpts.LAMB: You were a history major. THE PRESIDENT: Yes, sir. LAMB: At Yale. THE PRESIDENT: I was. LAMB: What kind of history? THE PRESIDENT: American history. LAMB: Did you have a particular period in American history that you --

The Cynics Are Wrong About Bush's Second Inaugural: His Rhetoric Likely Will Have Positive Consequences

by David Adesnik

The accusations of hypocrisy were inevitable. Journalists found themselves compelled to point out that the United States has drawn ever closer to Egypt, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia as a result of the War on Terror. The president’s critics dismissed his inaugural address as a pleasant fiction designed to mask the hard core of an American foreign policy exemplified by the abuse of prisoners at Guantánamo and Abu Ghraib. Sadly, their analysis ended there.In order to understand

So Now I Am Being Taken to Task for Being Soft on Islam?

by Daniel Pipes

This article was written in response to Lawrence Auster's "The Search for Moderate Islam", which was published last week by FrontPageMag.com.Lawrence Auster characterizes my approach to Islam as"ecumenist" and his own as" civilizationist." I prefer to call my approach historical and his essentialist. That is, I emphasize that things change over time and he sees them as static. For example, he emphasizes cont

Twelve Theses on the War in Iraq and the Future of U.S. Politics

by Van Gosse

1. The war in Iraq is virtually unwinnable and will only get worse: more serious casualties for U.S. forces, more war-crimes against Iraqi civilians, more resistance (and more terrorism) and a de facto civil war leading to a continuously boiling pot. 2. The U.S. has no further military resources to draw upon though it will need many more simply to maintain stability in Iraq. Its options will be a) more mercenaries, b) state terror to "put down" the resistan

The Future as the Pentagon Envisions It (Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid)

by Tom Engelhardt

Here's a strange, small tale of our times, as reported from Washington by Guy Dinmore in the sober British Financial Times (Powell gives bleak assessment of

Peter Charles Hoffer’s Past Imperfect and the Value of Historiography

by Jonathan Rees

Historiography means “The history of history,” or the study of historical writing. Why bother studying historiography? After all, if one makes the reasonable assumption that historians’ ability to depict the past have gotten better over time, isn’t it fair to ask why anyone needs to know anything about what historians used to write regarding a particular historical issue?I have been teaching historiography to undergraduates off and on for five years now and I co

If We Are Serious About Supporting the Troops, Shouldn't We End the Backdoor Draft?

by Ron Briley

On Sunday afternoons, I often attempt to retreat from the political issues of the day by viewing a National Football League game. But it seems impossible to escape the war in Iraq. The announcers, whose political insights are somewhat limited, find it necessary to remind us about supporting the troops. Wearing American flag emblems on their lapels, they insist upon commending the soldiers for the effort which makes it safe for the rest of us to lounge in our armchairs and watch sporting event

Why It's Time for Truman Democrats

by Rachel Belton and Matthew Spence

On the morning of November 2, 2004, Americans gazed upon a dangerous world. Iran and North Korea, implacable enemies and terrorist financiers, were on the cusp of becoming nuclear powers -- if they were not already. The 9/11 Commission had declared our intelligence system broken. Civilians were being kidnapped in Afghanistan, Americans vacationing in friendly countries were stunned by the vehemence of anti-Americanism, and staunch allies were forced by domestic opinion

Why It's Time for a Patriot's History of the United States

by Larry Schweikart

For a half a century, the interpretation of America's story has drifted steadily leftward, sometimes almost imperceptibly and sometimes rather obviously. Whether through deliberate revision designed to qu

What "People's History" Is All About

by Howard Zinn

When I decided, in the late 1970s, to write A People's History of the United States, I had been teaching history for twenty years. Half of that time I was involved in the civil rights movement in the South, when I was teaching at Spelman College, a black women'

American Historical Association Announcement

This announcment was dispatched by email to AHA members on January 27, 2005. Readers wishing to comment can do so at the bottom of this page.The American Historical Association is proud to announce the most comprehensive revision of its Statement on Standards of Professional Conduct since that document was first adopted in 1987 is now available on the AHA’s web site at http://www.historians.

Strange, But Bush Really Does Sound a Lot Like Woodrow Wilson

by Ron Briley

In his second inaugural address President Bush emphasized the themes of freedom and liberty. Although he failed to mention Iraq by name, its presence was looming throughout the address. For the Iraqi elections seem to have replaced any considerations regarding weapons of mass destruction in the administration’s case for war. In emphasizing freedom and liberty, Bush selected the themes used by Democratic President Woodrow Wilson from 1912-1920. Wilson, like Bush, advocated a mora

Bush Pere Feared Democracy, Bush Fils Embraces It

by Judith Apter Klinghoffer

Something surprising happened on Saturday. The father who for four years meticulously avoided interfering with his son’s handling the job he once had, entered the White House briefing room to signal reporters not to take his son’s inaugural rhetoric about enabling the spread of democracy seriously. Being a savvy diplomat, Bush, the father, merely noted that W’s words did not mean "new aggression or newly

Will They Be the National (Secret) Archives?

by Jon Wiener

On Inauguration Day, January 20, the classified papers of former President George H. W. Bush became eligible for release -- as the law specifies, twelve years after he left office. Historians and journalists are hoping those papers will shed more light on the first President Bush's decision not to pursue Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and occupy Iraq during the first Gulf War in 1991. They could also resolve questions about Bush Senior's pardons of the principal figures in the Iran-contra a