Week of March 25, 2013

Up Front

Pete Seeger: "That Was the First Time I Met Reverend King..." Kris Wood Pete Seeger remembers the civil rights movement. Tags: civil rights movement, Martin Luther King, Pete Seeger, Rosa Parks

The Iraq War After 10 Years

American Anniversaries from Hell Tom Engelhardt What you don't know can hurt you. Tags: Afghanistan, Iraq, Iraq War, war on terror

The Hell of Iraq, Ten Years Later Dahr Jamail Life in a country with no future. Tags: Iraq, Iraq War, refugees, sectarian violence

Donald Rumsfeld: "What Will History Say?" Carolyn Eisenberg History will say Rumsfeld and his cronies were knaves, fools, and possibly war criminals, but the buck doesn't stop there. Tags: Donald Rumsfeld, George W. Bush, Iraq War, war crimes

The Iraq War: A Failure of Presidential Leadership Peter R. Mansoor George W. Bush came up with a flawed strategy, then left it to the generals to fix it. Tags: Iraq War, anniversaries, George W. Bush, strategy

Britain's Costly Iraq Blunder Linda Colley Not only will the Iraq War make British PMs more cautious in the future, it may contribute to the very unravelling of the UK itself. Tags: Great Britain, Iraq, Iraq War, Scotland

Pope Francis

Papa Francesco: A New Era? Steven M. Avella The former president of the American Catholic Historical Association (and ordained priest) on the significance of the new pope. Tags: Catholic Church, papacy, Pope Francis, popes

If Not for Muammar Gaddafi, This Guy Might Have Been Pope Martin Kramer Sergio Pignedoli was a frontrunner to succeed Pope Paul VI in 1978... then he went to Libya for an ill-conceived theology conference. Tags: Sergio Pignedoli, popes, Muammar Gaddafi, Islam

News Abroad

Lockheed Martin at the Trough Lawrence S. Wittner The defense industry's addiction to corporate welfare. Tags: corporate welfare, Lockheed Martin, Maryland, Montgomery County

The President, in Israel, Giveth and Taketh Away Ira Chernus's MythicAmerica Obama's Niebuhrian foreign policy. Tags: Barack Obama, Israel, special relationship, Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Denying Islam's Role in Terror: Explaining the Denial Daniel Pipes Why do so many experts continue to deny the obvious? Tags: Islam, Islamism, Middle East Quarterly, terrorism

A Brief History of Suicide Bombing Jeffrey William Lewis It isn't just for religious fundamentalists. Tags: Origins, suicide bombing, terrorism, The Ohio State University

The Ever-Destructive Dreams of Air Power Enthusiasts William J. Astore Aerial warfare has never been cheap, nor surgical, nor decisive. Tags: air power, bombings, drones, drone warfare

Historians & History

Channelling Ben Franklin Thomas Fleming The distinguished gentleman from Pennsylvania's take on current events. Tags: American Revolution, Ben Franklin, Channelling George Washington, Founding Fathers

Learning to "Lean In" from Our Nineteenth-Century Ancestors Ellen Gruber Garvey The first women to "lean in" were like Caroline Healey Dall. Tags: Lean In, Sheryl Sandberg, feminism, Caroline Healey Dall

Culture Watch

Breakfast at Tiffany's -- Send It Back Bruce Chadwick Game of Thrones's Emilia Clarke makes a terrible Holly Golightly in this disaster of a play. Tags: Breakfast at Tiffany's, Cort Theater, Emilia Clarke, theater reviews

The 1905 "Bloody Sunday" Showdown in Russia Bruce Chadwick The New York Public Theater's taut retelling of the first Russian Revolution. Tags: Bloody Sunday, Neva, Russian Revolution, theater reviews

Books

Review of Diane Brady’s Fraternity Richard Canedo Twenty young black men were admitted to the College of the Holy Cross in 1968... and they changed the world. Tags: Clarence Thomas, College of the Holy Cross, Diane Brady, Fraternity

Review of Mohsin Hamid's How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia Jim Cullen A wonderful deconstruction of the self-help genre. Tags: How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia, fiction, Mohsin Hamid, The Reluctant Fundamentalist