Week of May 20, 2013
Up Front
 The Real Story of the MS St. LouisRichard Breitman and Allan J. Lichtman Critics say FDR condemned nearly 1,000 Jews to death by turning them away from American ports, but the reality is quite different. Tags: FDR, Cuba, Holocaust, MS St. Louis |
 HNN Hot Topics: Memorial DayTags: Memorial Day, holidays, Hot Topics, veterans |
News at Home
 How Did the IRS Get Investigatory Authority, Anyway?Douglas M. Charles The IRS didn't have an investigations division, until they decided to take on the Mafia. Tags: IRS, Kefauver Committee, organized crime, scandals |
 Austerity: The History of a Dangerous IdeaMark Blyth There's no sound economic argument for austerity. Tags: austerity, economics, financial crisis, welfare state |
News Abroad
 Is Russia Drinking Itself to Death?Oliver Bullough The Russian love affair with vodka is slowly destroying the nation. Tags: alcohol, public health, Russia, vodka |
 Margaret Thatcher and Jimmy Carter: Political BFFs? Lee P. Ruddin It's true -- Anglo-American relations would probably have been better if Jimmy Carter had been re-elected. Tags: Falklands War, Jimmy Carter, Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan |
 How the State Department Gets the Niqab WrongWalid Phares Wearing the niqab and burqa are political, not religious, rights. Tags: Islamophobia, liberals, Muslim Brotherhood, Barack Obama |
Historians & History
 Beware Social NostalgiaStephanie Coontz Personal nostalgia is fine, but social nostalgia can distort our understanding of the world. Tags: gender, New York Times, nostalgia, sexuality |
 A Different Thomas Jefferson Tried to Eliminate Slavery in VirginiaThomas Fleming TJ's grandson, Thomas Jefferson Randolph, sponsored a bill for gradual emancipation in the Virginia legislature. Tags: Thomas Jefferson Randolph, Virginia, emancipation, Nat Turner |
 1983: The Most Dangerous Year of the Cold WarDavid Austin Walsh The National Security Archive releases new documents on Able Archer 83. Tags: Able Archer 83, Cold War>, National Security Archive, Soviet Union |
 Was Joseph Kennedy Really an Anti-Semite?Fatima Ahmed-Farouta It depends on your definition of "anti-Semite." He was certainly no friend to the Jews, though. Tags: anti-Semitism, Holocaust, Joseph P. Kennedy, World War II |
 Allen Weinstein's Truth to Tell About Alger HissRonald Radosh The former National Archives head's 1973 book Perjury has just been reissued. Tags: Allen Weinstein, Alger Hiss, Richard Nixon, communism |
Education
 At Universities, Too, the Rich Grow RicherLawrence S. Wittner The outrageous salaries of college presidents are damaging higher education. Tags: income inequality, tuition, universities, higher education |
Books
 Review of David Simonelli's Working Class HeroesRon Briley An academic -- but accessible -- look at the impact of rock music on British society. Tags: David Simonelli, rock music, Great Britain, Beatles |
 Review of Harold Holzer's The Civil War in 50 ObjectsBernard von Bothmer An excellent and accessible introduction to the War Between the States. Tags: books, Civil War, Civil War in 50 Objects, Harold Holzer |