Weeks of August 19 & 26, 2013

Special: End of Summer Edition

Up Front

Decent Jobs, Housing, and Education: MLK's Still Elusive Dream Michael K. Honey Racism and poverty are still endemic in America. Tags: March on Washington, MLK, jobs, housing

The March on Washington was for JOBS as Well as Freedom Jeff Roquen Martin Luther King: "Why aren't we free? Because we are poor." Tags: income inequality, jobs, March on Washington, Martin Luther King, MLK

Understanding Modern Violence Through the Lens of the Reign of Terror Jack Censer Sophie Wahnich's defense of the Reign of Terror isn't convincing, but it is thought-provoking. Tags: Sophie Wahnich, Reign of Terror, terrorism, revolutions, French Revolution

The Question Americans Can't Ask About Egypt and Syria Ira Chernus's MythicAmerica Does a foreign policy built on reducing risks to "national interests" really serve the best interests of the American people? Tags: Egypt, Syria, foreign relations, Middle East

News at Home

The NSA Needs to Stop Digging John Prados The latest revelations demonstrate that the agency is out of control. Tags: espionage, National Security Agency, NSA scandal, PRISM

Students, Want a Cure for the Job Market Blues? Consider Politics. Elizabeth Tandy Shermer The 2014 elections will give students plenty of opportunities for activism and even employment. Tags: New Deal, political activism, politics

What the History of Slavery Can Teach Us About Slavery Today Brenda E. Stevenson Modern human trafficking functions in a remarkably similiar way to the antebellum slave trade -- only in secret. Tags: Ariel Castro, human trafficking, modern slavery, slavery

How Harold Washington, Against the Odds, Became the First Black Mayor of Chicago Bill Zimmerman and Marilyn Katz And lessons for aspiring underdog political candidates today. Tags: African American history, Chicago, elections, Harold Washington, mayors, Richard J. Daley

Why Do We Have Such an Activist Presidency? Maury Klein It's thanks to FDR, the New Deal, and above all World War II. Tags: FDR, New Deal, World War II

News Abroad

From the Bloody Nursery of Revolution, Democracy Guillaume Mazeau Why have liberals and leftists in Egypt backed government terror? Look to the cycle of revolution and counter-revolution in France. Tags:French Revolution, Reign of Terror, violence, revolutions

Evil is Alive and Well (And Right Off Our Coast) Humberto Fontova Castro's Cuba continues to brutally torture dissidents. Tags: atrocities, Che Guevara, Cuba, Fidel Castro

Clinging to Mass Violence Lawrence S. Wittner Violence on the decline in the world? Don't bet on it. Tags: militarism, nuclear weapons, violence, war

The Egyptian Revolution Goes Napoleon Jack Censer Egypt's Thermidorian Reaction, or its Reign of Terror? Tags: authoritarianism, Egypt, Egyptian Revolution, Napoleon

Why Egypt Fell Apart Juan Cole Neither the Muslim Brotherhood nor the military ever took the democratic impulses of the revolution seriously. Tags: Egypt, Egyptian Revolution, Mahmoud Morsi, Muslim Brotherhood, revolutions

The Muslim Brotherhood's Urban Jihad Walid Phares The government crackdown is saving the country from the Brotherhood's street thugs. Tags: Egypt, jihad, Muslim Brotherhood, secularism

Historians & History

In Defense of the Late, Great Howard Zinn Norman Markowitz Zinn's scholarly "sins" are nothing compared to the flaws of right-wing history. Tags: A People's History, historiography, Howard Zinn, Mitch Daniels

James Dawes: Why Do People Commit Atrocities? (INTERVIEW) Robin Lindley Understanding why so many Japanese soldiers committed brutal war crimes during World War II -- and why some express remorse. Tags: atrocities, interviews, Japan, war crimes, World War II

To Students Seeking the PhD in History Vaughn Davis Bornet Advice from an old hand to the new generation. Tags: advice, grad school, graduate school, grad students

Why Was Enoch Powell Condemned as a Racist and Not Charles de Gaulle? Daniel Pipes De Gaulle made his own "Rivers of Blood" speech in '58 -- so why was Enoch Powell drummed out of politics ten years later for saying the same thing? Tags: Charles de Gaulle, Enoch Powell, immigration, integration

Hey Mitch Daniels, My Book is Dangerous, Too! Peter Dreier Mitch Daniels's crusade against Howard Zinn has sold thousands of copies of A People's History -- how about showing some love to my book, too? Tags: A People's History, Howard Zinn, Mitch Daniels, Purdue

Culture Watch

The Secret History of G.I. Joe Tom Engelhardt How a doll for boys became an action figure -- and how the history of G.I. Joe parallels post-Vietnam doldrums to war on terror cockiness. Tags: G.I. Joe, George Lucas, Star Wars, toys, war games

The Horror! The Horror! 1922 Fright Fest Rears Its Lovable Head Again Bruce Chadwick Yes, Virginia, they could make scary plays in the 1920s! Tags: Bruce Chadwick, play reviews, The Cat and the Canary

A Scalding Look at the Thirty Years' War Bruce Chadwick The Thirty Years' War was hell on earth -- so who better to write about it than Bertolt Brecht? Tags: Mother Courage, play reviews, Shakespeare and Company, Thirty Years' War

Books

Review of Niall Ferguson's The Great Degeneration Jim Cullen As a boilerplate version of libertarian ideology, Ferguson's latest isn't a bad place to start. Tags: deregulation, Niall Ferguson, The Great Degeneration, economic history

Review of Charles Glass's The Deserters Murray Polner During World War II, nearly 50,000 American and over 100,000 British soldiers deserted. Why? Tags: book reviews, Charles Glass, desertion, World War II