Week of March 4, 2013
Up Front
 HNN Hot Topics: Hugo Chavez, 1954-2013Tags: Hot Topics, Hugo Chavez, in memoriam, obituaries |
 Congress Needs to Lead on the Budget, Not the PresidentRaymond Smock The president does not (and should not) have the power of the purse. Tags: Barack Obama, Congress, John Boehner, sequestration |
 HNN Hot Topics: Women's History Month Tags: feminism, gender, Hot Topics, women, Women's History Month |
News at Home
 Senator Cruz, You're No James MadisonJohn Willingham A look at Ted Cruz's Princeton thesis on the Ninth and Tenth Amendments. Tags: Republican Party, Tea Party, Ted Cruz, The Federalist Papers |
 In Defense of Our Do-Nothing CongressKyle Scott Blocking the will of the majority is a fundamental feature of the U.S. constitutional system. Tags: Constitution, John C. Calhoun, minority rights, tyranny of the majority |
 Thomas Jefferson's Radical Plan to Avert the Fiscal CliffDennis Gaffney Cut the military budget, but do it smartly. Tags: fiscal cliff, sequestration, budget, debt |
 His Meaning Was Clear . . .Josh Brown's Life During Wartime Drawing an X on the Voting Rights Act. Tags: equal rights, Antonin Scalia, Voting Rights Act, civil rights |
 Climate Change as History's Deal-BreakerTom Engelhardt Why was the February 17 protest against the Keystone XL Pipeline in D.C. so small? Tags: climate change, Keystone XL Pipeline, organizing, activism |
News Abroad
 “Yellow Peril” Morphs into Chinese BorgIra Chernus's MythicAmerica Resistance is Fu-tile. Tags: China, yellow peril, Star Trek, hackers |
 U.S. Aid to Syria’s Revolution Could Go to JihadistsWalid Phares John Kerry's proposal to give $60 million to the Syrian Opposition Council could backfire horribly. Tags: Al Qaeda, foreign aid, John Kerry, Syria |
Historians & History
 The Strange Saga of Lincoln Assassination Co-Conspirator John SurratDavid O. Stewart His mother was hanged for his crimes while he fled to the Vatican. Tags: John Surrat, John Wilkes Booth, popes, Vatican |
 Well Done, Brother Herb ShapiroStaughton Lynd Remembering the distinguished academic and activist Herbert Shapiro. Tags: in memoriam, scholarship, Herbert Shapiro, obituaries |
Culture Watch
 Two Chinese on a Mountain...Bruce Chadwick ...and that's all there is in the disappointing The Dance and the Railroad. Tags: The Dance and the Railroad, Signatory Theater, Chinese Americans, theater reviews |
Books
 Review of Lawrence R. Samuel's The American DreamJim Cullen A useful, but profoundly troubling book, written more for personal branding than scholarship. Tags: Ethical Culture Fieldston School, Lawrence Samuel, Reviews in History (UK), The American Dream |
 Review of James M. Banner Jr.'s Being a HistorianJim Cullen History as a discipline will survive the ongoing seismic changes, but will it survive as a profession? Tags: Ethical Culture Fieldston School, historiography, history professoriate, James M. Banner |