Roundup

Roundup Top 10!

This week's broad sampling of opinion pieces found on the Internet, as selected by the editors of HNN.

Lessons from French Morocco: “Fanaticism Anxiety” about Muslims has been with us since the Colonial Era

by Edmund Burke, III

French Algeria was a veritable bestiary of what not to do, ranging from such Islamophobic policies of closing mosques, libraries and Islamic schools to demonizing sufi brotherhoods as the sources of alleged pan-Islamic insurgency.

The Real History of Multicultural Britain

by Jonathan Healey

We are a nation of migrants. It’s a phrase that gets thrown around a lot these days, but is it true?

How Not To Understand ISIS

by Alireza Doostdar

Sensationalist accounts of “shari‘a justice” notwithstanding, we do not have much information about how ISIS administers the lives of millions of people who reside in the territories it now controls.

How African-Americans responded to Gone with the Wind

by E.R. Shipp

On this 75th anniversary of the film, a historical look at how the black press covered its premiere and the film’s depiction of slavery and black citizens.

The Instrumentalisation of History

by Dr Huw J Davies

In reality, history can be misleading, its so-called ‘lessons’ proving counter-productive if their context is not properly understood.

On the importance of independent, objective policy analysis

by Richard S. Grossman

How do we avoid excessively ideological economic policy?

Keeping the White House Open

by Jeff Shesol

The White House has fortified itself by degrees. Fences grew higher and more imposing, gates were closed, windows were filled with bulletproof glass, walls were reinforced, security checkpoints were installed.

Video of the Week: Humanity's cultural history captured in 5-minute film

The 5-minute animation provides a fresh view of the movements of humanity over the last 2,600 years.

Why I Won't Discourage My Students from Becoming Teachers

by Mark Naison

Here is the brutal truth: There is no occupation in this country where you can avoid the brutal management practices currently invading teaching!

The war on high-school history classes is a whole new level of dumb

by Jeb Lund

Colorado’s school board and the American conservative movement in general are trying to pretend history never happened.

What Bill O’Reilly ignored about George Patton

by Richard Cohen

"How O’Reilly could have written 335 pages on Patton and not have mentioned his repellentanti-Semitism and its impact on the DPs is beyond me."

Hirohito: String Puller, Not Puppet

by Herbert P. Bix

The Japanese government’s new biography perpetuates the false but persistent myth of a benign, passive figurehead.

Why revolutions succeed or fail (what sociologists say)

by Randall Collins

In the last few years, many people have come to believe they have a formula for overthrowing authoritarian governments and putting democracy in their place.

Why Obama underestimated ISIL in Syria and Iraq

by Juan Cole

"Obama gets it right that ISIL is a political problem, not primarily a military one. But he gets it wrong that it is rooted in primordial identity politics."

Practice of beheading not limited to Islamic State

by Jonathan Zimmerman

Beheading is as old as human civilization itself.

The Wilderness Act Turns 50

by William deBuys

Celebrating the Great Laws of 1964

Defeating ISIS the World War One Way

by H. W. Crocker III

Blackjack Pershing would know what to do.

Academic Social Science and Washington History

by William H. Young

The National Museum of American History of the Smithsonian Institution and the National Archives—have been captured by our cultural elites

From Robespierre to ISIS

by Gertrude Himmelfarb

Edmund Burke’s war on terror—and ours.