Roundup

Video of the Week: John Oliver shames Clinton, Reagan and the Tea Party

John Oliver discusses the overwhelming misquotes used by influential public figures who either fake their quotes or don’t care about its credibility

Yes, George W. Bush bears some Responsibility for US Vulnerability on 9/11

by Juan Cole

Just remember what Richard Clarke wrote in his memoir of his time in the administration. 

Endless War Does Not Make Us Safer

by Ivan Eland

Obama's recent decision to leave American troops in perpetuity in the Afghanistan War, despite a fourteen-year failed attempt to remodel the country, is as unsurprising as it is appalling.

The Republican click-bait primary

by Julian Zelizer

Snappy one-liners have been commonplace for a while, especially in the era of television campaigns. But in 2015, invective is on the verge of becoming the norm.

Ted Cruz wants to be king: Make no mistake, the GOP extremists’ real goal is absolute control

by Heather Cox Richardson

Right-wingers pretend to pledge fealty to the Constitution. Their real goal is to cut out the part about democracy

Erdoğan Leads Turkey to the Precipice

by Daniel Pipes

The Republic of Turkey is undergoing possibly its greatest crisis since the founding of the state nearly a century ago. Present trends suggest worse to come as a long-time Western ally evolves into a hostile dictatorship.

Ottomans saved Hungarian PM Orban’s Ancestors; now he says Islam never part of Europe

by Juan Cole

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban not only continued to defend his anti-immigrant bigotry but went on to say that Islam has never been part of Europe.

Czars And Firebrands: A Brief History Of Power In The House

by Ron Elving

The speaker has far more power in the House than any one senator has in the Senate. And at times in our history, the speaker's power has rivaled that of the president himself.

History v historical fiction

by Jane Smiley

Historical fiction is not a secondary form – I was condescended to by a conservative historian who cannot see that he too constructs stories

Black, white and red: Atlantic history points to new understanding of Columbus' context

by Steve Haycox

Beginning in the 1960s, a new sub-discipline in history arose called Atlantic studies. The focus?  The crops of sugar, coffee, chocolate and tobacco and the slave labor needed to grow them.

Roundup Top 10!

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

Pop Culture Roundup: This Week

This week ... Steve Jobs, Dan Rather, Superman and more!

How the GOP circus act compromises American Democracy

by Christopher Parker

Boehner and McCarthy knew this reactionary faction of the GOP was gunning for them. Boehner simply quit before he could be fired; McCarthy quit while he was ahead. The two leaders were targeted because they were willing to cut deals with Democrats.

The real reason Hillary Clinton won the debate: optimism

by Jonathan Zimmerman

Where Bernie Sanders was sour and dour, Clinton projected a sense of confidence in America's future. And when it comes to electing people for the White House, American prefer sunnier dispositions to darker ones.

Who Needs Soviet Propaganda?

by David M. Barrett

A review of David Talbot’s "The Devil’s Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America’s Secret Government."

What the Fight for the Speakership Is Actually About

by John Lawrence

Republicans are split on how to balance broad participation against the efficient functioning of the institution.

How We Became the “Jailhouse Nation”: Historians Discuss Mass Incarceration in the US

by Dane Kennedy

The statistics on the subject are staggering: the United States currently incarcerates 2.3 million people, a larger proportion of our population than any other nation on earth.

Are liberals to blame for the carceral state?

by Mike Konczal

That’s what Naomi Murakawa claims in The First Civil Right: How Liberals Built Prison America.

On Building Armies (and Watching Them Fail)

by Andrew J. Bacevich

Why Washington Can’t “Stand Up” Foreign Militaries

Playing Patience While Syria Burns

by Niall Ferguson

The bigger flaw in "strategic patience" is one identified long ago by Henry Kissinger. In 1963 Kissinger summed up what he called the "terrible dilemma" confronting any strategic decision-maker.