Roundup: Historians' Take

Omer M. Mozaffar: Caliphate is the New Jihad

[Omer M. Mozaffar is a PhD student in Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at the University of Chicago, and teaches in the Asian Classics Curriculum at the University of Chicago's Graham School of General Studies. ] The reader is surely familiar with the phrase "Islam means peace", a response to the linkages of Islam with violence. Similarly, perhaps the most common statement from Muslims since September 11, 2001 is "jihad does not mean holy war, but struggle."

Ruth Rosen: The Politics of Fear---Again

[Ms. Rosen is Professor Emerita of History, U.C. Davis and Visiting Professor of History, U.C. Berkeley.] Although I have supported Barack Obama in the primaries, I would not be devastated if Hillary Clinton should turn out to be the Democratic nominee. What does upset me, however, is how Clinton is employing the politics of fear and how much she emphasizes national security in order to mobilize support for her campaign. The politics of fear worked wonders for Bush and

David Greenberg: It's too early to talk about Hillary's withdrawal

[David Greenberg, a professor of history and media studies at Rutgers, has two new books out: Presidential Doodles and Calvin Coolidge.] Despite Hillary Clinton's victories in Ohio and Texas yesterday, she still trails Barack Obama in delegates. The Obama camp, claiming she won't be able to close the gap, is spinning the case for her to withdraw. Though self-serving, their argument is framed as a concern for the Democratic Party. At this late date, the reasoning goes, the Democrats

Robert Perkinson: It's time to revise the conventional wisdom about the Duke Lacrosse Case

[Robert Perkinson is the author of Texas Tough: The Rise of a Prison Empire, forthcoming from Metropolitan Books. He teaches American studies at the University of Hawaii-Manoa.] ... No one knows how often prosecutors strike foul blows. Their power to bring or dismiss charges, to offer plea bargains or leniency to cooperating witnesses, to marshal police investigators and lab techs, and to present or suppress state evidence is unmatched by defense counsel and is "essentially unr

Paul Kramer: The Water Cure. An American Debate on torture and counterinsurgency in the Philippines—a century ago

[Paul A. Kramer is an associate professor of history at the University of Iowa. He is the author of The Blood of Government: Race, Empire, the United States and the Philippines (University of North Carolina Press, 2006), which won the James A. Rawley Prize from the Organization of American Historians and the Stuart L. Bernath Book Prize from

Jim Sleeper: Has History Canceled Farrakhan’s Endorsement?

[Mr. Sleeper, a lecturer in political science at Yale, is the author of The Closest of Strangers: Liberalism and the Politics of Race in New York and Liberal Racism.] The gravely ill Louis Farrakhan's endorsement of Barack "Hussein" Obama was so rightly buried in the avalanche of commentary anticipating the vote in Texas and Ohio that I'm speaking almost out of turn in educing one more reason why it was stupid to try to tie part of the Jewish community in knots over this s

Stanley I. Kutler: Where's FDR When You Need Him?

[Stanley Kutler is the author of "Privilege Creative Destruction: The Charles River Bridge Case" and "Abuse of Power: The New Nixon Tapes." He is the E. Gordon Fox Emeritus Professor of American Institutions at the University of Wisconsin, and also professor of law.] Seventy-five years ago, Mar. 4, 1933, with the Great Depression deepening, Franklin D. Roosevelt’s inauguration heralded the most productive, dynamic domestic reform program since the Civil War. It w

Barry Rubin: Charisma Isn't Enough

[Barry Rubin is Director of the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center, Interdisciplinary Center university. His latest book, The Truth about Syria was published by Palgrave-Macmillan in May 2007.] The U.S. presidential election is not--at least not supposed to be--like electing a high school class president. Vague promises, glib speeches, and personal popularity shouldn't be enough to gain victory. This should be especially true this year since so many Americans d

Jonathan Zimmerman: Of peace and ethnic blending

[Jonathan Zimmerman is a New York University professor teaching in Ghana this semester. E-mail him at jlzimm@aol.com.] 'Ghana Loves Obama." I saw that on a bumper sticker last month during President Bush's brief visit here. Wherever Bush went on his five-nation African tour, talk of Obama followed him. "It seemed like there was a lot of excitement for me - wait a minute, maybe you missed it!" Bush quipped, when Tanzani

Joseph Lane: Clinton Plagiarizing (and Desperate)?

[Joseph Lane is the Hawthorne Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Political Science at Emory & Henry. ] When Hillary Clinton’s attempts to derail Barack Obama by publicly scolding him for plagiarizing Deval Patrick drew little interest, she decided to do some plagiarism herself. First, she took John Edwards’ “Whatever happens, we will be fine” benediction for her closing comments at the Austin debate. If the only thing that stimulates an uptick in your polls is a

Eric Rauchway: The Democrats should look to the 1912 Republican primary for a lesson in embracing the people's candidate

[Eric Rauchway is a professor of history at the University of California, Davis, and the author, most recently, of Blessed Among Nations: How the World Made America and Murdering McKinley: The Making of Theodore Roosevelt's America. He also blogs for The Edge of the American West.] With Barack Obama winning 11 contests since Super Tuesday, and appearing well on his way to winning a clear majority of elected delegates, it looks unlikely that Hillary Clinton could win the Democratic n

Martin Kramer: Obama, Samantha Power and Israel

[Mr. Kramer, the author of Towers on Sand: The Failure of Middle East Studies in America, was a full-time tenured academic at Tel Aviv University. He is now an Olin Institute Senior Fellow at Harvard. Click here for his blog.] Samantha Power is the author of a Pulitzer Prize-winning book on genocide, and she has a professorship at Harvard (in something called &quo

Michael Kazin: Speaking Well And Doing Great

[Michael Kazin, a professor of history at Georgetown University, is the author of "A Godly Hero: The Life of William Jennings Bryan."] Must a president be eloquent to be successful? That question has sparked a heated quarrel between the campaigns of Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama. The senator from New York stresses "results, not rhetoric," while her rival contends that a leader has to inspire Americans in order to produce "a new majorit

Abigail Thernstrom and Stephan Thernstrom: Is race out of the race?

[Abigail Thernstrom is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. Stephan Thernstrom is a professor of history at Harvard University. They are the coauthors of "America in Black and White: One Nation, Indivisible," published in 1997.] One of the most notable -- yet unremarked-on -- lessons of this year's Democratic presidential nominating contest is the demolition of the long-held belief that whites simply won't vote for black candidates for higher office. Before the Iowa

Andreas Umland: Dmitri Medvedev may prove a surprisingly liberal president of Russia

[Andreas Umland teaches at the National Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv, edits the book series “Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics and Society” and compiles the biweekly “Russian Nationalism Bulletin” (groups.yahoo.com/group/russian_nationalism).] Most Russian and western observers see the man who has just been elected Russia's new president as at best a relatively liberal figure, if not a faceless opportunist. Some think Dmitri Medvedev will be merely a second Putin, whose electio

Jerry Z. Muller: The Enduring Power of Ethnic Nationalism

[JERRY Z. MULLER is Professor of History at the Catholic University of America. His most recent book is The Mind and the Market: Capitalism in Modern European Thought.] Projecting their own experience onto the rest of the world, Americans generally belittle the role of ethnic nationalism in politics. After all, in the United States people of varying ethnic origins live cheek by jowl in relative peace. Within two or three generations of immigration, their ethnic identities are attenu

Juan Cole: Fact Check on McCain and Political Progress in Iraq

[Mr. Cole is Professor of Modern Middle Eastern and South Asian History at the University of Michigan. His website is http://www.juancole.com.]John McCain has been running mainly against Barack Obama in recent days, and has been running on the successes he says that the Iraqi government has racked up.McCain (and the US corporate media) manages to avoid noticing that

Allan J. Lichtman: Sex, Lies, and John McCain

[Allan J. Lichtman is a professor of history at American University in Washington, D.C. His six books include Prejudice and the Old Politics: The Presidential Election of 1928 and The Keys to the White House.] I admired John McCain a great deal in 2000. In my view, McCain was one of the very few politicians who talked straight to the American people and was the victim of an unforgivable hatchet job by the Bush campaign. I don’t admire McCain any longer. Forget about the

Jim Sleeper: Obama in a Valley of Insinuations and Lies

[Mr. Sleeper, a lecturer in political science at Yale, is the author of The Closest of Strangers: Liberalism and the Politics of Race in New York and Liberal Racism.] I've spent a lot of time around serious scholarship and even more around real journalism-- the kind that, in print or online, requires"leg work," climbing tenement stairs the second time or making that last phone call or watching the expression on the campaign manager's face as you pop your question. Sometimes there's no subs

Juan Cole: Barack Hussein Obama, Omar Bradley, Benjamin Franklin and other Semitically Named American Heroes

[Mr. Cole is Professor of Modern Middle Eastern and South Asian History at the University of Michigan. His website is http://www.juancole.com.]At Cincinnati, Bill Cunningham, according to the LAT,"introduc