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Back in the USSR?

by Andreas Umland

The outcome of Russia’s fifth post-Soviet parliamentary elections was, seemingly, a triple victory for the Russian President Vladimir Putin: First, United Russia, whose only listed candidate on the ballot was Putin himself, won the elections with an impressive 64% of the turnout. This translates into 315 of the 450 seats in the Duma for the Kremlin-created party. Such a large majority will allow its faction to adopt unilaterally not only ordinary laws, but also constitutional la

Historians Should Embrace Politics

by Jon Lauck

Some historians tend to follow politics closely. Robert Dallek, Leo Ribuffo, and Joyce Appleby, for example, have recently signed on to support Barack Obama’s bid for the presidency, along with some of their fellow colleague

The "Wall of Separation" Has Preserved Religion -- Including Mormonism

by Steven Conn

You'd think that of all people, Mitt Romney, a Mormon, would know better.In his recent, quasi-confessional speech about his religion and the role of religion in the town square, Romney said: "Religion is seen as merely a private affair with no place in public life. It is as if they are intent on establishing a new religion in America - the religion of secularism. They are wrong." In fact, it is Romney who has it wrong, and in that remark he perpetuates one of the cen

Is the U.S. an Empire?

by Charles S. Maier

Iraq alone would not decide whether America had become or was to become an empire. Other issues might also have an impact: To what degree would the United States attempt

Think Religion Plays a Bigger Role in Politics Today? You're Right. Statistics Prove It.

by Kevin Coe and David Domke

The 2008 presidential campaign is striking in that it seems to be nearly as much about religion as politics. Mitt Romney’s much-discussed speech on faith and politics is just one recent example of a trend that has stretched throughout the campaign and across bo

The Heirs of Puritanism: That's Us!

by George McKenna

In 1630, as the Arbella lay at anchor off Southampton, England in preparation for its journey to the New World, John Winthrop proclaimed to his fellow passengers that “we shall be as a city upon a hill.” By mid- century the notion of an exemplary New England, a light for nations of the world, had seized the imagination of New England’s cultural establishment. “And thou New England,” wrote Peter Bulkeley, one of its chief ministers, “which are exalted

The Founding Fathers: Their Achievement and Failures

by Joseph Ellis

The AchievementWhat, in the end, did the Founding Fathers manage to do? Once we brush aside both the inflated and judgmental rhetoric, what did they achieve?

Do Consumers Make Bad Voters?

by Rick Shenkman (Channeling John Dewey)

Before long we shall be past Christmas and it will be politics all the time: First Iowa, then New Hampshire, Michigan, Nevada, and South Carolina (or does South Carolina come before Nevada? Whatever). But before the Christmas lights are taken down and the metal trees are put away until next year, it is worthwhile pausing to consider what the season tells us about our politics. Contrast for a moment the lines that form outside Wal-Mart on the day of a big sale with the short lines we ar

It Ain’t No Social Crisis: Barry Bonds in Historical Perspective

by Ron Briley

Never mind the national intelligence estimates that terrorists are massing for another strike against the United States, for a far greater threat to our way of life and the homeland is posed by an angry black man. Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants is posed to become baseball all-time home run champion. There is considerable gnashing of teeth and jeremiads from the media regarding what it means to the youth of America to have perhaps the nation’s most esteemed sporting re

The Return of Antisemitism

by Steve Hochstadt

Comment by Daniel PipesResponse by Steve Hochstadt Antisemitism is back. Of course, antisemitism never completely disappeared in America. Everywhere I have lived, signs of prejudice against Jews popped up: complaints about being “Jewed” out of money, acceptance of Jewish stereotypes, complaints about supposed Jewish control of newspapers, films, or whatever else the complaina

Putin's Message: The Liberals, “Unfortunately, Still Live” in Russia

by Andreas Umland

Arguably, Russian President Putin’s speech at the “Forum of Supporters of Vladimir Putin” organized by the United Russia Party at Moscow on November 21 could constitute a turning point in post-Soviet affairs. In his address concerning the upcoming parliamentary elections, Putin was, clearly, referring to Russia’s politically weak, yet still visible liberal movement when he mentioned those who are “unfortunately, still within the country, who are skulking around

Our Hessians

by John Donoghue

In the summer of 1776, Thomas Jefferson penned a blistering attack against King George III, condemning him for deploying Hessian mercenaries to “complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny” begun the year before by the British army on Lexington Green. Jefferson calculated this sensational passage of the Declaration of Independence for effect. He knew that it would inflame the passions of patriots immersed in a republican political tradition that stretched back to England&r

Compulsory Television

by Lawrence S. Wittner

Have you noticed how television pervades public places in the United States?Television sets now broadcast programs constantly in airports, train stations, bars, fast food areas and cafeterias on college and university campuses, elevators, and many restaurants.  Have you noticed their blaring presence in waiting rooms while your car is being serviced, while you are seeing a doctor, or while you are visiting a hospital?It is certainly hard to escape them.  Some years ago

Why Al - And Many Others - Choose Not to Run

by Jeremy Cameron Young

Whatever you think of Al Gore, it's hard to deny the sheer strength of his current popularity. With an Oscar, an Emmy, and a Nobel Prize to his credit in 2007 alone, the former Vice President and current climate-change crusader seems perfectly positioned to win the highest office in the land. Yet, despite a vigorous effort to draft him into the Presidential race, Gore insists that he's "involved in a different kind of campaign." There's no doubt that Gore's reluctance to run

Japan's Sorry Failure to Own Up to Its History

by Ron Wulkan

"The one duty we owe to history is to rewrite it," quipped Oscar Wilde, the cynical playwright whose epigrams mocked his nation’s pious-but-phony rationale for empire building.*When facts ha

The Scary Echo of the Intolerance of the French Revolution in America Today

by Carol Hamilton

"Denunciation is the mother of all virtues, just as surveillance is the most reliable guarantee of the people’s happiness and liberty." -- Félix Le Peletier, Jacobin revolutionary In Charles Dickens’s 1859 novel A Tale of Two Cities, the French aristocrat Charles Darnay is rescued from the guillotine by the testimony of Doctor Manette, his father-in-law, a man revered by the revolutionaries because of his

Is David Brooks a Good Historian?

by Carol V. Hamilton

In his New York Times columns, David Brooks often makes confident, if glancing, references to American and European history and historical figures.  Too often these allusions are problematic, closer to received ideas than informed historical opinions. On May 8, 2007, for example, Brooks wrote, “Adam Smith put his faith in the collective judgment of the market.”  This is a gross simplification of Smith’s work; all the average Republican seems

Are We Living the Nightmare Outlined in Federalist #8?

by Carol V. Hamilton

Fear is what terrorism aims to instill. It is also what enables a militaristic state to flourish. In his new book Broken Government, John Dean writes that neoconservatives have long had “plans in the drawers” to strengthen the executive branch, build up the military, and weaken civil liberties. In the tumult after 9/11, these plans were quickly put into place before cooler heads could prevail. It’s the drift toward despotism that many of the Founders, steeped as they

Solving the Mystery of the Lost Confederate Gold

by Wesley Millett

One Day in History: Dec. 7, 1941

by John Keegan

DECEMBER 7, 1941, a Sunday in the central Pacific: at Pearl Harbor in the Hawaiian Islands, headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, the crews of the battleships were enjoying a longer than usual sleep. Many of the officers were ashore. The Army Air Corps base at Hickham Field was expecting an inward flight of B-17 bombers but very few of its aircraft were aloft or on patrol. There had been so many false alarms of a Japanese attack in the preceding weeks and months that the edge of alertness had