Recently Published

Is the Proposed Asbestos Settlement Fair?

by Rachel Maines

Congress is making its sixteenth attempt in 20 years to legislate an administrative solution to the asbestos claims problem. In a series of media presentations last spring, Dick Armey implied that sponsors of the asbestos trust fund bill S.R. 852, Arlen Specter and Patrick Leahy, propose to create a $140 million slush fund at the taxpayer’s expense. Specter responded in a May 16, 2005 op-ed article in the New York Times that the fund was one which “manufacturers &hellip

Are Museums Guilty of Stealing? Historians Can Help Decide.

by S.J. Redman

In the last few months the number of stories in the media regarding the repatriation of museum objects has exploded. Repatriation, or the return of sacred or culturally significant museum “specimens” (including human remains) to the nation of origin, has been a significant issue in museum politics for some time. The recent explosion in media attention, however, represents a fantastic opportunity for historians, especially those interested in the history of museums, history of sci

When Jefferson Dined Alone

by Jonathan Gross

During the month of December, 2002, I found myself in Roosevelt Cottage at Kenwood, a 78-acre estate on the slopes of Monticello, land once owned by Thomas Jefferson. At night, I was editing an 18th century novel by the Duchess of Devonshire, published three years before Jefferson wrote the “Declaration of Independence.” By day, I was supposed to be working in the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Library where I had keys as a scholar in residence. On the walls of the stone cottage were

Interview with Susan B. Carter and Richard Sutch: The People Behind the New Edition of Historical Statistics of the United States

by Andrew Bernstein

Susan B. Carter and Richard Sutch, general editors of the Historical Statistics of the United States, stand poised to release a new edition of the work. Called The Millennial Edition, the five volumes will be available in both print and online versions. The husband and wife team are both Professor of Economics at the University of California Riverside. They were interviewed by email.First

Katrina Journal: Notes from the Frontlines of a Novice History Chair

by Günter Bischof

When I drive to work from the interstate I-610, by the eerily empty St. Bernard Public Housing Project, I drive by two miles of blighted houses on my way to the Lakefront campus of the University of New Orleans. Crews clean up the debris of eviscerated houses emptied to the side of the streets. Piles of mold-covered sheetrock, electronic equipment, books, and furniture are telltale signs of happier days in the “Crescent City.”We reported back to work on the UNO campus on Ja

The JFK Lawyers' Conspiracy

by Max Holland

During forty-two years of controversy over the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the legal profession has played an instrumental role. All seven members of the Warren Commission, which investigated the 1963 assassination, were lawyers. There were twenty-seven people on the commission's staff (including Norman Redlich, a Nation contributor since 1951), twenty-two of whom were aspiring or practicing attorneys. The combined efforts of these lawyers produced an imperfect report i

As If It Weren't Hard Enough Keeping the Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds Together

by Hakan Ozoglu

Despite the increasing frequency of suicide bombings and the general escalation of violence in Iraq, the administration and hopeful people everywhere are still optimistic that Iraq is heading towards becoming a democratic society. One reason offered in support of this hope is the relative stability and democratic traditions of the large Kurdish minority in northern Iraq, a strong U.S. ally since before the start of the war. This optimism, however, is ill founded. The problem

If We Want to Rein in the Imperial Presidency We Have to Grade Presidents Differently

by Lara M. Brown

It’s partly our fault.1 Presidents want and work to be imperial because of us – scholars. As often as we argue that presidents go beyond the boundaries of the Constitution because of historical precedents, constitutional paradoxes, strategic calculations, and irresistible calls of character, we neglect our own role in urging presidents toward imperial actions. It’s time we take responsibility for our normative judgments and engage in corr

Historical Truth Vs. Historical Fiction?

by Thomas Fleming

Was Robert E. Lee guilty of treason? I have written The Secret Trial of Robert E. Lee to explore that question. But I am already getting letters from readers who are shocked by my temerity. Once more I find myself in an argument about the role of the novel

"War"-Time Thoughts on War-Anniversaries

by Dagmar Barnouw

With the Sixtieth Anniversary of the end of WWII safely behind us we can be sure that all we have believed over all those years has been reaffirmed and the that ceremonies of re-affirmation have become better and better over the years. As the NYTimes reported from Krakow on January 27, 2005, t he commemoration of the liberation of Auschwitz was “the largest ever,” bringing together “the presidents of Russia, Poland, Israel and Ukraine, as well as Vice President D

Teaching History: Why Multiculturalism Is So Important

by Howard Shorr

I started teaching with a multicultural perspective at a small Catholic girl's high school (San Gabriel Mission) in suburban Los Angeles in September, 1973. The principal hired me to teach the US history survey courses and US Government. She also asked me to create two one-semester 12th grade electives classes. Given the demographics of the campus, I chose to teach U.S.Women's History and Chicano History. Women's and Ethnic Studies were just emerging at universities and there existed ver

What Do You Do with Dead Soldiers?

by Michael Sledge

“What do you do with dead soldiers?” This is the question asked by Charlie Anderson (played by Jimmy Stewart) in the 1965 movie, Shenandoah, when he and his sons come upon the bodies of Confederate soldiers who were ambushed. Now, with the death toll of Operation Iraqi Freedom continuing to mount—but still less than three or four days’ worth of dying in World War II or a couple of tough weeks in Vietnam—we once again find ourselves, as J

Even Our Critics Have Made Mistakes Transcribing Presidential Recordings

by Timothy Naftali

Dr. Stern critiques 76 separate passages or individual words in 18 of them in the Appendix to his book, Averting ‘The Final Failure:' John F. Kennedy and the Secret Cuban Missile Crisis Meetings . Thirty-one of the 76 “errors” he cites, or nearly half, are instances where we felt after team-review that the word or sentence fragment was so muddy that we preferred not to take a guess and left it as “[ unclear ]” in the reference transcript. We did this reluctantly and only after

Interview with MacArthur "Genius" Winner Emily Thompson

by Jamie Rodriguez

In September San Diego Associate Professor of History Emily Thompson won the highly coveted MacArthur Foundation "genius" award in connection with her research into aural history. She is the author of The Soundscape of Modernity. She was interviewed by email.What exactly is aural history? Most simply put, aural history considers the sonic dimensions of the past; what kinds of s

East Timor's Troubled Road

by Jeff Kingston

Click here for an updated version of this article 1-22-06. East Timor's 800,000 citizens are finding that the truth does not set them free and that justice and reconciliation are elusive. A recent report published by East Timor's Commission of Reception, Truth and Reconciliation (CAVR is the commonly used Portuguese acronym), estimates that the tiny island nation suffered a minimum of 102,800 conflict-related de

Rebuilding Hurricane-Devastated Areas- Why Not Follow LBJ’s Lead?

by Kevin R. Kosar

Last week, U.S. representatives and senators from Louisiana introduced the “Hurricane Katrina Disaster Relief and Economic Recovery Act” into Congress. The total cost of the bill popped quite a few eyes- $250 billion. The bill (S. 1765) runs over 400 pages and seeks funds for just about everything one could imagine. Some of the objects of funding seems perfectly reasonable--who, for example, would object to federal funds being used to repair damaged veterans’ medical facili

Why Real Reforms May Just Follow the Abramoff Scandal

by Nancy C. Unger

Will the guilty plea of the lobbyist Jack Abramoff to charges of bribing public officials, tax evasion and fraud succeed in getting Congress to rein in lobbyists? Can any good really come out of congressional efforts to thwart corruption? The cynics say no. Yet democratic reforms have come out of past scandals. Many pessimists claim that reform is impossible because the United States today is suffering the worst corruption in the history of Congress. Even a cursory look at Congress i

White Ethnics Not Just Innocent Victims in America's Culture Wars

by Mark Naison

Anyone reading David Brooks's column on Samuel Alito's experiences at Princeton ("Losing the Aliotos" NY Times January 12 2006) would get the impression that families like Mr Alioto's were innocent victims of a liberal Kulturkampf in the late 60's which undermined values such as Hard Work, Patriotism and Respect for Authority which were articles of faith in white ethnic neighborhoods. But wha

Does Rumsfeld Remember His Own Vietnam Lessons for Iraq?

by James M. Carter

Despite the Bush administration’s assurances that the United States will prevail in Iraq, the creation of a modern, democratic state is slipping further and further from reach. The violence continues to grow more destructive daily. The number of U.S. soldiers killed topped 2,100 (844 for 2005), while conservative estimates put the number of Iraqi civilian dead at more than 30,000. Most Iraqis either energetically oppose the American presence or do not support it. Charges of waste, misma

In Iraq: Out on Patrol

by Richard F. Miller

At 17:15 hours our five Humvee convoy rolled past Camp Fallujah’s final checkpoint. Gunnery Sergeant Dagenhart, riding shotgun in the third vehicle, radios that all crews may insert—but not cycle—ammo clips into their rifles and pistols. Dagenhart and his driver, 19 year-old L/Cpl John Johnson from Shreveport, Louisiana, immediately place extra clips, flares and stun grenades on the dashboard. These items mutely testify to the unpleasant possibilities that might await this