History

The Conflict Over History 0
- Politics, History
- May 23, 2023
A recent report of the National Assessment of Educational Progress revealed a dramatic fall in history test scores among eighth graders. Given all the discussions and concerns about the health of our democracy, the decline of historical knowledge among young people seems particularly alarming. An ignorance of the nation’s democratic history clearly imperils the ability
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In Mao’s China, They Even Monitored Talking in Your Sleep 1
- Politics, History
- May 18, 2023
When the recently deceased Canadian folk singer Gordon Lightfoot sang, “I heard you talking in your sleep… from your lips there came that secret I was not supposed to know,” he was talking about marital infidelity. Not long after Chairman Mao came to power in China, idealistic college students learned that political fidelity to Mao
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How the Media Became the Pentagon’s Plumbers 1
- Politics, History
- May 11, 2023
Last month New York Times international correspondent David Philipps offered a mea culpa. “I just deleted a tweet that lacked nuance,” the two-time Pulitzer Prize winner wrote. Philipps, who in 2022 received the top award in journalism for his reporting on previously undisclosed US military strikes that killed thousands of civilians in Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan, was
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The Origin of American Exceptionalism 1
- History
- March 17, 2023
Today, saying that America is exceptional has become a controversial statement. With the claim that America is a deeply racist and terrible country, American exceptionalism is lambasted as a myth. But few today know the origins of American exceptionalism and its place as the main storyline of U.S. nationalism. And yet, it’s only by examining
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What Thomas Jefferson Meant by ‘The Pursuit of Happiness’4
- Politics, History
- March 2, 2023
The idea of the “pursuit of happiness” is in our societal DNA. Yet, this “unalienable right,” immortalized in the Declaration of Independence, has often puzzled people. What exactly did Jefferson mean? Most people think of happiness as feeling good, but that is not what Jefferson meant. Pleasure and happiness are not the same. Our happiness
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Why Reparations Make No Sense 14
- Politics, History
- January 13, 2023
Among many tell-tale signs of the tectonic fissures dividing the nation, perhaps the most telling is the call by prominent Democrats and others for reparations. A recent proposal by California governor Gavin Newsom calling for reparation payments of a potential $223,200 per black resident pushes the matter once again to the fore. Reparations refers to
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