Новости за 03.06.2018

“Historians in every field have to make the conventional leap into the minds of people in the past, who by definition were unlike ourselves, but historians working on Africa, by definition trained in modern institutions of higher education and communicating through scholarly networks composed of the abstractions of modernity, must take an additional leap into an experiential world that they have been trained since childhood to ignore, or marginalize. One proceeds with confidence only at one’s... Читать дальше...

On Memorial Day seventy years ago President Harry Truman proclaimed a prayer for peace to honor Americans who gave their lives in war. He said, "From the sacred memory of beloved friends and relatives who were sacrificed in the ordeal of battle, we may derive inspiration for renewed prayers and redoubled exertions in a mighty striving for peace."

We measure time by generations, are shaped by when we were born, are carried by the currents that take us, without consultation. The news, which is coming at us so fast these days, is relentless. It’s worth stepping back to find our bearings if we can. 

On November 9th 1983, the leadership of the Soviet Union nearly ordered a full pre-emptive nuclear strike against the US and Western Europe. The entire Soviet nuclear arsenal was readied. Huge SS-19 intercontinental ballistic missiles in their silos were put on standby. SS-20 mobile missile launchers deployed to their battle stations in the forests and swamps of Russia. Nuclear submarines slipped out of port and took up their launch positions. In East Germany and Poland, aircraft went onto strip-alert with their engines on... Читать дальше...

"The American's Creed" - By Peetlesnumber1 - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0

This piece is dedicated to Senator John McCain.

I can’t quite decide whether to offer the famous AMERICAN’S CREED at the beginning or at the end—or perhaps off to the side. Once offered, it somehow seems unlikely that readers will be warm to reading what I have managed to say on the subject, you see. Still; here it is, all 100 words:

I believe in the United States of America as a government of the people, by the people... Читать дальше...

Surname: Schneiderman. Jewish. Raised in New York City. Progressive politician. Ally to women. Ally to working people. Ally to immigrants and people of color. Enemy of sexual harassment and assault. Fiery public speaker. Friend to members of New York’s political dynasties. Advocate for higher minimum wages and improved working conditions. New York State officeholder. 

Trump examines border wall prototypes

In both its title and chorus, Florence Reece’s classic labor song of 1931 asked its audience the only pertinent political question in times of civil duress: “Which side are you on?” Repeated in covers by Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Billy Bragg, and other folk singers conversant in the traditional music of the union movement, Reece’s lyrics present a simple yet steadfast choice – you can either be on the right side, or the wrong. 

In more normal times such Manichaeism is looked at askance. Читать дальше...

More than six months after its release, the epic documentary The Vietnam Warby Ken Burns and Lynn Novick continues to elicit strong reactions. Mark Moyar, of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, DC, recently lambasted the filmmakers for depicting a war that was “unjust, unnecessary, and unwinnable.”

Members of the San Francisco 49ers kneeling during the National Anthem before a game, By Keith Allison from Hanover, MD, CC BY-SA 2.0

"We have people coming into the country—or trying to come in, we're stopping a lot of them—but we're taking people out of the country, you wouldn't believe how bad these people are. These aren't people. These are animals." – Donald Trump, May 16, 2018

Haj Amin al-Husseini meeting with Adolf Hitler (28 November 1941). By Bundesarchiv, Bild 146-1987-004-09A / Heinrich Hoffmann / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 de

Reagan and Gorbachev ratifying the INF Treaty

Recent news reports have presented new evidence that the Russian military provided the missile that shot down a Malaysian airliner over eastern Ukraine in 2014 and new details about the violent clash between Russian mercenaries and U.S. soldiers in eastern Syria in February this year. Those stories highlight how the “new cold war” has become as dangerous as the old Cold War was in 1983, when a Soviet fighter pilot shot down a Korean airliner... Читать дальше...

Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election and possible collusion with Donald Trump's campaign has just entered its second year. It has resulted in criminal indictments of several individuals and Russian companies and a number of other actions. 

For decades, Rabbi Yotav Eliach, esteemed principal of Rambam Mesivta High Schoolin Long Island, has accumulated his teachings, writings, and those of many other scholars and rabbinical authorities, tracking the history of Israel. His mission was not just to chronicle the dispossession and repossession of a people, as Walter Laqueur did in A History of Zionism, but to go beyond. Rabbi Eliach completes the circle and ties in the religious component— spiritual Judaism itself. The result is a massive and incisive tome... Читать дальше...

Over the course of his presidency, Jewish Americans overwhelmingly supported Franklin Roosevelt, voting for him with wide majorities of over 80% in each of his four elections. They turned to him, as did most Americans, to pull the country out of the Great Depression, to keep America safe, and after December 1941, to fight the war against Germany and Japan. They also supported Roosevelt, in part, because he was the only major Presidential candidate who was friendly with prominent American Jews... Читать дальше...

What girl in America today has not had her parents try to get her to boot her boyfriend, who she loves and they hate, and marry the guy they adore, who is so perfect in every way?

Stephen Aron, PhD. Is Professor and the Robert N. Burr Department Chair of the Department of History at the University of California, Los Angeles. He also served for twelve years as the founding executive director and then chair of the Institute for the Study of the American West at the Autry Museum in Los Angeles. He is the immediate past president of the Western History Association and the author of numerous articles and books, which include The American West: A Very Short Introduction(Oxford University Press); American Confluence... Читать дальше...

Since the 1980’s, a medical procedure called deep brain stimulation (DBS) has been an established and successful treatment for control of movement disorders such as Parkinson’s disease, essential tremor, and dystonia. The technology has, in many cases, relieved tremors and other symptoms that are otherwise intractable.

Related Link “We Used to Think Only Other Countries Suffered Crises of Political Legitimacy” By Richard F. Miller

Photo by By Lisa Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0

Medicine is missing something fundamental today, doctors and patients agree. While we know more about the human body than ever before, treatment and research are increasingly driven by cost and efficiency and less by the time-honored tradition of medical art. The most popular way of addressing such issues has been to teach courses in the medical humanities—almost every elite medical school has them. One of the field’s most enduring and central claims... Читать дальше...

For more than fifty years the National Rifle Association (NRA) has dominated gun control debates. Outside of the Brady Act (which ultimately expired), it has successfully stymied most gun control efforts. 

More than a few people thought Patrick J. Mogan was crazy when, during the 1960s, he proposed the creation of a national park in Lowell, Massachusetts—then one of the most depressed cities in America. A national park in Lowell? Please. Nothing there resembled Independence Hall or the Statue of Liberty, and there were no battles or presidents to commemorate in such a seemingly undistinguished factory town.

The summit between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un comes near the anniversary of one of President John F. Kennedy's most famous speeches.  JFK, in a 1963 commencement address at American University, proposed to the Soviet Union ending nuclear weapons testing. 

Related Link The North Korean Nuclear Crisis in History (Interviews with Mitch Lerner and David Fields)

HNN Topics:  What's being said on social media and elsewhere 

• Trump's First State of the Union Address 1/30/18
• Mueller Investigation
• JFK Files
• Statues Debate
• Vietnam War Documentary by Ken Burns & Lynn Novick
• 9-11
• Columbus Day
• Books
• Arts
• Women in the News
• Black History
• Gun Violence
• Impeachment
• Peace Talks in Korea
• Trump Nixes Iran Deal: What Historians Are Saying

This... Читать дальше...