The blessings and burdens of being chosen The Chosen Peoples: America, Israel, and the Ordeals of Divine Election, by Todd Gitlin and Liel Leibovitz. Simon & Schuster, 2010. $26.00, 250 pp. In a speech marking the 60th anniversary of Israel’s statehood, President Bush said that Israelis are a “chosen people” who can forever count on … Read more
How traditional liberalism gave way to corporate power The Death of the Liberal Class, by Chris Hedges. Nation Books, 2010. $24.95, 248 pp. The ongoing recession, two interminable wars, and mounting populist rage are all symptoms of a systemic problem. So argues Christopher Hedges, a self-identified socialist and a former war correspondent for the New … Read more
The Tea Party and its uses of American history The Whites of Their Eyes: The Tea Party’s Revolution and the Battle over American History, by Jill Lepore. Princeton University Press, 2010. $19.95, 224 pp. In April 2009, Bill O’Reilly asked Sarah Palin on national television, “Why do you think America is a Christian nation?” For … Read more
The blessings and burdens of being chosen The Chosen Peoples: America, Israel, and the Ordeals of Divine Election, by Todd Gitlin and Liel Leibovitz. Simon & Schuster, 2010. $26.00, 250 pp. In a speech marking the 60th anniversary of Israel’s statehood, President Bush said that Israelis are a “chosen people” who can forever count on … Read more
Historians weigh in on the Bush presidency The Presidency of George W. Bush: A First Historical Assessment, edited by Julian E. Zelizer. Princeton University Press, 2010. $29.95, 386 pp. When Bob Woodward asked George W. Bush how history will judge the Iraq War, Bush replied with a shrug, “History, we don’t know. We’ll all be … Read more
Julian Assange, the editor of WikiLeaks, has irrevocably changed the course of international affairs for the rest of our lifetimes, if not for generations to come – and not for the better. Recently, the New York Times, along with four other international news outlets, published details of leaked U.S. government documents obtained by the WikiLeaks … Read more
David Brook’s column on Wikileaks is a pretty good example of how the mainstream press has misread the organization’s intentions. Brooks concludes that Wikileaks will “damage the global conversation” of diplomats: The WikiLeaks dump will probably damage the global conversation. Nations will be less likely to share with the United States. Agencies will be tempted … Read more
2010 has been a banner year for WikiLeaks. Although the organization was relatively well known before this year for its leaks regarding police killings in Kenya, WikiLeaks took center stage in the international spotlight with its release of 92,000 Afghan war documents, 400,000 documents on the Iraqi war, and the recent release of 250,000 documents … Read more
By strange designs of fate and family, the two places I’ve flown to most are southern California and Israel. And although the two occupy dramatically different places in the average American’s cultural inventory, I always find myself grouping them together. After all, they share what my home state in the American Northeast lacks: a beautiful … Read more
Egyptian president’s desire to remain in power complicates the succession process Since assuming power after Anwar El-Sadat’s assassination in 1981, President Hosni Mubarak, 82, has ruled Egypt unrelentingly. However, questions regarding his health have arisen following gallbladder surgery performed in March. Still, the president recently announced that he would run for a sixth six-year term … Read more