Week of April 22, 2013

Up Front

Historians Still Despise George W. Bush David Austin Walsh A new HNN poll shows that the former president remains a failure in the eyes of historians. Tags: George W. Bush, historians, presidential legacies, presidential rankings

On Topic: Boston Marathon Bombing

Murder! Madness! Terror! Walter Laqueur Sports events are supposed to be places of peaceful competition, but terrorists have been targeting games for years. Tags: sports, anarchism, Boston Marathon bombing, terrorism

No, Senator Graham, Domestic Drones are NOT a Good Idea Daniel Martin Varisco “It sure would be nice to have a drone up there...” is a sentiment more fitting for Big Brother than a U.S. senator. Tags: Boston Marathon bombing, drones, gun control, Lindsay Graham

Don't Let the Boston Bombing Roll Back the Rights of Immigrants Elliott Young The U.S. needs to embrace the ethics of universal human rights. Tags: immigration reform, citizenship, human rights, immigrants

The Ideology Behind the Boston Marathon Bombing Timothy R. Furnish Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev may have acted alone, but they drew inspiration from a heady Islamist cocktail. Tags: Boston Marathon bombing, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, Islamism, Tamerlan Tsarnaev

Terror in Boston: It's About Guns, Not Bombs Robert Brent Toplin Would reasonable background checks have prevented the Boston bombing? Tags: Boston Marathon bombing, gun control, guns, terrorism

Historians React to Chaos in Boston Tags: Boston Marathon bombing, historians, Storify, Twitter

On Topic: Chechnya

Who Are The Chechens? Brian Glyn Williams A highland people from the Caucasus are now the focus of America's attention. Tags: Boston Marathon bombing, Chechen history, Chechnya, terrorism

Chechnya: What You Need to Know David R. Stone Since Russia's victory in the Second Chechen War, Chechen terrorism has been motivated less by nationalism and more by jihadism. Tags: Boston Marathon bombing, Chechen Wars, Chechnya, Russia

A Brief History of Chechen Terrorism Thomas R. Mockaitis The 2010 Moscow Metro bombing and the 2011 Moscow airport bombing killed 40 and 37 people, respectively -- and those are just the most recent attacks in Moscow alone. Tags: Chechnya, Chechen terrorism, terrorism, Russia

Russia, Stalin's Crimes, and Genocide Norman M. Naimark In 1944, the Soviet dictator signed orders to deport the entire Chechen nation to Central Asia. Tags: genocide, Joseph Stalin, Russia, Soviet Union

Russia's Forgotten Caucasian Genocide Walt Richmond The Chechens aren't the only Caucasian people with longstanding greviances against Moscow. Tags: Circassia, genocide, Russia, Russian Empire

OAH Annual Meeting

•Real Jobs Outside of Academia for Historians •Republican Feminists: From Margin to Center •Albert Camarillo: Navigating Segregated Life in America's Racial Borderlands •Eric Foner's "Reconstruction" at Twenty-Five •OAH Plenary: Corporations in American Life •OAH Plenary: Freedom Struggles •Research and Publishing in the Digital Age

Highlights from the 2013 OAH Annual Meeting Tags: annual meetings, OAH 2013, San Francisco

Tough Times to Be Lobbying for History on Capitol Hill David Austin Walsh Lee White is fighting the good fight for history in the halls of Congress, but is anybody listening? Tags: budgets, Capitol Hill, Lee White, National Coalition for History

HNN Teacher's Edition: For Grade School

HNN’s Teacher’s Edition is designed to help busy teachers build classes around topics in the news. With just a few minutes preparation, teachers will be able to teach a class on current events, even if they haven't been in a position to follow the news closely.

News at Home

The Senate's Shameful Lack of Courage on Guns Walter G. Moss John F. Kennedy would be embarrassed by the performance of the "world's greatest deliberative body" in the gun control debate. Tags: gun control, guns, John F. Kennedy, U.S. Senate

News Abroad

Filling the Empty Battlefield Tom Engelhardt Jeremy Scahill, blowback reporter. Tags: Boston Marathon bombing, George W. Bush, Jeremy Scahill, war on terror

Arms: That’s Where the Money Goes Lawrence S. Wittner The F-35 alone will cost $1.5 trillion. Tags: arms trade, defense spending, F-35, Pentagon

Why the Brits -- But Not the Yanks -- Quarreled over Thatcher's Finale Gil Troy Presidents tend to be shielded from the level of vitriol shown for Britain's Iron Lady. Tags: Margaret Thatcher, United Kingdom, Ronald Reagan, presidents

History & Historians

"Cities are the Living Embodiments of Past Decisions" Robin Lindley Interview with University of Washington historian Margaret O'Mara on her innovative urban digital history curriculum, designed for undergrads. Tags: digital humanities, Margaret O'Mara, Seattle, urban history

Books

Review of Alex Sayf Cummings's Democracy of Sound Jim Cullen Making a usable history of music copyright. Tags: Alex Sayf Cummings, bootlegging, copyright, Democracy of Sound

Review of Richard Rashke's Useful Enemies Murray Polner How the U.S. gave a free pass to all too many Nazi war criminals. Tags: CIA, Nazis, Richard Rashke, war criminals