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HNN Rundowns

Week of May 27, 2013


News at Home

The Ten Biggest Economic Policy Mistakes from the Depression to the Recession
Iwan Morgan
FDR, Ike, LBJ, Nixon, Carter, Reagan -- they all made bad economic calls.
Tags: economic history, Great Depression, Great Recession, policy
Is Colorado's Institution for the Homeless Willowbrook Redux?
Alison Bateman-House
Colorado should remember New York's Willowbrook State School, an institution for the mentally handicapped that became a hellhole.
Tags: Willowbrook, mental health, medicine, homelessness
The Right to Privacy
Steve Hochstadt
No man is an island -- certainly not anymore.
Tags: privacy, rights, Facebook, Big Data

News Abroad

How We Name Our Wars Matters
Andrew J. Bacevich
From the Civil War/War of Northern Aggression to The Long War/War for the Greater Middle East, the names of our wars determine how we perceive them.
Tags: etymology, TomDispatch, war on terror, wars
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Obama's Terrorism Speech
Juan Cole
Obama recognizes the dangers of perpetual war, but he's still committed to waging it.
Tags: Barack Obama, war on terror, drones, National Defense University
Women and the Language of Peace Protest
Ruth Rosen
Women once protested wars as mothers. Now women protest wars as people.
Tags: gender, peace movement, women, women's rights
Efrain Rios Montt Will Still Face Justice -- and So Should Henry Kissinger
Van Gosse
Justice for all victims of genocide and war crimes.
Tags: genocide, Guatemala, Henry Kissinger, war crimes

Historians & History

America's First Political Dirty Trick
Harold Holzer
New York Democrats smeared the GOP with charges of "miscegenation."
Tags: 1864, Abraham Lincoln, Civil War, dirty tricks,
Why Students Should Stop Interviewing Vietnam Veterans
Jerry Lembcke
The actual war experience of many vets is negligible.
Tags: myths, peace movement, veterans, Vietnam
The Brutal War on Vietnamese Civilians: Interview with Nick Turse
Robin Lindley
Historian and author Nick Turse talks about his study of U.S. atrocities in Vietnam
Tags: atrocities, Nick Turse, Vietnam War, war crimes
Meet Richard Whitney, Wall Street's 1930s Version of Bernie Madoff
Malcolm Mackay
Whitney's million-dollar fraud put him in Sing-Sing.
Tags: Bernie Madoff, fraud, Richard Whitney, Wall Street
Military History in the Spotlight at Oregon State
Steven McLain
Highlights from the launch of the Oxford Encyclopedia of Military and Diplomatic History.
Tags: Christopher McKnight Nichols, military history, Oregon State University, Oxford University Press
Remembering Elbert B. Smith
Senator Tom Harkin
Iowa's junior senator pays tribute to the historian who inspired him to go into politics.
Tags: E.B. Smith, Iowa, Iowa State University, Tom Harkin

Culture Watch

Hooray for Bollywood
Bruce Chadwick
Bunny Berman Presents is a winning look at Indian movie-making magic from the 1950s.
Tags: Bollywood, Bunny Berman Presents, plays, theater reviews
The Great Gatsby's Historical Razzle-Dazzle
Bruce Chadwick.
Go see it, old sport.
Tags: The Great Gatsby, films, movies, movie reviews

Books

Review of Jeffrey Selingo's College(Un)Bound
Jim Cullen
Enthusiasm for MOOCs meets silence on for-profit institutions.
Tags: Jeffrey Selingo, higher education, MOOCs, college