Departments

;

Cliopatria

  • Apr 14, 2005

    Nationalistic Internationalism

    by Cliopatria

    Prehistory: You could almost write Japan's entire modern history as the drive for respect from the rest of the world. Starting with the unequal treaties of the mid 19th century, and the Meiji era drive to modernize and industrialize -- fukoku kyōhei [Rich Country, Strong Military] was the equation -- culminating in Japan's evolution into a regional power and full-bore Imperialist state. Japan was a member of the Allies in WWI and participated in the Versailles conferences,

  • Apr 14, 2005

    On Terrorism

    by Cliopatria

    Some thoughts on terrorism:

    Eric Rudolph’s recent guilty pleas have reminded me of something that we too often forget: For all of the (absolutely legitimate) concerns about Muslim Fundamentalist terrorism, in the history of the United States the worst terrorists in terms of body counts, number of attacks, or the level of threat they posed to the American ideals of liberty, freedom, democracy and justice have been radically right-wing white men. Rudolph has pled guilty to four bombings, and

  • Apr 14, 2005

    At the Grown Up Table

    by Cliopatria

    The Group of Four vs. the Coffee Club. India vs. Pakistan. Japan vs. China. History vs. Politics. It plays out like a grand opera of broken trusts and rebounded relationships but it is the very realpolitiks surrounding the reform and expansion of the United Nations Security Council. I know that this isn't the sexiest of topics and that the UN is as popular in the States as Kevin Federline is sincere. But, for the rest of the world, it remains a vital organization. So
  • Apr 14, 2005

    Cliopatria Welcomes Paula Petrik and Alan Allport ...

    by Cliopatria

    Cliopatria is pleased to welcome Paula Petrik and Alan Allport to its circle.

    Paula Petrik teaches at George Mason University, where she holds appointments in both History and Art History. A native of Montana, Professor Petrik earned a B.A. at Cornell and an M.F.A. at the University of Montana before finishing her graduate work in American history at SUNY, Binghampton. Thereafter, she taught at Mo

  • Apr 13, 2005

    Elephant in the Room

    by Cliopatria

    Longtime Rebunk reader (and one of my regular sparring partnmers on the comment boards) Chris Pettit has a newish blog that he has put together along with a couple of Professors. Chris and I disagree on much, but we have a serious commitment to Africa in common, and his commitment to human rights and global justice is both serious and deep. I hope you'll all check out Elephant in the Room often. It's pretty darned sharp looking.
  • Apr 13, 2005

    "Sans Everything"

    by Cliopatria

    I don’t read Maureen Dowd regularly, but I may start to do so. This column was well worth it.

    The beginning, a comment on the Baby Boomers resisting age, gives way to reality. This reality she observed by sleeping in her mother’s nursing home room for four weeks. It’s grim, but it’s also a telling picture on how the atmosphere of dying can permeate those not yet there (or at least not obviously so).

    This sent m

  • Apr 13, 2005

    Plagiarism By The History Channel?

    by Cliopatria

    Subscribers to H-Pol yesterday received an interesting message that, if true, will bring to light yet another possible scandal related to the writing of history. Apparently the HistoryChannel.com has been taking pubished encyclopedia entries and reprinting them on the website without attribution, and possibly without permission.

    Details are still fuzzy, but according to Cindy Williams (affiliation unclear) several of her articles for an (unnamed) encyclopedia have appeared verbatim, with

  • Apr 13, 2005

    When Was the Filibuster First Used as a Crude Cudgel?

    by Cliopatria

    Drex Heikes, in the LAT (4-10-05):

    ... As a technique, the filibuster is clever manipulation of what may be imperfect Senate rules. Those rules say members can speak on the floor as long as they want, about any topic they want. The intent was to allow thorough debate. But in 1841, a group of senators twisted the rule into a bludgeon. Rather than lose their battle to scuttle the appointment of official Senate printers, the lawmakers took to the floor with plans to keep speaki

  • Apr 12, 2005

    WTO.edu?

    by Cliopatria

    The most recent Tomorrow's Professor mailing was an excerpt from this book on, well, the title says it all: The Future of Higher Education: Rhetoric, Reality, and the Risks of the Market. Here's the best excerpt from the excerpt [emphasis added]:

    American academics tend to bel
  • Apr 12, 2005

    More Noted Things ...

    by Cliopatria

    History Carnival: Jonathan Dresner will host History Carnival #6 here at Cliopatria on 15 April. Please send your nominations of exemplary history posts that appeared since 1 April to dresner AT hawaii DOT edu.

    A Clue: To whomever was looking for the Cliff Notes to

  • Apr 12, 2005

    God's Wrath

    by Cliopatria

    Having just finished U.S. Grant's memoirs, I have a question. Would it be so bad if presidents nowadays followed the example of Lincoln, Grant and others, who willingly admitted that America has made mistakes and that sometimes we have to pay for our mistakes?

    Americans don't have much of a sense of history. We like to think that we are not hobbled by history. We believe after all that The End of History came in 1776 when we broke away from Old Europe.

    But in the 1
  • Apr 11, 2005

    Bush's Poll Numbers

    by Cliopatria

    Polls are funny things. Rarely do they really say what they purport to say (or what their proponents say that they say), but they also are not meaningless. And as Charlie Alexander at Ohio University was always quick to remind us, polls do not tell us what all people (Americans, or Texans, or baseball fans, or whatever the target demographic is) believe, but rather what the respondents believe. Now I always have felt that good polls should do a decent job of reflecting that larger demographic,
  • Apr 11, 2005

    Remembering Andrea Dworkin

    by Cliopatria

    Andrea Dworkin, the legendary (some would say infamous) feminist writer and activist has died at age 59.  Though she died Friday, word seems only to be spreading today. She is survived by her friend and partner of more than a quarter century, gay activist John Stoltenberg.  (He wrote the splendid Refusing to be a Man.)

    Dworkin was a hell of a writer.

  • Apr 11, 2005

    How Do the Popes Get Their Names?

    by Cliopatria

    Thomas Vinciguerra, in the NYT (4-10-05):

    One perk of being pope is that you can pick your own name. This wasn't always the case. Originally, popes kept their given names, but in 532, when a priest named Mercury assumed the throne, he discarded his pagan name in favor of John II. By the early 11th century, new names were the rule. Marcellus II, elected in 1555, was the last pope to keep his giv

  • Apr 11, 2005

    Why Is Monaco a Country?

    by Cliopatria

    Craig R. Whitney, in the NYT (4-10-05):

    ... Why is it a country? Because, like Luxembourg and Liechtenstein, it is a relic of Medieval Europe that more powerful neighbors allowed to survive. The House of Grimaldi, the clan that seized control of Monaco in 1297, adroitly played Italy, France and Spain against one another over the centuries and remained sovereign - to a degree.

    Tourism and

  • Apr 11, 2005

    Lords of the Rings

    by Cliopatria

    The Red Sox -- Ooops, I mean, the"World Champion Boston Red Sox" -- raise their championship banner and receive their rings today in the Fens. They happen to be playing some team from New York.

    Here is an op-ed in today's Globe.

    My guess is that it will get a little dusty in Casa de Catsam this afternoon.

  • Apr 11, 2005

    Another New Day in South Africa

    by Cliopatria

    The National Party (NP, or Nats) of South Africa is no more. Renamed the “New National Party” in 1997 with hopes of reforming to be viable in light of the new realities in Mandela’s Rainbow Nation of God, the Nats never really could fine a place in multiracial South Africa. On Sunday the party dissolved, but not before giving an apology for apartheid:

    Former party leader (and no

  • Apr 10, 2005

    Spring Thaw

    by Cliopatria

    The ice is melting fast on Rice Lake. At sunset, what was left of the ice near our house was riding the waves or packed up slush on the shoreline. When I was close to the water the sound of the ice on the waves crashing the ice on the shore was like a million bits of crystal chiming.

    It was a short winter, a mild one, too. As someone who was thrilled to move here for the cold and the snow, there’s a bit of sadness to that. However, it is hard to be sad in early April when the we