Like a lot of you, I'm struggling a lot with what to do and say in this moment marked by the administration's ostentatiously immoral immigration policies. I hit a breaking point when I saw in passing a post from someone I was, until yesterday, connected to on social media. I'm putting my words here (with … Continue reading Of Camps and Kids in Cages
Reading Gorbachev
Over the last couple of weeks, I have read William Taubman's Gorbachev, the first full-scale, authoritative biography of the last leader of the Soviet Union. This is not meant to be a full scale review, but rather a first set of impressions as I continue to mull it over. I'm struck, in brief, by two themes … Continue reading Reading Gorbachev
Current Readings on May 8 – Gessen on US Diplomacy
With the close of the spring semester upon us, I'd like to write about what I'm reading that's related to the topics of this site. Today, that topic is American policy toward Russia. This article in the NYT Magazine, "The Quiet Americans behind the US–Russia Imbroglio," by Kieth Gessen, gets at a number of issues that, … Continue reading Current Readings on May 8 – Gessen on US Diplomacy
600 Million
This evening, I listened to an interview with Daniel Ellsburg, who released the Pentagon Papers in 1971. He is currently promoting a book, The Doomsday Machine, about nuclear weapons, including his time as a planner of nuclear strategy in the 1950s and 1960s. Among other topics Ellsburg addresses in the interview, he recalls an incident from 1961. … Continue reading 600 Million
Farmers in Crisis (No, Not in the Soviet Union)
Among my morning scan of the depressing, depressing news of the world, I came across this piece in The Guardian: "Why Are America's Farmers Killing Themselves in Record Numbers?" In a way, this is not a new story. As the article notes, the farm crisis of the 1980s, which brought us Farm Aid and other … Continue reading Farmers in Crisis (No, Not in the Soviet Union)
Reform Impossible?
On Twitter, I've seen several replies to Keith Gessen's response to William Taubman's new biography of Mikhail Gorbachev. I'm writing this having not yet read the book, although I think now I'll have to add it to the to-do list. The passage I want to respond to—and about which I think Gessen does a good job … Continue reading Reform Impossible?
A Question: Narrating the Soviet Union
In conversations this week with fellow historians, I have returned often to the question of why public knowledge of the Soviet Union is so limited, and interpretations so traditional and conservative. For evidence of the fact, we need look no further than the Applebaum commentary I wrote about last week. I know that fantastic historians … Continue reading A Question: Narrating the Soviet Union
The Russian Revolution Was Not the Material for Your Modern Day Morality Play
Given that this is the centenary of Russia's October Revolution, I am not at all surprised that the internet, including mainstream outlets like the Washington Post, is full of reflections on those events. Many of them are thoughtful and offer considered evaluations of the revolution and its legacies. This one is not one of them. … Continue reading The Russian Revolution Was Not the Material for Your Modern Day Morality Play
Getting Better All the Time
I can't say I've read much that Drew Magary has written recently, especially since I gave up the NFL a couple of years ago. (Okay, still get some joy out of his annual takedown of the Williams–Sonoma holiday catalog.) But over at Lawyers Guns & Money, they flagged the preamble to his NFL preview for … Continue reading Getting Better All the Time
Today from the Leftists at the New Yorker
This story, The Family That Built the Empire of Pain, which recently appeared in the New Yorker, was recommended by a friend the other day. The New Yorker does print good stuff, even if it's often interspersed with coastal provincialism and cultural preconceptions. This is one case of the good, even if there is a little … Continue reading Today from the Leftists at the New Yorker
Aaron Hale-Dorrell 