(42 min.) To listen offline, download the mp3 file (right click and save target as)
I’ve been teaching History of the Modern Middle East for many years and researching the issues involved in the Arab-Israeli conflict. This month I taught a course on the Arab-Israeli conflict for CommUniversity. I am making audio recordings of this four-part series [...]
With all of the changing stories mixed with denials of malfeasance being issued by Blagojevich and Burris, let’s bring back the likes of Tammany Hall’s George Washington Plunkitt! It would be refreshing to have direct honesty and the full story from Day One.
Have you heard of Plunkitt (1842-1924)? He served as a state Senator in New York [...]
One of the issues that has been debated regarding the pending Stimulus Plan has been concern over how much the proposed spending would add to an already enlarged federal deficit. This is a legitimate concern especially considering that President Bush and his advisors took what was a surplus federal budget and turned it into a [...]
I recently gave a presentation on the political and historical roots of the financial crisis at Moline Public Library. Doing the research on this issues was very valuable. I arrived at a more balanced perspective that tempered my political views a bit. Here’s a slightly shorter version that I recorded. Please listen and let me [...]
The two most perplexing questions about the economic stimulus package that the Obama administration and Congress are working on are:
Will it work?
Where will the money come from?
It is useful to look at historical precedents. What does history tell us about the results of economic stimulus packages? The earliest example that comes to my mind, though [...]
In my last post, ”Gaza Revisited,” I examined Israel’s dilemmas regarding Hamas in Gaza. To further understand the problems related to Gaza, it helps to explore Egypt’s position.
Mubarak’s Dilemma
Mubarak’s Egypt faces a complicated situation in dealing with Hamas on its border. On the one hand, Egypt faces significant pressure from the Arab world and from its own [...]
Welcome to my new History Behind the News blog. This is a continuation of my Historian on the Move blog. I’ll
continue Historian on the Move with an emphasis on local Quad Cities issues, but History Behind the News will have a broader focus. I’m still learning how to do this, so I appreciate your patience [...]
