I’ve posted a nine-part mini-course on immigration to my Substack. “Anti-Immigrant Sentiment Is Historic. And ignorant, against U.S. interests. Can we break with the past?” is part one, which has been e-mailed to subscribers. Click. Part two, “Mexican Border ‘Crisis’: Wedge Issue in Election?” was mailed to all subscribers two days later. It begins: Donald... Continue Reading →
This post went viral on Substack: If NATO existed in 1914 and 1939 — if European nations, Britain, and the U.S. abided by a collective security agreement that an attack on one of them would be an attack on all of them -- World War I and World War II would not have occurred, President... Continue Reading →
This post went viral on Substack: March is Women’s History Month, which was first proclaimed by Congress in 1987. Before that, there was little recognition of the contribution women made to either world history or American history. I’ve been musing on what I learned or didn’t learn, of women’s history in U.S. public schools of... Continue Reading →
My dear mother-in-law, Carol Holliday, died in February at age 101 in nearby Pittsboro Hospice after a brief illness, as she listened to Frank Sinatra. At the hospital, we asked if she recognized the music, “My way. My way. My way,” she whispered. She embodied the aspirations of a generation of women: belle of the ball, queen... Continue Reading →
In five Southern states — Texas, Tennessee, Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi — Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s birthday is still celebrated alongside Martin Luther King’s birthday. Donald Trump's remarks that the Civil War could have been avoided by negotiation and Nikki Haley’s statement neglecting to mention slavery as the chief cause of the conflict have been widely condemned in mainstream... Continue Reading →
Sandra Day O’Connor (1930-2023), the first woman nominated to the Supreme Court (by President Ronald Reagan in 1981 — she served until 2006 —died at the age of 93. The retrospectives are pouring in. She empowered generations of women, President Biden said. Chief Justice John Roberts observed that she had no example to follow and still... Continue Reading →
good news. Jack Smith, prosecutor in the election interference case, has asked the Supreme Court to rule on whether President Trump is above the law and somehow immune from prosecution. (See the Vanity Fair article, “Jack Smith’s Secret Weapon”). MSNBC is reporting that Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh nearly three decades ago wrote a 30+ page opinion that the... Continue Reading →
rocketed to bestseller lists. Her initial book tour included at least a dozen stops and was absolutely packed with fans. Many events were recorded and posted on YouTube. They seem fresh and authentic conversations, not contrived, nor like a hack sticking to a script of talking points. These enthusiastic gatherings suggest she has an almost... Continue Reading →
mostly from his saltwater farmhouse in North Brooklin, Maine. When The New Yorker was founded in 1925, he submitted manuscripts to it, and the literary editor, Katharine Angell, was impressed. She urged publisher Harold Ross to hire White, but it took months for White, a shy man, to come into the office, finally agreeing to do so only on Thursdays. He... Continue Reading →
The generation that graduated high school in the late 1960s or early 1970s has now reached retirement age. Many have attended their 50th reunions, and have begun to recall what the culture was like then, different from and similar to now. As members of the Baby Boom generation, they were the first to desegregate or... Continue Reading →
Jim Buie 