Walter Russell Mead really hits the nail on the head, here. He explains that the four older empires, Ottoman, Russian, German, and Austro-Hungarian, were, whatever their weaknesses, “multiethnic and multi confessional states.” After the fall of these empires, all these […]
History
What Kevin Starr Doesn’t Get About Small Towns
I have been enjoying Kevin Starr’s volume in his cultural history series, Golden Dreams: California in an Age of Abundance, 1950-1963. It is a period of which I have some living memory, and I have heard of, or met, in […]
Why June 28, 2014, is a Really Big Anniversary
First of all, it is the 100th anniversary of the assassination of Archduke (i.e., Crown Prince) Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo. This led, of course, to the Great War and a series of wars and cold wars that lasted for much of […]
Spinning the War of 1812
Canadian Blitzkrieg captures Detroit and Chicago! Toronto and Buffalo left in ruins! British intervene on Canadian side and capture Washington D.C.! Sounds like some kind of a fantasy novel, doesn’t it! Well, it actually happened. It was the War of […]
Learning from Francis Fukuyama
I have finished Francis Fukuyama’s magnum opus, The Origins of Political Order, and as you might expect I like the way he cuts across traditional categories. Of course I have read his notorious The End of History and the Last Man, […]
Why There’s Not Much Intellectual Activity in Orange County
My friend asked me to write on why there isn’t much intellectual activity in Orange County. My basic answer is a simple one. First, it isn’t considered healthy. Second, it’s too much like work. Third, it’s not considered character-building. Actually, […]