In today’s world more and more people are beginning to think that doing a deep dive into history is useless, a waste of time. And forget politics — there’s way too much vitriol and hot air floating around that topic to discover anything of value. Still, despite the naysayers, I thought it could be interesting to look at Cold War history and politics from a more personal perspective. In other words, is there anything at all that we can glean from the Cold War that will help us navigate our everyday lives as they play out in today’s world? I came up with several areas right off the bat. Things ..read more

According to the Saudi Embassy website, “Sawm, fasting during the holy month of Ramadan, is the fourth pillar of Islam. Ordained in the Holy Qur’an, the fast is an act of deep personal worship in which Muslims seek a richer perception of God.” The Metropolitan Museum of Art goes on to say : “During the daylight hours of Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, all healthy adult Muslims are required to abstain from food and drink.” As we’re now in the middle of Ramadan (it’s from March 22 – April 20, 2023), it seems like a good time to take another look at Islam, a religion celebrated ..read more

Exodus may be a film that you forgot about a long time ago – or that you haven’t even heard about. If either is the case, you might want to take another look. The film has more socio-political significance than simply the establishment of Israel narrative or its darker and more critical discourse about the horrors of British Colonialism. Not only was it the first film to allow screenwriter Dalton Trumbo to have an actual screen credit after the Hollywood Blacklist, but it was also the first film to actively hire two formerly blacklisted writers. Want to watch Exodus again – or for the first t ..read more

It’s St. Patrick’s Day today and in New York, where I live, everybody is smiling and wearing green.  Since I’m a Finnegan, I’m smiling too. But President Harry S. Truman wasn’t smiling on March 17, 1948, when he spoke before a hastily convened Joint Session of Congress. (The Truman Presidential Library has a copy of the speech. You can read it here.) In his speech, Truman addressed European security and condemned the Soviet Union. He was concerned because Eastern Europe was already subject to the political influence of the Soviets, behind what Prime Minister Churchill of Great Britain ca ..read more

A display celebrating The American Way of Life opened at the American National Exhibition in Moscow in the late summer of 1959, giving Russians their first real taste of the American consumer goods promoted by David Reisman in his parody The Nylon War. Llewelln Thompson, the US ambassador to Russia said the display . . . endeavors to make the Soviet people dissatisfied with the share of the Russian pie which they now receive, and make them realize that the slight improvements projected in their standard of living are only a drop in the bucket compared to what they could and should have. The ..read more

Do you know that today is a special day?  I didn’t. But then my granddaughters sent selfies of the Dr. Seuss costumes they’re wearing to school this morning.  So I looked up Dr. Seuss Day and found that each year, National Read Across America Day is celebrated on March 2nd, the birthday of Dr. Seuss. The annual event is part of Read Across America, an initiative on reading created by the National Education Association.  Across the country, thousands of schools, libraries, and community centers are participating by bringing together kids, teens, and books. In the spirit of Seuss ..read more

Earlier this month we celebrated Valentine’s Day, a holiday when “love is in the air,” spurring spending binges and rampant consumerism. But if you’re on a budget, tough love might actually carry the day. What does this have to do with the Cold War, you might ask. Well, think about the two kinds of POWER and the gap between the type and quantity of consumer goods available in the United States and the Soviet Union during the 1950s and 1960s. In the 1950s, when families in the United States were buying Silly Putty and RCA Victor TVs, textile plants, shoe factories and food‐processing industrie ..read more

Since it’s still winter and there’s a holiday weekend coming up I thought you might have some screen time. So here’s a selection of films centering on Argentina and Chile during their authoritarian periods. The listing is in no particular order. Argentina Argentina, 1985 A recent film about Argentina’s disappeared titled Argentina, 1985 is available for free to those of you who have an Amazon Prime subscription. According to Amazon the film is inspired by the true story of Julio Strassera, Luis Moreno Ocampo and their young legal team of unlikely heroes in their David-vs-Goliath battle to pr ..read more

I don’t spend a lot of time looking back, but this week I’ve been thinking a great deal about my dissertation  which was published almost twenty-five years ago. Triggered by recent headlines detailing a drone strike in the middle of Isfahan, Iran, the royal city of Shah Abbas the Great, I’ve been looking at what I got right, and even more at what I got wrong. In my past research, I examined the unintended spillover effects of Cold War militarism on three cities – Isfahan, Iran; Taipei, Taiwan; and Havana, Cuba – and I concluded that while global forces were definitely in play, after two ..read more

In Brazil, the path to democracy has not been smooth. Here’s a short history, taking us from the European arrival at the end of the 15th century to later periods of authoritarian rule, and then to the present day. Outsiders Claim Sovereignty Over Indigenous Lands When the Europeans arrived, they claimed sovereignty over Indigenous lands. From the 16th to the early 19th century, Brazil was a colony and a part of the Portuguese Empire. (Beginning in 1578, for a brief 50 year period, Portugal lost its independence and Brazil was added to the Spanish Empire. Portugal’s independence was restored i ..read more