Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States aspired to be a full-spectrum telling of American history as one long sordid tale of oppression and the resistance to it. Dedicated to a merciless critique of all authority and power, the book extolled and romanticized the victims, . . . . Continue Reading »
Does anyone believe in astrology anymore? Is there anyone who still really thinks that our destinies are written in the sky? The answer is probably no. Maybe there’s some ancient black-clad Armenian peasant woman consulting an almanac every time she crosses the street—but for everyone else, . . . . Continue Reading »
It is tempting to think of Las Casas as a voice crying in the wilderness, but in fact his campaign of denunciation brought him worldly success and the favor of the establishment. Continue Reading »
Alienation and Freedom by frantz fanon edited by jean khalfa and robert j. c. young translated by steven corcoran bloomsbury academic, 816 pages, $29.95 In the ferment of the present moment, with its surging floods of migrants and its ostensibly gratuitous but historically . . . . Continue Reading »
Continental Ambitions: Roman Catholics in North America by kevin starr ignatius, 675 pages, $34.95 In The Good Shepherd, the 2006 spy film, mobster Joseph Palmi asks CIA agent (and stereotypical WASP) Edward Wilson an insolent question: “We Italians, we got our families . . . . Continue Reading »
Congress has created the Christopher Columbus Quincentenary Jubilee Commission. To date, twenty-two states have established similar commissions to coordinate a wide range of activities celebrating the discovery of America. The National Council of Churches (NCC) is having none of it. In May the . . . . Continue Reading »