One of the saddest parts of growing old is the realization that some of the best and most incisive books you read in your youth have had damn near zero impact on the world. 1988's "That Noble Dream: The ‘Objectivity Question’ and the American Historical Profession" by Peter ...
It took me a while to understand why some of today's leading generals in the war to enforce politically correct speech and behavior codes are Latinas. Jewish organizations were the foundation-builders of PC nonsense, and white feminists and black activists have in many cases one-upped the founders ...
"Moving the goalposts" is a logical fallacy favored by those on the left who are constantly hectoring the rest of us about how we"re not making sufficient progress toward a particular "social justice," "economic justice," or environmental goal. Since the left must be in ...
The 2016 presidential primary season has kicked off with a veritable Rainbow Coalition of prospective candidates. Rubio and Cruz are all-in for the GOP, with Fiorina and Carson likely additions to the field. Add Hillary Clinton to the mix as the Democrat to beat, and perceptive observers can ...
By the time you read this, the Memories Pizza "gay wedding" story will have gone the way of every overhyped, outrage-inducing Internet meme, relegated to the "you"re still talking about this after two weeks?" graveyard of planned obsolescence. The story has completed its arc: ...
I could"ve written this column a week ago, before the National Geographic Channel's "Killing Jesus" had even aired, and still used the same opening sentence: "Killing Jesus killed in the ratings, scoring record numbers for the network, and delivering more viewers than any program in ...
A good historian should be an annoyance. Most people want simple, pat answers to complex historical questions. Lousy historians give the people what they want. A genuinely competent historian can"t do that, even if it means raining on a merry parade or subverting someone else's ...
Of all the people I"ve tussled with in my professional life, Dr. Michael Shermer, bestselling author and professional "skeptic," draws the least amount of sympathy from me. I don"t know what makes me so raw when it comes to Sherm. Maybe it's that I just don"t think he's bright ...
Professor Monroe Freedman of Hofstra University died last week, and the irony is, I wouldn"t have known about it had I not been scouring Google in an attempt to kill a rapidly-spreading phony Internet meme that indirectly pertained to his work. Freedman was a well-known figure, and an ...
Seminal historian Professor Raul Hilberg chose a Maya Angelou PBS tai chi summit about rape and evil to make a shocking claim about Hitler. Do you know how giddy I was to write that? I was giddy because I know I"m the first person in the history of the world to string those words together as ...
