As the 150th anniversary of the Civil War approaches we also anticipate the 75th anniversary of a remarkable transformation in the historiography of the abolition of American slavery In the late 1930s the Works Progress Administration decided to conduct interviews with the last surviving former s
While Thomas Norman DeWolf 8217 s 18-chapter memoir Inheriting the Trade accomplishes an artful merging of historical explication with biography and travelogue not until Chapter 16 does the author 8217 s central thesis emerge Only then when DeWolf informs readers of his own abuse of privilege
An Upside of Dynasty The United States has been well served by dynasties in both parties throughout its history and continues to be. Note the Romneys, the Dodds and the Kennedys. And consider the Udalls. In 1880 David King Udall established a Mormon community in St. Johns, Ariz., where the family se
The withdrawal of former Senator John Edwards from the Democratic primary field following his third-place finish in his native South Carolina deprives the national political debate of an uncommon degree of honesty and intelligence. Early in the campaign, contrary to conventional political practice,