On a mid-winter’s night in April, I parked myself in front of a television set to watch the Boston Red Sox begin their annual exercise in bitter frustration, only to find myself thinking about Colin Powell. The connection will become clear in a moment.The Boston Red Sox began the 2004 baseball

Given the culture of grievance that seems to dominate so much historical writing these days, it is surprising how infrequently the catalogers of complaint see fit to mention the Know-Nothing movement in the United States in the 19th century. Even when the Know-Nothings merit a citation in textbooks,

For a few days in early February, Americans seemed surprised to discover that the entertainment industry peddles raunchy behavior over the public airwaves to a vast and impressionable audience. The Super Bowl halftime debacle, or, more to the point, the outrage the debacle inspired, prompted more th

The hour was early, the morning was grey, and the new year was only days old. It was not a time when one’s powers of concentration are especially keen. But when I heard, or thought I heard, a radio announcer mumble something about job figures for December, I cringed out of sympathy for the poo

Would you take seriously a presidential candidate who wore a baseball cap backwards, who sported a raft of tattoos on various body parts or who used the word “like” more than once in every sentence? No, neither would I. But I am beginning to believe we’re just too old-fashioned for

It is hardly a secret that the American Catholic Church is in the news for reasons other than the wonderful work it does every day in communities across the nation. The church in general and its clergy in particular are suffering terribly from self-inflicted wounds that, regrettably, have served the

A few years ago, the cultural community of New York worked itself into a frenzy when the city’s mayor denounced a piece of art he deemed to be anti-Catholic. The piece in question was a representation of the Virgin Mary covered in elephant dung and decorated with offensive images, designed no

Is there a high school student in the United States who does not know the story of the Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire Thirty years ago the answer would have been obvious and emphatic No The terrible tale of the disaster that took place in a relatively few minutes on March 25 1911 was part of

The headlines seem to herald an imminent return to violence and mayhem. Leaders who have made compromises are denounced as traitors. Diehards insist on living up to their labels. The public fears a return to the terrible days of war. Outside observers warn of a threat to democracy.The Middle East? N

In language that would seem better suited to a ballpark than the White House, President Bush’s administration officials are making it clear that they will tolerate no questions about the president’s use of faulty intelligence to justify the invasion of Iraq. The president’s outgoin