Syrian President Bashar al-Asad has recently become the subject of intense international scrutiny. The United Nations probe into the assassination of Lebanese Premier Rafik al-Hariri has stepped up its investigation of the Syrian regime in recent weeks, after the former Syrian vice president, in an interview on al-‘Arabiyya television, claimed
This day marks the 300th anniversary of the birth of Benjamin Franklin. Franklin is perhaps the most remarkable figure in American history: the greatest statesman of his age, he played a pivotal role in the formation of the American republic. He was also a pioneering scientist, a bestselling author, the
Back when spies were spies, they spied by the rules—with the exception perhaps of those who did their spying for totalitarian regimes. The Constitution of the Soviet Union, for example, guaranteed the privacy of correspondence, but the government still read people’s private mail. By the end of the twentieth century,
Listen to Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson discuss Off Center on Fresh Air with Terry Gross.
“This collection is a history junkie’s delight,” raves Publisher’s Weekly in its review of My Dear Mr. Stalin: The Complete Correspondence Between Franklin D. Roosevelt and Joseph V. Stalin. The book is the first publication that contains the more than three hundred hot-war messages exchanged between FDR and Stalin from
By the slimmest of margins, the House of Representatives approved a budget plan today that will cut $50 billion dollars in spending for poverty, education, and farm programs over the next five years. Included are broad cuts to Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, food stamps, and student