As we transition from American History November to Holiday Gift-giving December, we are sharing a series of previews of Andrew Jackson O’Shaughnessy’s profiles of the British leaders during the American Revolution from The Men Who Lost America, beginning with King George III. Each profile looks carefully at the myths that have develop around each
Follow @yaleSCIbooks Zygmunt J. B. Plater— It has been called The Most Extreme Environmental Case Ever, the two-inch long “snail darter” endangered fish “mis-used” by radical environmentalists to block completion of “a huge hydroelectric dam” in Tennessee. The snail darter is still today referenced as an example of extreme leftist
Follow @yaleARTbooks John J. Curley— With his assassination fifty years ago, President Kennedy became the Cold War’s most famous victim. Befitting the conflict’s secret ruses and double agents, the assassination was, from the start, rife with proliferating conspiracy theories. It is in this context of interpretative fancy that we must
50 years ago today, Leonard Bernstein gave a speech at the “Night of Stars” memorial to President Kennedy at Madison Square Garden. In mourning the loss of this beloved President, Bernstein honored Kennedy’s support of the arts and called upon his fellow artists to strive for new artistic heights in
Currently on view at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth, Texas is Hotel Texas, a moving exhibition that reunites a selection of artworks that were last assembled 50 years ago, in the Hotel Texas in Fort Worth. Including works by such artists as Monet, Picasso, and van Gogh, An Art
Follow @yaleARTbooks Rebecca Levinsky— A Great Crowd Had Gathered: JFK in the 1960s, on view at the Yale University Art Gallery, captures the essence of Kennedy’s life in the public sphere and the effects of his assassination on the American public. The exhibition space itself creates a somber mood. The
Stein Ringen, author of the recently published Nation of Devils: Democratic Leadership and the Problem of Obedience, writes here on the current state of American democracy in light of the recent shutdown, financial concerns driving policy, and the possible erosion of the government into “soft despotism.” His book addresses one of the primary
“The subsequent failures in Iraq shouldn’t take away from what American troops accomplished during what may well be the biggest comeback ever in a guerrilla war….Mansoor provides the definitive account of how it was accomplished…Mansoor is superbly positioned to tell the story, not only because of his academic training but
Follow @yaleARTbooks Today is Veteran’s Day in the United States, on which day we honor all of those who have served our nation in armed service. It is also Armistice Day and Remembrance Day, which recognize the end of World War I. A visually and emotionally powerful monument to war
By Steve Wasserman Among the first books I’ve acquired for Yale University Press, just now being published, is a valentine to my late and beloved Susan Sontag. For decades, she was something of an Auntie Mame figure for me. We spent years haunting used bookstores in Berkeley, Los Angeles, and
