Category Archives: Uncategorized
Hugh Hefner, Cultural Rebel
Hef was as much a cultural revolutionary as America could produce at mid-century. Began Playboy right after the Kinsey studies were published, while McCarthyism was in full swing. Got called a “Communist” for undermining American morals, “weakening” American society against … Continue reading
Ken Burns’s War Stories
[Original version at History News Network, 21 September 2017] I began my first book on Vietnam (Masters of War) with a poem, Adrian Mitchell’s “To Whom It May Concern”: You put your bombers in, you put your conscience out. You … Continue reading
Vietnam: The Commodity
(Talk given at Blaffer Gallery, University of Houston, for The Propeller Group exhibit, 13 September 2017) I’m not an artist nor an art historian, yet art is necessary to any reasonable and meaningful examination of the past. The way people … Continue reading
Cuba, Race, and African Liberation
Twenty-six years ago, on May 25th, 1991, the last Cuban troops left Angola. Beginning in 1975-76, Cuban forces (eventually numbering around 350,000) entered Angola in support of the the ANC’s struggle against apartheid and, more specifically, to support the … Continue reading
Rope-a-Dope Trump (Don’t Get Rid of Him)
If you’re a fan of the Sweet Science, or were alive in the 1970s, or even just heard of Muhammad Ali, then you’re familiar with “The Rumble in the Jungle,” his epic bout against then-Heavyweight Champ George Foreman in Kinshasa, … Continue reading
Does Russia Matter?
Memes aren’t great ways to learn a lot about history or politics, though they’re used that way a lot. Still, some are funny and make a good point in a few lines in a way that might take paragraphs otherwise. … Continue reading
Blows Against the Empire (San Francisco, 17 March 2017)
“Many people think it impossible for guerrillas to exist for long in the enemy’s rear. Such a belief reveals lack of comprehension of the relationship that should exist between the people and the troops. The former may be likened to … Continue reading
