Over the Thanksgiving holiday, I heard the term “Third World” quite a lot. I think this is one of those expressions that needs to be erased from our vocabulary, since there is only one world, and all countries belong to it. Using that term promotes discrimination and disdain toward people living in countries with fewer … Continue reading “Third World” Is Outdated—and Dangerous: It’s Time to Change How We Speak
Tag: History
Reforming American Democracy
Last night, I finished reading the book Tyranny of the Minority by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt. It’s an excellent book that provides not just good background information about what is currently going on politically in the United States, but also a list of actions the authors propose to improve our Constitution and strengthen our … Continue reading Reforming American Democracy
Judging the Judges
“A good judge must not be a young person but an old one, who has learned late in life what injustice is like and who has become aware of it not as something at home in his own soul, but as something alien and present in others, someone who, after a long time, has recognized … Continue reading Judging the Judges
Book Review: John Adams
Photo by Edward Ortiz It really gives me a lot of joy when I start reading a book to learn about a particular subject and discover something I wasn’t expecting. That is exactly what happened with the biography of John Adams written by Page Smith. I’m setting a goal to read the biographies of the … Continue reading Book Review: John Adams
Rewriting the Past: The Threat of Historical Denial
Why people want to refute historical events that have been validated by eyewitness accounts and studied deeply by reputable historians and scholars is beyond comprehension. It is either an attempt to seriously influence people in order to do something nefarious, or just to create controversy to get more clicks on their websites and generate income. … Continue reading Rewriting the Past: The Threat of Historical Denial
Book Review: Democracy In America
Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville was a heavy read, to put it mildly. Tocqueville visited the United States in 1831 to study the country. Initially, his focus was the prison system, but his study expanded to include the government structure and the socio-economic conditions of the country. Once he completed his research, he … Continue reading Book Review: Democracy In America
Rockin’ Thursday LXVII
Today is Juneteenth, a day that commemorates the end of slavery in the United States. The holiday's name, first used in the 1890s, is a portmanteau of the words June and nineteenth, referring to June 19, 1865, the day Major General Gordon Granger ordered the final enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation in Texas at the end of the … Continue reading Rockin’ Thursday LXVII
Book Review: The Forgotten Americans
For the past 20 months or so, I have read several books focused on the subject of marginalized citizens. This interest partly comes from my desire to understand how social scientists, political theorists, and historians perceive our current problems and the solutions they propose. Books such as Poverty, By America, Evicted, There Is Nothing for … Continue reading Book Review: The Forgotten Americans
Veterans Day Reflections
Today is Veterans Day, an annual observance honoring military veterans of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of three commemorations observed in the U.S., the other two being Memorial Day, which specifically honors those who have died in military service, and Armed Forces Day, which honors those currently serving in the U.S. military. … Continue reading Veterans Day Reflections
Book Review: You Will Not Have My Hate
Over the weekend, I read You Will Not Have My Hate, a memoir by Antoine Leiris. The book, translated from French by Sam Taylor, was recommended by the Secret Library Book Blog, and it’s the most emotional book I have read so far in my life. Knowing the background of the events that led to … Continue reading Book Review: You Will Not Have My Hate
Thoughts about leadership, history, and more 