Privatizing History

The following article appeared in The Huffington Post in June 2015.

Not long ago, I asked a 16-year-old cousin if she liked studying history in high school. “I don’t do history,” she replied with a shrug.

She’s not atypical. Many of our young people are ignorant of basic historical facts – as in, they don’t know who won the Civil War. And they don’t seem to care too much about that.

But I wonder: so what, if our kids know little about the past? Does history really matter anymore?

The answer isn’t so obvious.

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Despite Its Flaws, I Still Believe in NATO

The following blog was originally published in The Huffington Post in the spring of 2015.

Many people are deeply skeptical of NATO, and it’s not hard to understand why.

It’s not the kind of place that inspires awe. The antiquated Headquarters in Belgium resemble less a political-military nerve center than a high-end trailer park. A British observer is said to have called it a ‘Soviet discotheque’. A hideous sculpture in front has long been compared to the Death Star. Indeed, the overall impression is not that it’s a redoubt for the Rebel Alliance, but a lair for Darth Maul.

But this isn’t just a problem of perception.

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