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SHAFR Opinion

The McChrystal Affair: Pity the Poor Historian

by Michael Hunt

Crossposted from Michael Hunt’s Washington and the World blog.
There is good reason to pity the poor historian, who has been tested especially severely during the recent McChrystal-Obama imbroglio as the eruption of historical parallels and lessons have ranged from the wrong-headed to the off-kilter.
Henry Kissinger is a good example of the wrong-headed. This policy heavyweight, [...]

LGBT Equality and The Limits of Human Rights

by Laura Belmonte

Last October, a bill was introduced in the Ugandan parliament that would make homosexuality punishable by life imprisonment or even death.  The bill also calls for the extradition of Ugandans who engage in homosexual sex in other countries and for criminal penalties for individuals, media, or non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that support lesbian, gay, bisexual, and [...]

Thinking about Remembering

by Molly Wood

I grew up in Richmond, Virginia, and even though I have not lived there for many years, I still visit regularly. I often think that my decision to become a historian stems in part from the stories of my family history told to me by grandparents and other relatives. I learned from my grandmother, for [...]

Germany to Greece: Drop Dead

by William Glenn Gray

Germans have chosen to work; Greeks have chosen leisure. For this reason, Germans are furious with Greece for accumulating an unsustainable debt burden and thereby undermining the solidity of the European currency. But the self-righteous anger in Berlin may itself call into question the political basis of the Euro.

Diplomats Among Warriors

by John Prados

In Afghanistan at the moment (February 2010), U.S. Marines, allied troops, and Afghan government soldiers are embarked on an offensive at a town called Marja in Helmand province. American commander-in-chief General Stanley A. McChrystal here makes the first expression of the strategy that underlies the appeal for reinforcements that led to the Obama administration “surge” [...]

Is Wartime a Time to End Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell?

by Mary Dudziak

As the Obama Administration moves (slowly) toward repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, one argument in opposition is that the nation is at war, and significant changes in the military should not take place during wartime. One response to that point is that all hands are needed during heightened military deployments, and it harms American [...]

Beware Presidents’ Use of History

by John Prados

We are told that history plays as tragedy and repeats as farce. But perhaps that is changing. In the summer of 2007 President George W. Bush invoked the Vietnam analogy to justify an equally or more tragic war in Iraq. And in the West Point speech announcing his new strategy for Afghanistan, President Barack Obama [...]

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American Foreign Relations Since 1600: A Guide to the Literature

SHAFR published a magisterial, two-volume guide to the literature in the history of American foreign relations in 2003, and updated it with an online version beginning in 2007.

Initially compiled by Robert L. Beisner of American University and thirty-two contributing editors, the online Guide now has forty editors under the supervision of Thomas W. Zeiler, of the University of Colorado at Boulder. The Guide contains over 20,000 annotated entries, arranged in 32 chapters.. It serves as an indispensable work for scholars and students interested in any aspect of foreign relations history.

SHAFR members are invited to purchase a copy of this work at members-only prices. Regular members may purchase copies for the special sale price of $50.00 each and student members may purchase copies for $30.00 each. These prices represent substantial savings over the list prices of $95.00 and $65.00, respectively, and the commercial price of $225.00.

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Please click here to access an order form to print and mail in with a check for payment. You must print the form, fill it out, and mail it in with your payment. Please make checks payable to SHAFR.

Comments

Robert L. Beisner, editor
Thomas W. Zeiler

Errors

  1. The annotation for 17:1014 (chapter 17, item 104) should read as follows:

    In a highly publicized work, Beard finds the president vitiating democracy and violating his own pledges when he “maneuvered” the nation into the conflict. For a spirited defense of Beard, see Howard K. Beale, “The Professional Historian: His Theory and His Practice,” Pacific Historical Review 22 (August 1953): 227-55.

Please report any errors discovered in the printed Guide to Thomas W. Zeiler at Thomas.zeiler@colorado.edu.