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Embrace the power of “and.”
Indeed.
The Totalitarian Democrat Jerks cannot stand anyone including Donald J. Trump to threaten take away their power. Trump’s successes have driven them completely mad and exposed their fragile tether to reality. So yes they were always Jerks.
They have never ever really been for the little guy or or really even slightly compassionate. That line of crap was just a ploy to suck people in. If you look back over the last fifty years of so many failed Democrat policies, a compassionate person who was really interested in the plight of the poor and working class would have definitely made adjustments to these failed policies to make them work better. Have the Democrats ever done that? Hell No. Except for saying they absolutely need more money and power , the Totalitarian Democrats have never made the pretty obvious adjustments needed to make their policies work. That they refuse to do that exposes them as the real hypocrites and frauds they really are. It always has been for them about gaining total control and power, nothing less.
At bookstores for years, I have picked up, thumbed through, and put back countless “history” books, because they were written with a leftist bias. I love reading history, both academic and popular, but I am getting tired of all the so-called history that is just leftist screed.
I seem to recall her jumping on this train pretty early.
Many historians embraced the questionable Jefferson and Sally Hemings story in 1998 as a way of defending WJC. That was a precursor to the meltdown over Trump. I talked with Barbara Oberg about this at the 1999 Spring American Philosophical Society meeting. She was discrete but the pained look on her face spoke volumes (she’s worked on the collected papers of Jefferson and Franklin).
I have been similarly appalled by statements from Timothy “Bloodlands” Snyder. Yes, the phenomenon you describe is real and it seems to be a product of professional academic peer pressure.
Yes.
At least Robert Caro has kept his own counsel. He was a liberal mugged by the reality of Lyndon Johnson. I hope he lives long enough to finish volume 5. It is interesting to see academics lose their sanity over the crude businessman who is correcting the aimless path of the Administrative State. In World War II, Roosevelt called on them to win the war and they did so with thousands of B24s and Corsairs. Today’s left has lost the wisdom of leftist Franklin Roosevelt.
The more controversial a topic, the more biases influence its discussion.
If a historian does not try to relate his or her history to modern dilemmas, I wouldn’t worry much about a political bent.
Yes, and sometimes they are very adept at hiding their leftist leanings. I try extremely hard to not let my conservatism cloud my judgement; just because a historian is a liberal (ex. Arthur Schlesinger Jr.) that doesn’t necessarily mean that I would not read (and learn from) their works.
That being said, however, I believe that Applebaum and Meacham have forever jumped the shark. If they even attempt any further writing in the field of history it will probably go straight to the bargain bin.
They have not one scintilla of credibility as historians.
Um, yes?
I hope so to. Caro is a brilliant writer.
And what if that is true?
No matter the date that she jumped the shark, her case is clearly one of “In for a dime; In for a dollar”. One of her latest articles in The Atlantic stated:
“When conservatives celebrated Trump’s election 4 years ago, did they know that in 2020 we would board up shops, prepare for riots and the arrival militias, game out ways he might steal the election, protest aggressive vote suppression? This is what he has done to America.”
This is one of those WTF moments that almost takes my breath away. What in the h*ll is she talking about? How many conservatives have been rioting in the last six months?
Applebaum has clearly jumped on the “Projection Train” with both feet. It’s a train that she’ll never be able to get off of.
Well, if you like history that is not slanted left you might buy something by this guy.
They are now exposed, and I don’t mean in the Toobin sense . . .
A few years ago I had a very, very brief correspondence with a historian who studies military history. He seemed like a crazy Leftist to me, but he said that military history is really out of favor at universities. I think I read that there are only about 10 universities that really allow a person to study military history even though about 80% of the history books that sell probably involve military history. Just recently I discovered a podcast with this same military historian who I sort of thought was a cray Leftist. Actually he’s somewhat moderate and from a rather conservative state, and it’s the guy who does the podcast with him who seems to be the crazy, crazy, crazy Leftist.
All of the history professors and other professors I knew in college seemed to be rather far to the Left to me, but many didn’t talk about their political beliefs directly. That always seemed strange to me as I live in one of the most consevative places in the country. The local college no longer has a history department; now it has a Department of History and Anthropology. About 30 years ago, about 100% of the local history professors were men. Now half of them are women. New professors that is — not sex change operations…
President Trump is The Great Clarifier.
How do you know?
I’m not sure about your figure of 10 universities offering degrees in military history but you could be correct. After all, it is vital to our society that we have more folks studying Intersectionality and Queer Studies. (Sarcasm intended.)
So, it’s no surprise that the number of academicians in the field of military history is decreasing. I suspect that many have grown tired of the flaming dumpster fires that our universities have become and have retired and moved on to friendlier confines.
If anyone here at Ricochet is serious about military history, I would recommend a stop at the Michigan War Studies Review. (www.miwsr.com)
He’s contributing to herd immunity like nobody’s business.
with the exception of ‘court packing’?
One further comment about the esteemed historian Jon Meacham (I briefly considered a new post).
https://dailycaller.com/2020/11/10/jon-meacham-msnbc-reacts-joe-biden-speech-secretly-helped-write/
So, there you have it; this Pulitzer Prize winning historian who we have read (Andrew Jackson, Thomas Jefferson) and now we find out that he has been a shameless shill for Joe Biden. Not only does he praise Biden to the skies but comments on how the brilliant his speech was; the speech that he (Meacham) helped write.
You just can’t make this stuff up…