Jascha Kessler The assumption that “contemporary history” is also manifested in “contemporary literature” is one of those notions with a long tradition. It can be traced back in critical discourse to Aristotle’s Poetics, in which he remarked that poetry is superior to history. The metaphysical problem underlying historical writing was already present in Plato’s The Sophist: where it is asked whether “history,” a narrative...

Joseph Wagner The U.S. is currently engaged in a landmark debate over what role government should play in confronting our economic crisis and in shaping the future. Too much of the discourse by politicians and pundits seem woefully ill-informed about the historical record and is tragically misguided about Democratic and Republican policies. The charts below contrast the economic policies of Republican and Democratic Presidents since World...

(A supplement to her poem I Want To Make You Safe) “The costs – a few billion dollars a month plus a few dozen American fatalities (a figure which will probably diminish, and which is in any case comparable to the number of US motorcyclists killed because of repealed helmet laws) – are negligible compared to $30 trillion in oil wealth, assured American geopolitical supremacy and cheap gas for voters. In terms of...

by Ben Evans