American Civilization

I wanted to wish all of you good luck with your exams this week. I imagine it’s a very stressful time. Just remember that it’s almost vacation! My students had exams last week; Friday was their last day of school. My last work day was today. So, now I’m on vacation. Later this month I’ll […]

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  A good friend and colleague is going to Paris next week for the very first time.  He wants me to give him a list of 10 things he shouldn’t miss.  I’m stuck.  There are too many places in Paris he shouldn’t miss.  What would you recommend? If you could post your suggestions here, I’d […]

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When I think of the assassination of Robert Fitzgerald Kennedy, I always wonder what might have happened in this country if he’d lived. The younger brother of JFK, Robert Kennedy was campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination on June 6, 1968, when he was shot by an assassin at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, […]

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The plan to launch a surprise attack on German-held France is an important part of the American student’s study of World War II. Is it also an important part of the curriculum in French schools? The invasion force was ready in May of 1944. Thousands of planes, ships, tanks, and landing craft, plus more than […]

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Okay, so summer doesn’t officially begin until June 21 – well after school is out. But this 3 day weekend is the unofficial beginning of summer. Schools, banks, public institutions are all closed on Monday in observation of Memorial Day. It’s a legal holiday aimed at honoring the members of the nation’s armed services who […]

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(July 11-13, 1863)   While New York was a “northern” state and, therefore, considered to be against slavery and the South during the Civil War, the city erupted in major riots in July of 1863; those riots targeted the African Americans in the city.   President Abraham Lincoln issued the Enrollment Act of Conscription on […]

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Most of the news stories I’ve read or heard today have focused on the kind of relationship Nicolas Sarkozy intends to establish with the United States. It was noted that in a relatively short acceptance speech, he did single out U.S. – French relations. His comments were described as both the extension of an olive […]

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Seventy years ago today – May 6, 1937 – the Hindenburg, the German dirigible (an airship), crashed in Lakehurst, New Jersey. It was a rainy day.  The airship, 245 meters long with a capacity to hold 190,000,000 liters of hydrogen,  had already made 10 transatlantic crossings in 1936.  It is still not clear why it […]

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Queen Elizabeth II, accompanied by her husband, Prince Phillip, began a U.S. visit today. The major purpose of her visit is to participate in Virginia’s celebration of the 400th anniversary of Jamestown, America’s first permanent English settlement. The speech to Virginia’s General Assembly will be the first address by a British monarch to the legislative […]

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What makes an effective leader? People in America and France right now are thinking about what determines effective leadership. The American president is facing criticism from all sides with his poll numbers reflecting the lack of support for him and his policies. Regardless of the particular poll, Bush’s approval ratings are low and his disapproval […]

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