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The Long View

The Long View: A History of Europe

In the twenty years since this was written, a common European identity has still failed to materialize. However, across the West we do see a common identity forming, a citizen of the world. A French voter, Rachid Berdouzi, memorably described himself as such, and this identity motivated him to vote

The Long View: The Plot Against America

A good apocalyptic novel never gets old. The Plot Against America By Philip Roth Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004 391 Pages, US$26.00 ISBN 0-618-50928-3 It's always interesting when a major novelist turns his hand to genre fiction, and especially when he does it well. Philip Roth has

The Long View: Robertson Davies on Spelling Reform

From "The Papers of Samuel Marchbanks" Penguin Books, 1996 Copyright (C) Robertson Davies, 1986 Page 434: Dear Miss Hawser: Your suggestion that a few people in Canada try to revive the lost art of letter-writing is a worthy one, and I am flattered that you should include me

The Long View: The Last Division: A History of Berlin 1945-1989

While Kennedy did say something that could have been seen as funny in his famous Berlin speech, if you watch video of the speech it is pretty clear the crowd didn't take it that way. I have a number of personal connections to Berlin that make this review

The Long View 2004-12-15: Good Ideas; Bad Reasons

I read State of Fear and I liked it. I also thought it was massively unfair. It was a fun story, given its premises. Taken as a flight of fantasy, it was a blast. If you think it was an unbiased representation of the facts.... Some of the action in

The Long View: Terrible Honesty

In passing, this is a pretty funny comment on my own review of The Myth of the Andalusian Paradise. The problem with the academic writers on the subject, he complained, was the same that bedeviled writers on Spanish history: both seemed to be infected by the insanity they were describing.

The Long View 2004-12-13: McCain Ring; Perfect UN; Culture War Overseas; Chinese Bubble

I enjoyed a taste of Hillary Clinton's 2004 efforts to position herself as a future President: On immigration she has begun talking tough on border security, accusing the administration of not spending enough, employing enough people, using the best technology. She recently called herself "adamantly against illegal