The Causes of the War of 1812
As the foremost theorist of war, Carl von Clausewitz, once noted, “Everything is very simple in war, but the...
A Nation Must Think Before it Acts
The Causes of the War of 1812
A nation must think before it acts.
Categories for FootNotes
Between Piety and Patriotism: Shariʿa and The American Way of Life
In May 2016, a row broke out at the Metropolitan Recreation Center in Williamsburg, New York following an anonymous...
Teaching the Cold War: Economics, Ideology, and Morality
A better understanding of the Cold War fosters insights into the incentive structures of socialism in its “democratic” forms...
The Great War’s Impact on American Foreign Policy and Civic Religion
What happened in 1898 was accidental, but only in the sense that if you roll a die over and...
Religion and Secularism in the Middle East: A Primer
The flag of Egypt, 1922-1953 Abstract: Religion was a pillar of pre-modern political identity in the Middle East, arising...
Religious Minorities in the Modern Middle East
The majority of the Middle East’s population today is Muslim, as it has been for centuries. However, as the...
Identity in the Pre-Modern Middle East
We live in an age of identity politics. We define ourselves by one or more objective measures: measures of...
Post-Colonial States and the Struggle for Identity in the Middle East since World War Two
The term “post-colonial” has presented a seminal problem for historians of the 20th century Middle East. As this essay...
Islam and Islamism: A Primer for Teachers and Students
Defining – and distinguishing between – the terms Islam and Islamism has broad consequences for America, both domestically and...
Civil Liberties vs. State Security in Historical Perspective
These remarks were delivered at a history institute for high school teachers on Ethical Dilemmas in American Warfare,” April...