Martin Di Caro

History As It Happens: The rise of Poland

Poland views itself as a burgeoning military and economic force. The gray days of Soviet Communism are ancient history.

September 27, 2023

History As It Happens: Recovering a vanished world

Author Jacob Mikanowski says there is more to Eastern Europe than stories of war, genocide, and human misery.

September 25, 2023

BOOK REVIEW: ‘Goodbye, Eastern Europe: An Intimate History of a Divided Land’

With the first sentence of his kaleidoscopic guide to Eastern Europe's past, the journalist Jacob Mikanowski reveals that his work is meant to discover, to unearth: "This is a history of a place that doesn't exist."

September 21, 2023

History As It Happens: Chile’s coup, 50 years on

The legacy of the coup d'etat that brought Augusto Pinochet to power is highly contested in Chilean politics today. The battle between right and left is reflected in Chile's ongoing constitutional crisis.

September 20, 2023

History As It Happens: Collapse of trust

Americans have little confidence their institutions will serve them well. Can you blame them?

September 18, 2023

History As It Happens: What if? Kennedy and Vietnam

If JFK had lived, would he have withdrawn from Vietnam? The question still stirs debate as the 60th anniversary of his assassination approaches.

September 13, 2023

History As It Happens: War for Donbas? War for Ukraine

An expert on Russian history and politics once argued Ukraine should let the Donbas go. But Alexander Motyl now believes ceding the war-devastated region would be suicidal.

September 11, 2023

History As It Happens: The Trump mug shot

The first mug shot of an American president will live forever in public memory. Much of former President Donald Trump's political legacy may be unprecedented, but it does have identifiable origins.

September 6, 2023

History As It Happens: Putin’s ‘mafia state’

An expert on U.S.-Russia relations says Vladimir Putin's regime is held together by violence and that he is determined to fight a long war in Ukraine.

September 4, 2023

History As It Happens: Ukraine’s counteroffensive and echoes of WWI

Russia's war in Ukraine is now a war of attrition reminiscent of the Great War of 1914-18.

August 30, 2023

History As It Happens: Operation Ajax, 70 years on

The U.S. and Iran are still haunted by the consequences of what transpired in Tehran in August 1953.

August 28, 2023

History As It Happens: The radicalism of the March on Washington

Memories of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have A Dream" speech of August 28, 1963, overshadow the radical economic demands of the March on Washington's organizers.

August 23, 2023

History As It Happens: Oppenheimer and the arms race

Did the U.S. and USSR miss an opportunity to avoid a costly arms race and dangerous Cold War by ignoring the advice of Robert Oppenheimer?

August 21, 2023

History As It Happens: Oppenheimer and the decision to drop the bomb

Christopher Nolan's blockbuster film has revived interest in a contentious debate about Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

August 16, 2023

History As It Happens: Oppenheimer, new weapon, new age

The "most terrible weapon" built under the leadership of Robert Oppenheimer ushered in a new age whose consequences continue to threaten human co-existence.

August 14, 2023