Purchase Happy Days Are Here Again: The 1932 Democratic Convention, the Emergence of FDR–and How America Was Changed Forever from Amazon.com  Having previously read Steve Neal’s excellent Truman and Ike I was excited to find this book in the Kindle store before my recent trip to India. Study of the nomination of FDR and the assemblage of […]

How different is Miami than the rest of the country? Only in Miami could a simple handshake between world leaders at a funeral become a scandalous moment. President Obama’s handshake with Cuban President Raul Castro has sent shock-waves through southeast Florida. Of course I speak in jest as it was not just the Cuban-American political […]

My grandfather a retired Indian Supreme Court Justice turned 98 last month. Even in his advanced age he continues to give political opinions. Today in the Hindu, one of India’s most respected English-language dailies he has articulated his views on the leadership crisis in today’s India where corruption and rampant, unchecked capitalism has taken hold […]

As a long-time student of history and someone who followed the debates of the 1980s I have found the domestic discussions after Nelson Mandela’s passing both fascinating and worrying. Much discussion has arisen as it inevitably would about Nelson Mandela’s connections to communists. As I wrote on Thursday, local government in Miami and Dade County […]

As an amatuer political historian I own and have read lots of books about JFK over the course of the last two decades. With the recent upsurge in interest about the Kennedy Presidency and his life I’ve decided to list a five of my favorites below. I should also note Robert Caro’s most recent book […]

By Steven Kurlander @kurlykomments It seems that these days, when a celebrity is promoting a book or movie, it’s SOP to make a controversial statement about racism to heat up the coverage. First, it was Sarah Palin’s rather stupid remark about how the national debt was “going to be like slavery when that note is […]