David Axe is headed back to Africa, and needs funds. This time, he'll be covering USS Nashville's "soft power" deployment. I've broadcast several of his appeals, as well as appeals from several other journalists, for a reason; with the collapse of funding from so many institutional sources of suppor...

Better than I expected, especially given the first set of reviews. Of all the changes small and large, most interesting was the subtle movement of Dan Dreiberg; he becomes the point of identification for the movie watcher in a way that he wasn't for the novel reader. Rorschach well done. Also Dr. Ma...

Erik starts off this week's discussion of From Colony to Superpower. Chapter XIII covers the years between 1942 and 1945, which involved a rather significant expansion of the global profile of the United States. Herring talks a bit about the debate that surrounded the decision to pursue the "Germany...

Part of the Bush administration's strategy for "locking in" missile defense in case of a Democratic presidential victory was to conclude agreements with Poland and the Czech Republic that would be difficult for the Democratic victor to break. The thinking went that while Obama might be skeptical of ...

Chapter XII of From Colony to Superpower covers the period between 1932 and 1941. This is, as far as I can recall, the first time that Herring has broken up a presidential administration across chapters. This is, of course, a sensible enough move in the context of the Roosevelt administration... Her...

Aye. ...the key is that these two statements are very different: Jason Greenwood, a senior kinesiology major at the University of Maryland echoed that view. “I think putting in a lot of effort should merit a high grade,� Mr. Greenwood said. “What else is there really than the effort that you p...

Read Erik's contribution first; for some reason he seems to think that Calvin Coolidge was a boring guy. He also talks a bit about US policy towards Latin America and the infant Soviet Union. I think that I found this chapter quite a bit more interesting than he did. One of the strengths of Herring'...

Concerned Colonial Citizen, fearing reprisals from the authoritarian Roslin-Adama politico-military clique, has gone into hiding. Here are some well considered responses to his letter. Spoileriffic, as always: Spencer Ackerman: It is true that the rebel Cylon do not offer supremely meaningful milita...

The following is a Letter to the Editor from "Concerned Colonial Citizen", regarding the prospects of a permanent alliance between the Colonial government and the rebel Cylon. It is titled "Why Tom Zarek Was Right". The letter is spoileriffic. I oppose permanent alliance with the Cylon, and believe ...

Some kind, anonymous soul picked up my bag off the street and delivered it to my office, meaning that I didn't have to buy another copy of Herring's From Colony to Superpower. Thank you! And so we return to the series at chapter 9, which covers the Roosevelt and Taft administrations, the Great White...