history – American Delusions

Our History – the intentionally forgotten – a new keynote essay

August 2, 2019 Comments Off

…nations are based as much on what people collectively agree to forget as what they wish to remember. In a visit in February 2019 to a photography exhibit, Imagined Communities by Mila Teshaieva, at the MIT Museum I came across this paraphrase from the late 19th century French historian Ernest Renan: --->> read more -->>

The Warmth of Other Suns – Isabel Wilkerson

October 10, 2010 Comments Off

Isabel Wilkerson’s book, The Warmth of Other Suns – the epic story of America’s great migration, creates whole new planes of awareness of our history. This book startled me to a new understanding of how encompassing and pervasive the Jim Crow laws and social rules of the South really were. --->> read more -->>

Free Markets – free? markets? – lessons not learned

June 6, 2010 Comments Off

“Free market” has always struck me as a rather strange phrase. Never more so than in this period of financial market disasters. The phrase ‘free market’ continues to be used reflexively. Just as commentators go right on speaking of Wall St. as a source of capital and innovation, few want to ask --->> read more -->>