Post World War

Victors, Independence Movements and Cold War

The United Nations – the founding, Roosevelt's hopes denied and the veto

Victors against the Defeated – retributions, expropriations, occupations

The Media and Tokyo Rose – aroused passions against a fictitious enemy

Empire headed for Extinction – colonialism in Asia and Africa

Cold War: 1945-49 – Stalin, Europe, the U.S. and revolution in China

The Korean War – occupation, China intervenes, negotiations

Cold War: 1953-60 – communism and the Eisenhower years

Cold War: the Kennedy Years – from the Bay of Pigs to assassination

Vietnam, 1964-75 – to the war's end, participant opinions and lessons

End of the Cold War and the Soviet Union – from Brezhnev to Yeltsin

Latin America

Latin America Economic Overview, to the 1960s – population growth and underdeveloped resources

Argentina from Juan and Eva Peron to the Disappeared – 1943 to military rule, Falklands War and beyond to 1988

Brazil from 1945 to the Overthrow of Goulart in 1964 – another military coup but a thriving economy

The Dominican Republic, Trujillo Regime and overthrow of Juan Bosch – President Johnson intervenes

Batista and Castro – 1944 to Batista's departure in January 1959

Che Guevara in Bolivia – from success in Cuba to failure

Chile, from Democracy to Dictatorship – the overthrow of Allende and rule by Pinochet

Nicaragua, the Somozas and Sandinistas, to 1990 – the Marxist Sandinistas overthrow the Somozas

Civil War in El Salvador – military rule, violence, civil war, negotiations and compromise

Guatemala, Unrest and Civil War – another Cold War CIA fiasco during the Eisenhower administration.

New Directions in the US and Europe

The United States and Equal Rights, 1947-65 – the human rights movement

The Sixties and Seventies from Berkeley to Woodstock – Berkeley, the Panthers, dissipation

Failed Radicals in Europe – unrest in France, Germany, Italy

Democracy and Dictatorship in Greece – to 1974

Yugoslavia Disintegrates – 1919, Tito and unity, Serbs vs breakaways and war

Asia-Pacific and South Asia

Japan, Hunger, New Attitudes and Mishima – Japan emerging from war and humiliation

China from Mao to Deng Xiaoping – from collective agriculture to the capitalist road

Indonesia and the Great Slaughter – Sukarno loses power, 1965 to 1967

India and Pakistan – Democratic India. Untouchables. The Islamic Republic of Pakistan

Africa and the Middle East

Africa into the Nineties – from the 1940s to 1994

Jews and Arabs from WW2 to the 1967 (Six-Day) War – Israel, Suez, Muslim Brotherhood, Qutb, Faisal

Israel and the Middle East to 1979 – West Bank occupation, Yom Kipper War, terror, PLO, Camp David, Anwar Sadat

The Iranian Revolution – the Shah against dissent, victory for Islamic reactionaries

Saudi Arabia and Extremists to 2000 – the Siege of Mecca, assassination of Sadat, Afganistan, al Qaeda

Syria, Lebanon and US Intervention, to 1987 – Hafex al-Assad responds to terror. Captives in Lebanon

Israel, Intifada and the Peace Process, 1987 to 2000 – Yasser Arafat chickens out

Saddam Hussein and Wars to 1991 – Saddam's rise, war with Iran, Kuwait and military defeat

Iraq to September 1993 conflict with Britain and the Clinton administration; the Bush administration and war

Gaddafi: 1969-2011 – background, coup, political and economic philosophy, and rule

Economic Development and Welfare States

Britain and the United States, 1945 to 1988 – From wartime ethos to Thatcher and Reagan

Other European Welfare States to 1988 – Switzerland and others move ahead of the U.S. in per capita GDP

Economic Progress in East Asia and Australia to 1988 – Singapore, Korea, Taiwan and Australia

Japan – a bubble bursts in late 1980s, a lost decade and recovery in 2003

Bush, Clinton, Bush: Taxes and Deficits – three US presidents following Reagan

China's Socialist Market Economy – capitalism guided for "the people" by the China's Communist Party

Financial Crisis in Argentina – conservative mismanagement, Carlos Menem's failures, default and recovery

Obama versus Republicans – opposing ideologies, the 2008 elections the stimulus debate

Bailouts, Necessary or Not? – conflicting opinion

Greece and Debt, to 2010 – what happened

Science and Philosophy

Evolution, Science and Biology – up from Charles Darwin

Science and Philosophy – limits to knowing, philosophy of science, the mind and matter connection

Common Sense and Words – clarity and shaky abstractions.

Linguistics Wars – Chomsky, Lakoff and Pinker

A Few Philosophers – Camus, Sartre, Arendt, Heidegger, Popper and A.J. Ayer

Buckley, Rand, Kirk and Strauss – conservative intellectuals from the 1950s

Freedom and Theories of State Power – the state as master of conflicts and compromise

Religion

Freedom and Innovation – Japan, Communist states, India's TM and Hare Krishnas, Reverend Moon, and more

Jim Jones and the People's Church – an embarrassing aberration

Islam in the 21st Century – divisions, conflicts and identities

What Do Jews Believe? – ultra-orthodox, orthodox and reform Judaism

Trends in Hinduism – challenged traditions

Trends in Christianity – Catholics, Protestantants and televangelism