Tag Archives: history

A Bloomsday Thought

Posted on June 16, 2026 by gdkrenz

Happy Bloomsday! If you are among the uninitiated, that means that today, June 16, is the day on which James Joyce’s Ulysses is set in 1904, the day in which the book’s protagonists — Leopold Bloom, Stephen Dedalus, and Molly Bloom — … Continue reading →

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Misunderstanding Postmodernity (Gary Krenz)

Posted on June 8, 2026 by gdkrenz

I hope that readers will allow a little leeway for me to vent about a pet peeve: pundits and sometimes even supposed scholars pointing the finger at “postmodernism” as an explanation of our woes: loss of respect in institutions; loss … Continue reading →

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The Right’s Demonization of Democracy (Gary Krenz)

Posted on May 10, 2026 by gdkrenz

An ongoing canard on the Right and among MAGA types is that the United States is “not a democracy but a republic.” This piece by Barbara Clark Smith of the Smithsonian Institution is a fine, concise historical review of the relationship of … Continue reading →

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Democracy and the Progressive (Gary Krenz)

Posted on May 5, 2026 by gdkrenz

Following up on Dan’s important post about The Sorrow and the Pity, I’d like to draw attention to this piece by Seva Gunitsky at Persuasion: “The Incels are Taking Over.” Gunitsky, the George Ignatieff Chair of Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Toronto, reviews the … Continue reading →

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Time to “Orban” Trump (Gary Krenz)

Posted on April 14, 2026 by gdkrenz

There has been much good commentary on Magyar’s decisive victory over Orban in Hungary. It will take some time to sort out various lessons, but as Anne Applebaum suggests in this piece, “Illiberalism is not Inevitable,” in The Atlantic, perhaps … Continue reading →

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Trump’s – not Adam Smith’s – “Invisible Hand” (Gary Krenz)

Posted on April 1, 2026 by gdkrenz

Robert Reich in his substack recently reminded us that this year is the 250th anniversary not only of the US but also of Adam Smith’s monumental work, The Wealth of Nations. The one idea that most people know from this … Continue reading →

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America’s 250th Part Two (Barb Krenz)

Posted on March 21, 2026 by barbkrenz

Sometimes it’s hard to breathe.  Like when I focus on the intense destruction that Trump and his sycophantic minions are foisting on the country, and the world.  A hopelessness can wash through and around everything else that is a part … Continue reading →

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America’s 250th Part One (Barb Krenz)

Posted on March 16, 2026 by barbkrenz

My husband, Gary, and I went to a great exhibit at The New York Historical (wish they hadn’t dropped the “Society” from their name because what is historical modifying now?  But I digress.)  It was part remind-me-of-what-I always-knew review, and … Continue reading →

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Self-evident truths (Declaration musings II) (Gary Krenz)

Posted on January 1, 2026 by gdkrenz

Happy New Year! In this second musing on the Declaration of Independence (the first is here), I would like to reflect on the document’s core ideals and what they might mean for the renewal of our democracy today. I ended … Continue reading →

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A submission of facts to a candid world (Declaration musings I) (Gary Krenz)

Posted on December 31, 2025 by gdkrenz

Happy New Year! Tomorrow we enter the year of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. There will be much to review and discuss about America’s Revolution (I haven’t watched the Ken Burns documentary yet but look forward to it); … Continue reading →

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