On March 28-29, 2009, FPRI's Wachman Center hosted 43 teachers from across the country for a weekend of discussion on teaching the nuclear age. In his opening remarks, Walter A. McDougall observed that although students today are not made to crawl under their desks in air raid drills, that atomic power remains, and it is still necessary to raise a…

This essay is based on the author's presentation at the Wachman Center's July 26-27, 2008 history institute, co-sponsored and hosted by the Cantigny First Division Foundation of the McCormick Tribune Foundation. For Europeans, World War I remains the epochal event of the twentieth century. For Americans, the war falls between two much larger and…

On October 21-22, 2006, FPRI's Marvin Wachman Fund for International Education hosted 46 teachers from 26 states across the country for a weekend of discussion on teaching about China. Sessions included: (1) Classical Chinese Thought and Culture and Early Chinese History (Victor Mair); (2) State and Society in Late Imperial China (Matthew Sommer);…

This document was created to serve as a major networking tool of the National Clearinghouse on Development Education (NCoDE). The purpose of the document is to share state of the art practices and common concerns among the expanding development education community. Among the items in the publication is an interview with Elizabeth Hogan,…

The seven books analyzed here reflect clear and often exasperating prejudices. However, when taken as a whole, their individual perspectives yield a wealth of information, material, and ideas that can increase understanding of both the complexities of America's involvement in Vietnam and the questions surrounding such involvement. (RM)

On March 11-12, 2006 the FPRI's Marvin Wachman Fund for International Education hosted 44 teachers from 16 states across the country for a weekend of discussion on teaching about India. Sessions included: (1) Why It's Important to Know about India (Ainslie T. Embree); (2) Early Indian History (Richard H. Davis); (3) Modern Indian History (Marc…

One of a series of booklets on world issues examines the sharpened differences between those nations that have declared sovereignty over parts of Antarctica and those that have not; between those nations that have arbitrarily assumed responsibility for the administration of Antarctica and the smaller, more numerous nations that believe their…

The roots of American involvement in Vietnam, which stem from the ending of World War II, are examined. (RM)

This document, a curriculum guide, grew out of a symposium on the role of secrecy in U.S. foreign policy. The curriculum examines ways in which citizens get information about the government and how government secrecy influences that information. Students analyze covert U.S. involvement in such places as Iran, Guatemala, and Cuba, and consider the…

According to this essay by a visiting scholar from Great Britain, there will always be a debate in democratic societies, about the proper role of morality in fashioning and articulating foreign policy. This ambivalence has been reflected in the uneven approach to the problem exhibited by successive United States administrations. There are two…

Human rights issues need to be taught in the context of Western civilization values, using literature and history sources, and not as separate courses based on newsworthy events. Students need to appreciate the desirability of democratic governments and the complexities of introducing democracy to nations lacking political and legal traditions. (9…

In October 2002 North Korea admitted that it had been operating a secret nuclear weapons program in violation of international treaties and the 1994 Agreed Framework with the United States. North Korea also appeared to be taking steps to begin production of nuclear weapons and, according to U.S. officials, may have a missile that can hit…

Since the end of the Cold War, and more recently since September 11, 2001, relations between the United States and Russia have reached new levels of cooperation and accommodation. At the same time, many important developments in Russia remain cloaked by government intrigue or obscured by the complexity of Russia's political and cultural past. This…

Disagrees with the tone and conclusions of the special section on United States-Japan relations in the November-December, 1991 issue. Contends that the national interests of the United States were ignored to avoid "Japan Bashing" over trade and other economic issues. Calls for a more realistic view of Japan's trade policies toward the…

The United States fulfilled its desire to be the country that reopened trade with Japan through the Kanagawa Treaty (1854). Japan reluctantly rejoined the world community at a time when their culture and economy were in disorder. While grappling with the changes within their borders they tried to keep the ways of the "barbarians" from…