Presents an interview by National Endowment for the Humanities chairman, Sheldon Hackney, with historian John Higham on multiculturalism and national identity. Contends that the centrifugal forces of national, ethnic, and religious diversity need countervailing forces to hold the nation together. (CFR)

Surveys U.S. historiography dealing with Christopher Columbus from the eighteenth century to the present. Traces the changes in interpretation, treating Columbus as a hero, a victim, a visionary, a genius, and a mariner. Discusses past textbook treatments of Columbus and the portrayal of minorities in descriptions of his expeditions. (DK)