In the fall 2005 semester, the author designed a course in the history of America's modern wars hoping to encourage students to criticize and oppose the country's current aggressions in Afghanistan and Iraq. Surveys of student attitude change suggest that the course did promote criticism but did far less to facilitate student activism. The author…

Secondary school history textbooks in South Korea, Japan, and the United States have long struggled to give meaning and significance to the war waged on the Korean Peninsula between 1950 and 1953. Comparing commonly-used, contemporary history textbooks from each of these three nations, this analysis suggests that students on both sides of the…

Discusses the conflict that developed between President Franklin Roosevelt and his attorney general, Francis Biddle, over the limits of press freedom in the early days of World War II. (FL)

The major policy debate touched off by President Reagan's March 1983 speech announcing the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) was the reopening of one that had begun 35 years before. Then and now the ultimate question is what kind of strategic posture is most likely to contribute to mutual strategic stability? The answer is central to national…

Presents a simulation that focuses on Kurdish nationalism and the struggle for autonomy and independence from the states that rule over Kurdish lands. Students assume the roles of either one of the countries directly involved or the governing body of the United Nations. Includes extensive background material. (MJP)

Provides an insightful look at the administrative and negotiative processes that accompanied the 1962 Cuban missile crisis. Although John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev both worked to avoid nuclear war, the stress and exhaustion of the negotiating process created serious blunders. Eventually both sides backed away from nuclear annihilation. (MJP)

Describes a political science course that attempts to place the complex contemporary politics of Southeastern Europe in a wider conceptual and comparative context. Discusses the unique background of the region. Briefly reviews the best literature on the subject, and provides a series of discussion questions and activities. (MJP)