On the morning of September 19, 1985, an 8.1-magnitude earthquake hit the western states of Mexico and including Mexico City. …
Scotland, A Land Apart
Scotland can trace its links to the United Kingdom to more than 400 years ago, when James VI, King of…
Oil, Blood and Steel: The Failed Attempt to Create a Democratic Congo
This is the story of how a corrupt multinational oil company, a self-centered dictator, lingering ethnic tensions, and lack of…
Egos and Architecture — The Joys of Embassy Building in the 1980s
The design of U.S. embassies has swung through varying phases over the past several decades. Some embassies, such as the…
The Grisly Tradition of Beheading
The act of beheading has been used as a means for execution and retribution for millennia. The guillotine, which was…
“The Worst Day” — 9/11 and the International Response
“It was the worst day we have ever seen, but it brought out the best in all of us.” –Senator…
Life as a POW in the Japanese-Occupied Philippines
Ten hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japanese forces successfully invaded the Philippines. Those Americans and Filipinos who did not…
From Nation-Building to Black Hawk Down: U.S. Peacekeeping in Somalia
Somalia has become synonymous with well-meaning but ill-fated humanitarian intervention. Live television footage of American soldiers being dragged in the…
The Fight to Ratify the Panama Canal Treaty
Since Panama’s independence from Colombia in 1903, the Panama Canal had been a dramatic and ongoing point of discussion. The…
The Beijing Conference on Women
“If there is one message that echoes forth from this conference, let it be that human rights are women’s rights…