The book American Apartheid by Douglas S. Massey and Nancy A. Denton is an eye-opening book that throws light on the issues of poverty and seclusion among African Americans. Contrary to many illusions and simplistic assumptions about the economic backwardness of blacks in America, Massey and Denton show that the community’s poverty is directly linked…
Category: History
How true is the claim by some Western scholars that Islam is on a collision course with the West and is inherently inimical to the modern age we live in?
Samuel Huntington’s book The Clash of Civilizations has evoked a broad range of responses from political commentators both in the United States as well as abroad. Huntington asserts that the fall of Berlin Wall in 1989 had marked a new beginning in the history of international politics. While prior to the collapse of the Soviet…
On Orientalism featuring Edward Said
Orientalism, a concept coined by the renowned American intellectual Edward Said has attracted praise and controversy in equal measure. While remaining Said’s definitive scholarly work, its thesis is a condensation of themes found in his other works such as The Question of Palestine and Covering Islam. To be concise, Orientalism can be defined as the…
Book Review: All the Shah’s Men – An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror by Stephen Kinzer
The book All the Shah’s Men was written by American journalist Stephen Kinzer. The subject matter of the book is the America backed coup-de-tat carried out in Iran in 1953, in which its incumbent Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh was forcefully replaced by Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. The latter was loyal to Western interests and it…
Two great speeches: Ain’t I a Woman and Address to the People of the Free States
What do Ain’t I a Woman and Address to the People of the Free States by the President of the Southern Confederacy tell us about the divisions between people in United States during the 1860s? The 1860s were a tumultuous time in the history of the United States. Public discourse and debate centered on the…
The History of the USA.: Three Branches of Government
What were the reasons that our Founding Fathers, at the Constitutional Convention of 1787, divided the federal government into the legislative, judicial, and executive branches. 2. How are the three branches of the our federal government supposed to interact? 3. Summarize the 1 & 2. During the Constitutional Convention of 1787, our Founding Fathers deliberated…
Class warfare within the Roman Republic
We learn that right from the beginning of the history of Roman Republic, there had been class warfare. At first the two warring factions were the Patricians and the Plebeians. They both contended for admission to the courts and high office as well as demanding a share in the state lands. This class struggle between…
Movie Analysis: Wo Ai Ni Mommy
Asian American film-making has a distinct flavour compared with mainstream films. One of its characteristics is its endeavour to highlight Asian sensibilities and sentiments to the unacquainted American audience. Bringing exposure to the differences and commonalities between Asian and mainstream American culture is another objective. Films such as Shopping for Fangs (1997), Rea Tajiri’s Strawberry…
Malcolm X – Movie Report
The movie starts with a passionate monologue from Malcolm X, which immediately captures the attention and imagination of the audience. The story starts from Malcolm X’s childhood days, when his father was a local leader who believed in Back to Africa theme. His father also used to raise the cause of black women in America,…
A vignette on the Turkish Political System
Turkey’s political history has had many impressive achievements and also some glaring failures. Geographically located at the joint of Europe, Asia and Arabia, the nation’s demography is culturally, linguistically and religiously diversified. In general, policy making is conducted within the framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic. The Prime Minister is the head of the…