Wrong side of history
In a show of solidarity, Palestinian factions have also come out in support of Hamas, saying in a statement: “The Palestinian people and their political and national forces are united…
Lost in history
On Thursday, apartheid’s last leader, Frederik Willem de Klerk, died, sparking a national conversation among South Africans about his life and legacy. Praise and support for De Klerk – who…
Afghanistan: a history of blunders
“The only thing we learn from history" – in the words of German philosopher Friedrich Hegel "is that we learn nothing from history”. Consequently, “those who fail to learn from…
Living history
LAST week the United States marked the first anniversary of the very public murder of George Floyd. The inescapable brutality of the police killing sparked protests on an unparalleled scale…
Reckoning with history
Last week, US President Joe Biden visited Tulsa, Oklahoma to publicly acknowledge the 100th anniversary of one of the worst massacres of Americans of African descent in US history. On…
Alone with the burden of history
The story of Palestine is like the story of no other country. It is spread over millennia and at any time in history, it has always attracted the attention, love…
History in folios
LIKE other living organisms, libraries too die. They may survive for 700 years as Oxford’s Bodleian Library has done, but even that venerable institution is succumbing to infirmity. Readers of…
Ignorance of history
Claims made by Democratic New York City mayoral candidate, Andrew Yang, in a recent op-ed in the Jewish weekly, ‘The Forward’, point to the prevailing ignorance that continues to dominate…
Discovering history
Nobel Laureate Henry Kissinger made a humble start as a sergeant in the 84th American Infantry Division’s counter-intelligence set up during World War II. He participated in the famous Battle…
Ancient history
THERE are some things that are nearly impossible to imagine. Once, at a museum, I had the opportunity to hold in my hand a prehistoric stone tool. Rendered smooth, likely…
