Not So Exceptional

A look at the idea of American Exceptionalism, with a particular focus on debunking the very idea of it.

http://spectator.org/archives/2011/03/03/in-defense-of-american-excepti#

The Kennedy Assassinations

British Pathe newsreel footage of the announcement of the assassination of John F. Kennedy

http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=43794

British Pathe newsreel footage of the announcement of the assassination of Bobby Kennedy

http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=45903

Analysis of the facts concerning both incidents

http://www.voltairenet.org/article165721.html

The Shifting Sands of American History




The Lincoln Memorial

 

What is History but an interpretation of facts for political aim? How can we trust a retrospective analysis of political figures when it's in certain people's interest to push their agenda through the prism of famous, or infamous, historical names and events. This article looks at the way American history is distorted and revised, viewed from one side or the other, how the narrative becomes an active playbook which informs modern policy. The American political obsession with legitimising itself by calling on examples from the past can and has meant that our views of their history are constantly being challenged, especially when viewed by the standards of today, rather than in historical context.

http://www.democracyjournal.org/20/making-history.php?page=1



Brazil: the Making of a Modern Giant



Cristo Redentor in Rio



A Short History of Modern Brazil



http://www.historytoday.com/gabriel-paquette/empire-exceptions-making-modern-brazil

Fort 'Freedom' and the Turning Point of the Emancipation Movement

Emancipation Cartoon from Harpers Weekly

The stumbling evolution of the framing of the Emancipation Proclamation of 1862, beginning with a legal argument over 'contraband'

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/03/magazine/mag-03CivilWar-t.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=magazine