Tag Archives: history

Too Much Fukuyama Not Enough Kaplan

Posted on May 24, 2024 by Joel D. Hirst

We have really flubbed our utopia. A lot has been said of Francis Fukuyama’s “End of History“. More than the book itself, it engendered an attitude, a spirit — mostly within the American managerial elites. I think I first encountered … Continue reading →

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Review of — “A Brief History of Central America”

Posted on March 9, 2024 by Joel D. Hirst

Not a lot has changed in Central America over the last thirty years, since Hector Perez-Brignoli wrote this concise review of the history of the isthmus. The book is a helpful primer, taking the reader from the days of the … Continue reading →

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Our Democracy Needs To Go Back To The Basics

Posted on February 17, 2024 by Joel D. Hirst

In the 1980s the communist dictatorship of Daniel Ortega (Round #1, although Round #2 isn’t communist only purely despotic) would bring journalists from the USA and Europe to show them the revolution. They took them to a few neighborhoods where … Continue reading →

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25 Years of Service

Posted on January 4, 2024 by Joel D. Hirst

I turned around and realized that, this month, January, I mark 25 years since I waded into my wars. January 1999 — a kid really, flooding in Honduras and Nicaragua. Food distribution; clothes distributions; rebuilding a few hanging bridges; reforesting … Continue reading →

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Late-Stage Liberalism

Posted on December 29, 2023 by Joel D. Hirst

Late-stage liberalism is somewhat disenchanting. (We all know the signs. Not to belabor them, but our weird SyFy movies are all coming true, and we don’t like it one bit. Modernity replaced God with a superman, the wizard with the … Continue reading →

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“My Armenian Friend” — by Andrei Makine

Posted on December 25, 2023 by Joel D. Hirst

Russia. This novel by Makine (a Russian/French emigre, written in French) takes place in Siberia in the days of Stalin. Siberia, where Stalin sent his enemies to die. And Siberia, where the families of the exiles also went to try … Continue reading →

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