There Is No “Right Side” of History

I read with interest Ta-Nehisi Coates’ recent historical essay for The Atlantic, “What This Cruel War Was Over.” The article is worth reading. It consists mostly of quotations pulled from Southerner declarations, debates, and editorials from the Civil War and late antebellum eras, all on the theme of slavery and the desperate need to preserve […]

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Fiction and the Strategist

“The King’s library at Buckingham House” from The History of Royal Residences, by William Henry Pines (1819), plate No. 48 Image Source: Wikimedia When the moment of decision arrives the time for study and reflection has ended. Decisions made under pressure often rely on heuristics, assumptions, and interpretive frames formed long before crisis arrives. Some of […]

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“Its Not The Economy, Stupid!” What Wealth Can’t Explain About Chinese Politics

“Shanghai Celebrates the New Republic,” from Dongfang Magazine, vol 8, no. 12 (1911) Image Source: Wikimedia  Political scientist Jay Ulfelder has an interesting piece up at Dart Throwing Chimp that questions the  importance of ‘legitimacy,’ a concept social scientists have long used to explain the rise and fall of governments and political regimes. This is […]

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Which is Worse: Game of Thrones or the Culture that Watches It?

Image Credit: Wikimedia It is rare for me to comment at length on contemporary American pop-culture here at the Stage, where I usually reserve myself to discussions of cultural trends found deep in the past or far from American shores. But occasionally I will read a piece exciting or infuriating enough to drag me out […]

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Newsflash: The Chinese Play Chess Too

Japanese geisha playing weiqi (go) c. 1800. Image Source: Wikimedia This post should be considered an extended footnote of my series on what has been written in English about the history of Chinese strategic thought. [1] As I sifted through the materials I needed for that review,  I came across one trope about Chinese culture […]

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