History Unfolding: Collapsing Authority

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Collapsing authority

I learned long ago that comparison is the best basis for judgements about people, societies, and historical periods. The human race has been measuring itself against ideals at least since Plato, but such measurements are actually quite arbitrary since they take no account of what is possible in real life and what is not. On the other hand, if, confronted with 100 adults, one notes four of them standing higher than the others, one can safely identify them as "tall." A batting average of .350 is outstanding because so few hitters manage to achieve it. Economic growth, unemployment, and even justice can all measure the same way.

And thus, I decided long ago, comparative history is by far the best way to make judgments about societies. One may compare in two dimensions, across space or across time. In Politics and War I did both. Now comparisons are on my mind because I am buried deeply in the early 1940s and, to a lesser extent, in the decades that proceeded them--and certain things...

Read the whole entry » http://historyunfolding.blogspot.com/2011/04/collapsing-authority.html

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History Unfolding: Bismarck, Kissinger, and the New York Times

Apr 04, 2011

Yesterday the New York Times printed one of the funniest corrections that has appeared in that august paper for some time. It read: ... http://historyunfolding.blogspot.com/2011/04/bismarck-kissinger-and-new-york-times.html ...

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