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John Trumbull’s “Surrender of General Burgoyne” depicts the end of the Battle of Saratoga in 1777, the turning point of the American Revolution, in which New England and Hudson Valley militia, under the command of Gen. Horatio Gates, defeated the British, led by Gen. John Burgoyne. Saratoga paved the way for French assistance while demonstrating that you can’t win a war against a people you don’t understand. (The star of the day was brilliant field commander Benedict Arnold., who galvanized the Americans. Three years later, he would be America’s greatest traitor.)

The forever war in the graveyard of modern empires

July 16, 2021

The Americans have left Afghanistan and though President Joe Biden and the public are happy, many of us have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, at 20 years it was the United States’ longest war, and no one wants to fight a forever war. On the other hand, there is a sense of a mission unfulfilled, or perhaps one extended beyond its original purpose and thus unfulfilled.

A man leaves flowers at a makeshift memorial for George Floyd on May 27, 2020, two days after he was murdered by then Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. Photograph by Lori Shaull.

The George Floyd verdict and the choices we make

April 24, 2021

“A man has a choice. That’s what makes him different from an animal,” Raymond Massey’s Adam tells James Dean’s Cain-like Cal in the 1954 film of John Steinbeck’s “East of Eden.”

But some men choose to act like animals. Derek Chauvin made a choice to murder George Floyd in cold blood. He did it, because he could do it. Power: The English historian Lord Acton said, “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” But he had it backwards. Power doesn’t corrupt people. People corrupt power by the choices they make for selfishness and against responsibility and service.

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (left), examines building models at the University of Salford in 1967. During a 70-year career as a working royal, he carried out more than 22,000 solo engagements in addition to being what Queen Elizabeth II called … — Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (left), examines building models at the University of Salford in 1967. During a 70-year career as a working royal, he carried out more than 22,000 solo engagements in addition to being what Queen Elizabeth II called her “strength and stay.” Courtesy the University of Salford Press Office.

Prince Philip -- the Queen's man

April 11, 2021

Among the photographs The New York Times used to commemorate Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh — who died on Friday, April 9, at Windsor Castle two months short of his 100th birthday and will be buried from there Saturday, April 17 — was a 2017 photo in which the natty duke faces the camera smiling amid a sea of red-garbed Canadian soldiers, who are virtually all facing right. It encapsulates Prince Philip, a part of and yet apart from the British monarchy, “the strength and stay” of Queen Elizabeth II (her words) through 73 years of marriage, the longest in British royal history, who served crown and country with a confounding mix of devotion, action, humility, crotchety humor and a patronizing snobbery that critics have called impolitic at best and prejudiced at worst.

The image of Kate Gosselin, star of the reality TV series “Jon & Kate Plus 8” is often used to crystallize the look of a “Karen,” a privileged, demanding white woman — itself a stereotype.

He, she, they: the politics of gender and a place in the sun

October 11, 2020

Recently, I had an experience that redefined the right and the left for me. I interviewed two individuals who began by presenting me with their pronouns, as if they were ambassadors presenting a head of state with their credentials. One of the inidividuals’ pronouns was “she” and “her.” So if I were quoting her, I might say “she” on second reference. But the other person’s pronouns were “they” and “them.” (For the purpose of this post, I’ll call them S and T.)

When I explained that from a journalistic perspective, I worked for a company that used the Associated Stylebook — which allows for “they” in single usage when clarity is not at stake — and standard English, in which the masculine is still the default singular pronoun, as in the sentence “Everyone deserves his place in the sun,” well, things got a bit tense.

The ancient practice of genuflecting — seen here in Leonardo’s “The Annunciation” (1472, oil on panel, the Uffizi Gallery), as the archangel Gabriel announces to the Virgin Mary that she is to be the mother of Jesus — has been brilliantly repurposed… — The ancient practice of genuflecting — seen here in Leonardo’s “The Annunciation” (1472, oil on panel, the Uffizi Gallery), as the archangel Gabriel announces to the Virgin Mary that she is to be the mother of Jesus — has been brilliantly repurposed by the Black Lives Matter protesters, beginning with Colin Kaepernick.

Taking a knee for social justice

June 9, 2020

The horrific murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police May 25 set off a tidal wave of national and global outrage that has renewed interest in and debate on Colin Kaepernick’s 2016 protests against racial inequality and police brutality.

'Meeting' the moment

May 19, 2020

In 334 B.C., Alexander the Great took an army of 35,000 – roughly the size of the New York City Police Department -- against a Persian army of a quarter of a million in a bold quest to conquer the Persian Empire. Three years later, on the eve of the decisive battle at Gaugamela in what is now northern Iraq, he told his troops that they had no need for long, inspirational speeches. Their bravery and deeds made them more than prepared. But he wanted them to know that they had something the enemy did not. They had him. He would have their backs by leading from the front. They would endure together. And together, they would be victorious.

Why care about Alexander and the Greeks? For that matter, why care about history? Because they tell us something essential about leadership — that to be a leader you have to communicate a clear goal, demonstrate what’s in it for others and lead from the front. Whatever you may think — or not — about Alexander, he led from the front. He was a leader. And leadership is a quality that is in short supply these days.

Shining city on a hill: Leo von Klenze reimagines the Acropolis created under the leadership of the Athenian statesman Pericles in “The Acropolis at Athens” (1846), oil on canvas. Neue Pinakothek.

Is this the end of 'American exceptionalism'?

April 26, 2020

The Athenian statesman, general and orator Pericles is generally regarded as presiding over the Golden Age of Greece, when Athens was the first among equals of the Greek city-states — ruling the seas in a series of wars; bestowing democracy on freemen; encouraging the arts and literature; and building a series of public works projects that are still with us today in the remnants of the buildings of the Acropolis that include the Parthenon, temple of the city’s patroness, Athena, goddess of wisdom and war in a just cause.But after some 30 years it was all over in 629 B.C. when a plague — perhaps typhus — ripped through Athens, killing Pericles and several members of his family. It was the beginning of the end for Athens, too, which became involved in a long struggle with archrival Sparta.

People often ask me about my fascination with history and in particular the Greeks and Alexander the Great, the Greco-Macedonian conqueror who would come along 300 years later and avenge all the Greeks suffered at the hands of the Persians, their foreign rivals, including the burning of that Acropolis. Let’s be frank here, shall we? People find my fascination with history and the Greeks at best quaint and at worst out of touch. They don’t just ask me about it, they ridicule me about it.

Who’s laughing now?…