検索キーワード： 制作 "Charles River Editors" 政治学・社会科学

Americans have long been fascinated by the Civil War, marveling at the size of the battles, the leadership of the generals, and the courage of the soldiers. Since the war's start over 150 years ago, the events have been subjected to endless debate among historians and the generals themselves. The Civil War was the deadliest conflict in American history, and had the two sides realized it would take four years and inflict over a million casualties, it might not have been fought.

In a modern era that Americans often view wearily as being too partisan, elections often bring the same questions. Many look back nostalgically to earlier centuries in which it's assumed America had great statesmen, which is understandable in light of increasingly hostile political rhetoric that seems to be more aimed at dividing the country than uniting it. Of course, more serious historians analyze whether these elusive statesmen actually ever existed, and whether there was truly a time when politicians didn't engage in political rancor.

Margeretha Geertruida Zelle, better known to history by the exotic, glamorous name of Mata Hari, was a woman who profited greatly from the power of illusion during much of her brief life. Born to a hatter named Adam Zelle and his wife Antje van der Meulen, Mata Hari moved from a financially rewarding but miserable marriage to circus performances to exotic dancing and celebrity to the role of ostensible international spy in an arc that ended tragically in front of a French firing squad.

Clergymen rarely make good politicians. There is perhaps no better example of this than Father Charles Coughlin, a Depression-era priest-turned-demagogue who was seen as an angel by some and a devil by others. The same man who cruelly castigated the Jews also spoke eloquently on the needs and rights of the most downtrodden in society. The same orator who said, "Roosevelt or ruin", later cried, "Roosevelt and ruin." In the 1930s, his effective use of the radio revolutionized mass communications, and millions of people listened to his every word.

The late 19th and early 20th centuries in America had no shortage of political graft and powerful politicians, but few were as influential or conspicuous as the Kingfish, Huey P. Long. A populist Democrat who hoped to elevate the lower classes in Louisiana, Long accrued massive amounts of power during his governorship, in the process revolutionizing political campaigning.

As much as it is a center of power, 10 Downing Street is also a study in contradictions. Though known today as the home of the prime minister, for most of its history it has housed other high-ranking government offices. Seen as a symbol of stability, it has often been physically the opposite; originally built in a swamp on a sandy foundation, it was shorn up again and again for decades. In fact its location and condition were often considered so bad that prior to 1900, only about half of the men offered the home chose to live there.

In February 1993, President Bill Clinton had only been in office for a few weeks when one of the most important events of his presidency began to take shape. Ironically, it would involve a group that the vast majority of Americans had never heard of and knew absolutely nothing about. The Branch Davidians were an obscure religious sect located in Texas, but members of the group led by David Koresh in Waco, Texas stockpiled enough weaponry to catch the attention of the federal government.

When President Thomas Jefferson went ahead with the Louisiana Purchase, he wasn't entirely sure what was on the land he was buying, or whether the purchase was even constitutional. Ultimately, the Louisiana Purchase encompassed all or part of 15 current US states and two Canadian provinces. The purchase, which immediately doubled the size of the United States at the time, still comprises around 23% of current American territory. With so much new territory to carve into states, the balance of Congressional power became a hot topic.

Standing in history like a milestone marking the boundary between one era and the next, the Potsdam Conference brought together the leaders of the three major Allied powers - the United States, the Soviet Union, and the United Kingdom - for the last time at the end of World War II and at the threshold of the Cold War. A follow up to the Yalta Conference just five months earlier, Potsdam attempted to work out the contours of the postwar world.

Shortly after World War II, Congress' House Committee on Un-American Activities began investigating Americans across the country for suspected ties to communism. Among the people called before the House Committee on Un-American Activities, none are as controversial as Alger Hiss.

The American Revolution is replete with seminal moments that every American learns in school, from the "shot heard 'round the world" to the Declaration of Independence, but the events that led up to the fighting at Lexington and Concord were borne out of 10 years of division between the British and their American colonies over everything from colonial representation in governments to taxation, the nature of searches, and the quartering of British regulars in private houses.

Every American is taught a pristine narrative of the life and legacy of George Washington and can easily recite the highlights of the "Father of Our Country". The remarkable Virginian led an under-resourced, rag-tag army to ultimate victory in the American Revolution before becoming the nation's first president, setting it on its path toward superpower status.

For a man who grew up to become the "Bull Moose", Theodore Roosevelt was a sickly child, suffering from asthma and other maladies. But his physical weakness actually drove him to be more active, which also fostered an interest in nature. It also helped that Teddy's family was wealthy, allowing him privileges including home school and the ability to attend Harvard, where he was an athlete and took an interest in naval affairs. After finishing at Harvard, Teddy entered politics.

It would be impossible to sum up the life and legacy of Bill Clinton in one sentence or even one paragraph, as the former president represents many different things to many different people. Indeed, the yin and yang of Clinton's life and career are inescapable. Widely hailed as the greatest politician of his era, Clinton proved to be his own worst enemy, creating unnecessary scandals through his womanizing.

The life story of Ramesses II is voluminously recorded and illustrated through documents and inscriptions, and it is even represented physically through his funerary goods and the well-preserved mummified remains of the man himself. But despite the resources available with which to reason about who Ramesses II was and what his impact might have been, there is also a necessary disconnection between him and those who chronicled his story.

Louis XVI is one of the most famous kings of France, but for reasons he would have much rather avoided. Coming of age in the wake of the reign of the Sun King, Louis XIV, and his father, Louis XV, Louis XVI initially intended to be one of France's most enlightened kings. Instead, he was destined to be the only French king ever executed. Indeed, it is his death and his role in fomenting the French Revolution (along with his infamous queen, Marie Antoinette) that continue to play the central role in Louis XVI's legacy.

Centuries before the birth of the Prophet Muhammad, the leaders of Mecca established that their city was the pre-eminent holy site in western Arabia and established a truce for pilgrims to the city. One effect of this was that Mecca became a center for what might today be described as tourism. Of course, Mecca is now best known for being Islam's holiest city, revered as the birthplace of Muhammad and the site where Allah first revealed the Qu'ran to him. Within Mecca is the Ka'aba, a building housed within the Al-Masjid al-Haram (Great Mosque), considered the holiest site.

Most Americans are familiar with John Hancock solely because of his famous signature, and his name has become a slang phrase for signing a document. But his conspicuous signature on the Declaration of Independence has overshadowed the various and important contributions Hancock made in colonial Boston before the revolution, the Continental Congress during the revolution, and Massachusetts state politics after the revolution.

Dred Scott was an unlikely candidate to become the impetus and rallying cry of a brand-new political party in the mid-19th century. He was sold to US Army doctor John Emerson in St. Louis, Missouri. Emerson's commission brought him to the Wisconsin Territory in 1836, which was free territory where slavery was illegal. By 1840, Dred Scott had married another slave of Emerson's, and the couple had a child. Desperate to shake off the yoke of slavery, Scott sued for his freedom in Missouri, arguing that once he had entered free territory he could no longer be a slave.

If Dolley Madison was instrumental in molding the role of first lady in the 19th century, credit can be given to Eleanor Roosevelt for revolutionizing the political nature of the role in the 20th and 21st centuries and making it possible for presidents like Bill Clinton to enlist their wives to handle political duties.