In 480 B.C., an invading army captured Athens and destroyed the temples on the Acropolis of Athens — the “High City,” a natural, rock fortress in the heart of town. It took more than 40 years before the Athenians rebuilt and rededicated those temples. But it was worth the wait because the new Acropolis was crowned with a landmark in …
Ancient Uprisings that Changed the World
See my piece in the latest issue of MHQ.
Podcast on the Battle of Abbotabad
Battle of Abbotabad
Interview with the Ithaca Times on the Death of OBL
Cornell expert: Risky Bin Laden operation ‘great achievement,’ but terrorism remains – Ithaca Times : News By Rob Montana | Posted: Thursday, May 5, 2011 1:21 pm Like many Americans late Sunday night or early Monday morning, the news that Osama bin Laden was dead – and at the hands of U.S. forces – came as a shock to Cornell …
Germany Means Cars
Germany means cars. It wasn’t always so, I confess. When I was growing up and reading recent history, Germany meant trains to me. Trains – and the awful whistle of the engine on a one-way trip to a death camp. But times change. Today Germany is a staunch ally of Israel. Chabad Lubavitch, a worldwide Hasidic Jewish movement, has 14 …
The Stones of Antioch
Last June I contemplated one of history’s little ironies. It happened in Antioch. Today, Antioch is Antakya, a small and charming Turkish provincial town. But some two thousand years ago it was a Greek metropolis. In the second century B.C.E., Antioch was the capital of the mighty Syrian-Greek empire. It exercised a magnetic attraction over the elites of the east …
Our Bald Eagle
We had a new visitor on the Inlet this summer–a bald eagle, who, mornings, sat on a dead tree branch just across the water from the Cascadilla Boat Club boathouse. He made a majestic sentry as we headed out for a row. One morning, though, I noticed that he wasn’t there. I found him afterward, as I drove home after …
Goodbye to All That
It was the best rowing summer I’ve had in a long time, but it came to an early end. I woke up one morning in late September with a sore ankle. It turned out to be tendinitis. And it has stayed and stayed. Three weeks later I’ve graduated to an orthotic boot. While my ankle seems to be on the …
I’ve Been Reading Too Many Blogs
Why does so much of what I read on the Internet read something like this? Game on! Push came to shove but the other guy doubled down. No matter: they brought knives but we brought guns. What else could we do? We were roiling with conflicting emotions. Now, skeptics may scoff, but the real story here is the back story. …
Great Moments in Fighting Back
“Federal prosecutors are expected on Monday to request a judge’s permission to obtain DNA from Mr. Abdulmutallab [the alleged terrorist on Flight 253] to compare with DNA found on remains of the device taken from the aircraft.” –Wall Street Journal, Monday, December 28, 2009 Let’s not copy the Greeks’ and Romans’ brutality, but acts of war require a tougher response …