Soviet Union

Most of us are familiar with the infamous “vanishing commissar” photo of Stalin and Nikolai Yezhov, the secret police official who organized mass arrests, torture, and executions in the Soviet Union in the late 1930s, but was himself later…

“Barbieheimer” weekend went off with a $235.5 million bang. Or did it go up in a fiery mushroom cloud? Well, that depends on who you are and which of the blockbuster movies you saw. The “Barbie” reviews were a mixed bag. Critics loved it.…

Growing up in our post-third-wave feminism world, I always assumed egalitarians wanted to empower women. But as I witness male athletes celebrated for their participation in competitive women’s sports, I see nothing more destructive to…

What does it mean to be “banned” in the year 2023? Before the Civil War, southern states banned abolitionist literature. That ban meant that postmasters (illegally!) searched the mail, seized anti-slavery tracts, and…

This May 8, we celebrate V-E Day, Victory in Europe Day, marking the Third Reich’s unconditional surrender to Allied forces. Though this day commemorates a triumph over one of the evilest regimes in history, we owe it to the people of…

Americans are living through the 1970s all over again. Race riots have returned with a vengeance, inner-city crime is once again the norm, runaway inflation has re-emerged as an economic antagonist, and embarrassing foreign policy failures…

Sightings of unidentified aerial phenomena have begun to sweep the nation in a fever reminiscent of the flying saucer wave of the mid-20th century. Just as the United States was in a Cold War with the Soviet Union at the time of the 1947…

The notorious KGB chairman Yuri Andropov recruited Mikhail Gorbachev, cultivated him, and placed him in the Kremlin leadership to ultimately take power. Once he led the Soviet Communist Party, Andropov’s recruit protected and rewarded the…

The Economist contends that Mikhail Gorbachev, who died this week at the age of 91, “liberated his people from 70 years of lies and ended the cold war.” Reuters says Gorbachev “brought communism to an end.” Other similar hagiographies of…