United States

William H. Seward or Salmon P. Chase?

This -- in addition to being the most arcane, nerdy question I've ever typed -- is the crucial choice Senator Clinton now faces. Seward and Chase shared the indignity of losing their party's nomination to a relatively inexperienced opponent. That opponent, a guy...

With our kids, we have this ritual we go through to help them steady themselves when the enormity of climbing a tree or learning to ride a two-wheeler gets them a bit frazzled.

"What's the first rule of tree-climbing?" we ask.

"Don't panic," they answer and compose...

He did it to Arbusto Energy in the '70s, to Spectrum 7 and Harken Energy in the '80s. Enormous debt. Selling his shares to foreigners just days before a negative report on losses, leaving the other shareholders to shoulder the burden.

Now, he's done it to the United States of...

Today, March 8, is the 100th Women's Day -- "International Women's Day" -- and it has been little noted in New York City despite having been born here.

One hundred years ago today 15,000 women workers marched down Fifth Avenue. Many of their goals were advanced by the largely...

Oh Canada. Americans look up to you, both literally and figuratively. But your laid-back-ness and refusal to offend the powers that be in Washington can make us cringe--as it did last week when you redacted the United States from your torture manual.

You know that we Americans love lists, except,...

A fun mental exercise for foreign policy enthusiasts: watch a Republican debate. Now hit your stopwatch and see how long it takes for one (or all) to bring up World War III or Hitler. Usually it's a matter of minutes. If you're lucky, someone just might bring up the "gates...

Ever since John Kennedy won a Pulitzer for Profiles in Courage, presidential candidates have written books. They range from vacuous policy tomes to memoirs meant to inspire to a book by John Edwards about people's houses. I didn't quite get Edwards' point but his central theme -- there's no place...