History
Why Do Nations Fail?
Boston Globe • March 2012
SEVERAL CENTURIES ago, there was a nation that rose to become a world power on the strength of its innovation and its dedication to capitalist
Read more →Did the Solutreans settle America first?
Boston Globe • March 2012
===== IMPORTANT NOTE. In the years since I first wrote this, the "Solutrean" hypothesis has been widely and convincingly rejected by archeologists. See here for
Read more →History and the Decline of Human Violence
Mind Matters • October 2011
Steven Pinker, a professor of psychology at Harvard University, is the author of the best-selling books, “How the Mind Works,” and “The Blank Slate.” But
Read more →Why Japan Surrendered
Boston Globe • August 2011
What ended World War II? For nearly seven decades, the American public has accepted one version of the events that led to Japan's surrender. By the
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Untangling the Mystery of the Inca
Wired • January 2007
Incan civilization was a technological marvel. When the Spanish conquistadors arrived in 1532, they found an empire that spanned nearly 3,000 miles, from present-day Ecuador
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