[Please note: this piece originally appeared in the Huffington Post, September 23, 2015] When Pope Francis arrives in the United States this week, he will be greeted with an extraordinary outpouring of affection and adulation. It will come not merely from Catholics, but also from among … [Read more...]
A Historian’s Defense of “Happy Holidays”
[NB: a version of this op-ed ran in the NY Daily News and Worcester Telegram in 2011] Here we go again. If it's December then it’s officially the beginning of that annual ritual established a few years ago — the month-long explosion of outrage on talk radio and cable TV over an alleged “War … [Read more...]