49: Regarding the Past

Introduction: Past Imperfect

Charlie Bertsch, John Brady
Some analysts have begun comparing the Clinton Era to that golden age of postwar American prosperity, the sustained boom of the 1950s and 60s.

20th Century Blues

J.C. Myers
Genuine nostalgia must really be one's own: the shaded memories from childhood on up.

New Year's Eve in Berlin: Firecrackers, Fascist Light Shows, and Witnessing History in the Haupstadt

John Brady
In the spirit of the dawning corporate millennium, Berlin's city fathers contracted out the organization of the city's official New Year's festivities to a private firm.

Drat! Just When It Was Getting Fun to Be a Social Democrat Again!

John Leslie
The SPD Party Congress still means three days of esoteric debate interrupted only by ritual incantation, expensive coffee, and German food.

Inside the Goldfish: Myth and Impersonation in Switzerland

Thomas Barfuss
Myths and peoples attitudes towards them aren't only a private matter, of course. They play a very important role in the politics of a society, too.

Remembering the Ways of War

Joel Schalit
When I was a child, I never collected toys or baseball cards. I shied away from team sports, hated disco and never worried about how I looked. War was the only thing I ever thought about.

Reclaiming the Legend: Godzilla Goes Home

Robert Hamilton
Godzilla represented America in both the scope of power that the beast possessed, and the damage that it inflicted on the country. The film tapped directly into deep-seated fears and the feeling of helplessness facing many in post-war Japan.

Smells Like False Consciousness: Fragments of a Conversation on Woodstock '99

James Klausen
At least one of the aromas of false consciousness is suspiciously evocative of shit.

The FSM Café: History, Memory, and the Political Legacy of Coffee

Tomás Sandoval, Jr., Jason Ferreira
In the fall of 1964, students at the University of California's flagship campus rose in protest and began what is now famously known as the Free Speech Movement (FSM).

The Day I Met Richard Nixon

Robert Shaw
To mark the opening of the new dam, Richard Nixon was coming to town, and he was stopping by the high school. I didn't know who Richard Nixon was other than that he was the Vice-President.