THE PROMISE: PRESIDENT OBAMA, YEAR ONE JONATHAN ALTER Simon & Schuster 458 pages, hardcover $36.00 CDN Jonathan Alter's new book, The Promise (2010) is a thorough, presently unrivalled assessment of the forty-fourth president of the United States of America's transitional and troubled first year in office. The title is drawn from a recurring theme throughout Barack Obama's presidential campaign, culminating in his acceptance speech at the Democratic Convention in 2008 where, as Alter relates, he used the word nineteen times. Of course, it ...More »

Yesterday brought us news of a second surprise event in parliamentary democracy in as many months: Australia’s governing party entertained a leadership challenge within its own caucus and replaced its leader -- and, in turn, the country’s prime minister. The leadership challenge came outside of any apparent crisis or election and took less than a day to resolve. The Associated Press’ Rod McGuirk writes: Kevin Rudd’s deputy, Julia Gillard, was elected leader in an uncontested vote about 12 ...More »

After quite the lengthy fuss our friends in the United Kingdom have a two-party power-sharing coalition arrangement, a new government, and -- as of yesterday -- parliament back to work with the selection of a speaker. So, what did we learn? Not much, apparently. Our American friends seemed pleased to have a source of political news that didn't involve rambunctious Republicans or their fickle filibuster. But their coverage was based more on contrast than curiosity. Keith Olbermann seemed ...More »

Over the next few months, I am going to offer the first in a running series of short book reviews. Reviews will appear at least once a month and be no more than a thousand words each. Ideally, they will be much closer to five hundred words but books vary in breadth and scope and reviews should, too. Most of what I read revolves around current research projects, but I tend to wander beyond my areas ...More »

"What You Should Have Said" will be another occasional series on this site wherein I offer a factual reality check and second draft of remarks made by a public or political figure regarding any number of issues or recent events. The Globe and Mail's Bill Curry offers the following quote from Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper on yesterday's UK election in today's Ottawa Notebook: 'I've been managing what they call a hung Parliament for four-and-a-half years now. ...More »

Keep the conventional wisdom to yourself: representative parliamentary democracy isn't about winning; it's about governing. And despite the fact that media in the United Kingdom and all across the globe have fixated on the tight race in yesterday's general election by forecasting a hung parliament, it doesn't mean they exist. That's right: hung parliaments are a myth. What isn't a myth is the abundant supply of partisan members of parliament with an unfounded sense of entitlement who ...More »

Starting today, I will be writing a monthly column for ActiveHistory.ca. My posts will primarily explore history and the internet by drawing on some of the more recent debates, services, sites, and web trends that might be relevant or particularly useful to the historical community in general. My first post, for example, explores how short URLs could potentially rein in run-away links in things like course materials, endnotes/footnotes, and finding aides both online and off. I've been keeping ...More »

I became a news junkie the year before starting university. I know that hardly sounds unusual in 2010, where the latest web and tech trends conspire to make all of us information-news junkies of one variety or another, but in 2003 it meant going a little out of your way to keep up with things. It was just before the "blogosphere" was invited to join cable news and before the aggregators compiled every little development, from all ...More »

"Books You Don't Own But Should" will be an occasional series on this site wherein I haughtily lambaste you for not yet owning specific titles from a wide range of genres and disciplines. You should act on these recommendations as though they were an immediate withdrawal on your credit account of choice by proceeding to your nearest retailer of choice. Disclaimer (1): there will be no bonus, of any sort, should you, by some ...More »

Kaki King is one of the best guitarists around and one of my favourite musicians. Her latest album, Junior (2010) dropped this Tuesday and it's quite good. You'll find it a bit heavier and up tempo than her last album, Dreaming of Revenge (2008) but you won't mind at all. She tore up Late Night with Jimmy Fallon last night. Here's the video: More »