Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World. By Margaret MacMillan. Random House. 570 pp. $35
The Louisiana Purchase wasn't just the largest real estate deal in U.S. history. It forever altered the way America sees itself.
Technology now allows individuals to trace their genetic ancestry and claim an identity. That same process of genetic tracing might have less benign consequences for the larger society.
In Iran, where the failing government is Islamic, the colors of protest are of varying and often subtle secular hues.
As the influence of traditional religions wanes, Europeans feel a yearning for spiritual forces they do not control.
The word secular in India now signifies an approach that has crippled a great nation by suppressing its basic impulses.
"Financing Politics: A Global View" by Michael Pinto-Duschinsky, in Journal of Democracy (Oct. 2002), 1101 15th St., N.W., Ste. 800, Washington, D.C. 20005.
"The NGO Scramble: Organizational Insecurity and the Political Economy of Transnational Action" by Alexander Cooley and James Ron, International Security (Summer 2002), 5 Cambridge Center, 4th Fl., Cambridge, Mass. 02142–1493.