By Michael Collins Piper. The real bosses of organized crime in America have found the legend of Al Capone a convenient cover to redirect public attention from their activities. Even the most cursory examination of any substantial scholarly literature on the topic of organized crime suggests that the story of organized crime in America remains largely unknown. Forget about the legend of “the Mafia.” Here are the facts.
By Richard J. McGowan. Watergate was more than the fall of Richard Nixon. Historians have had 30 years to dissect the diverse assortment of backgrounds, psyches and political nuances that were arrayed for the scandal to flow and ebb—from G. Gordon Liddy and the Cubans to Nixon and his acolytes and the various prosecutors.
By Henry M. Littlefield. L. Frank Baum’s series of 14 Oz books, from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in 1900 to the posthumous publication of Glinda of Oz in 1920, was phenomenally successful. However, the series has been either attacked or ignored by librarians and critics. The books were removed from the Detroit Public Library in 1957 because, in the words of the library’s director, “There is nothing uplifting or elevating about the Baum series.”
By Robert K. Logan. Juan Perón and his wife Evita have been lionized by some, while they have been accused of many evil things by others. Were the Peróns really so bad? Or have they merely been smeared because the populist Perón was not unfriendly to the Third Reich?
By M. Raphael Johnson. Ukraine is little studied, known or understood in the West. Some claim she is a part of Russia, others Poland; others deny her a unique cultural status or even deny a unified “Ukrainian” culture. Others know nothing of her at all.
By Stephen J. Martin. Even the establishment now admits that Leif Eriksson and other Vikings reached at least as far as what is now Canada and made settlements there. But controversy continues to surround claims that the Vikings penetrated to Minnesota, perhaps by way of Hudson Bay. The main evidence that they may have done so is the Kensington Rune Stone (KRS). But the stone has been widely pooh-poohed. Is it real or is it a fake?
By M. Raphael Johnson. “I conclude then that since fortune changes, and men stubbornly continue to behave in the same way, men flourish when their behavior suits the times and fail when they are out of step. I do think, however, that it is better to be headstrong than cautious, for fortune is a lady. It is necessary, if you want to master her, to beat and strike her.” —The Prince, Chapter 25, page 76.
By Stephen J. Martin. In 1839, the United States was nearly drawn into her third major war within 60 years against Great Britain. But instead, the “Aroostook War” turned out to be a phony war. From a patriotic viewpoint, a real war—for a variety of reasons—probably should have been fought.
By J.S. Slaymaker. Kennewick Man is said by scientists to be one of the most ancient human remains thus far unearthed in America and was radiocarbon dated to be about 9,400 years old, and appears to be Caucasiod, rather than Monogloid in origin. The national media is almost at a loss for words as, due to the unexpected discovery of such inconvenient facts, their own historically tainted doctrines of political correctness now hang in the balance.
By M. Raphael Johnson. The life of Rudolf Hess constitutes one of the glaring examples of myth within the study of World War II and beyond. In the orgy of demonization that brought on and sustained World War I and its aftermath, Rudolf Hess’s memory needed to be effaced from the earth. His mission to Britain for peace, according to the Nuremberg Trials, was a “war crime” for which Hess needed to be punished.