Smithsonian Books & Reviews

Missiles Over Tskhinvali

Last summer, Russia and Georgia came to blows. Tbilisi’s pro-American president believed NATO would protect him in a fight with the big, bad bear.

The Green in the Machine

As the debate over global warming gets vicious yet again, climate expert David Victor explains the real unknowns and real solutions.

Of Skulls and Buttocks

Europeans came to believe everything beautiful emanated from the Caucasus. The journey of their swarthy Mediterranean forebears was transformed into a caricature of the white marble statues they left behind.

The New Cold War Debate

Nations, like people, view their past through emotional and psychological prisms. The normal course is for national history to become heroic myth--a saga of obstacles overcome, evil vanquished, national character triumphant.

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May 26, 2012