May 8, 2007
Truman was the 33rd president of the US who is remembered for his decision to drop the Atomic Bomb and for his opposition to Communism. A Democrat who largely accepted the New Deal tradition, he presided over victory in WWII and the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe. His administration also oversaw the beginning of the Cold War, the 2nd Red Scare, and the desegregation of the armed forces. What American sayings did he popularize?
May 7, 2007
Eva Peron was an actress who became a political and cultural icon as the wife of President Juan Peron and had an enormous impact on the life of Argentina during the 1940s-50s. Commonly known by the affectionate diminutive Evita, she presided over the creation of the Eva Peron Foundation, a charitable organization that built homes and schools for women and the poor and ensured that all citizens had equal access to healthcare. What sector of government blocked her 1951 bid for vice president?
May 6, 2007
Sigmund Freud founded psychoanalysis, a system of interpretation and therapeutic treatment of psychological disorders based on the idea of the unconscious. Psychoanalysis attributes neurosis to the barring of libidinal ideations from consciousness, and, as a means of treatment, it proposes that patients become aware of these unconscious thoughts through the free association of ideas. According to Freud, what are
Eros and
Thanatos?
May 5, 2007
Kierkegaard was a Danish philosopher and theologian who is often recognized as the first existentialist philosopher. The dominant theme of his writings is that "truth is subjectivity." In his aesthetic works, he develops an "existential dialectic" in opposition to the Hegelian dialectic, and in his religious writings, he deals with issues such as the nature of faith and the institution of the Christian church. Why did Kierkegaard publish many of his earlier works under pseudonyms?
May 4, 2007
Hosni Mubarak is the fourth President of the Arab Republic of Egypt. He was appointed Vice-President of the Republic after ascending the ranks of the Egyptian Air Force, and he became President after Anwar Sadat was assassinated on October 6, 1981. During his tenure, he has focused on combating economic problems and containing trends toward fundamentalist Islam. He is considered to be one of the most powerful leaders in the region. How many times has he been re-elected?
May 3, 2007
Machiavelli was a Florentine author and statesman, and one of the outstanding figures of the Renaissance. He became acquainted with politics through his important diplomatic missions. His best-known work,
The Prince (1532), describes the means by which a prince may gain and maintain power. The adjective "Machiavellian" has come to be a synonym for amoral cunning and for justification by power, but Machiavelli placed a number of restrictions on evil actions; what were they?
May 2, 2007
Herzl was the founder of modern Zionism. A journalist, he was sent to Paris to report on the Dreyfus Affair and was appalled by the vicious anti-Semitism he observed. He decided that Jewish assimilation in Europe was impossible and that the only solution to the Jewish problem was the establishment of a Jewish national state. He expressed his ideas in his famous pamphlet,
Der Judenstaat, and organized the first Zionist World Congress, serving as its first president. Where is he buried?
May 1, 2007
Woo is a Chinese film director known for the ballet-like violence in his movies, which belong to a genre originating in Hong Kong called "heroic bloodshed." He grew up in the slums of Hong Kong where, as a child, he witnessed a man being killed on his front steps. He gained international recognition with
The Killer and moved to the US in the early 1990s, where he has since directed
Windtalkers and many other movies. What is his favorite film of all time?
April 30, 2007
Joachim von Ribbentrop was the foreign minister of Nazi Germany from 1938-1945 who helped negotiate the German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact of 1939. Ribbentrop was found to have had culpability in the Holocaust on the grounds that he persuaded the leaders of satellite countries of the Third Reich to deport Jews to Nazi extermination camps. He was convicted of war crimes at Nuremberg and hanged in 1946. What were his last words?
April 29, 2007
Duke Ellington was an American jazz musician and composer. Among his best-known short works are "Mood Indigo," "Solitude," and "Sophisticated Lady." He also wrote jazz works of complex orchestration for concert presentation and composed religious music, including three sacred concerts. Ellington toured Europe extensively, appeared in numerous jazz festivals and several films, and made hundreds of recordings. In 1969, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. What was his real name?
