American history teacher, columnist, radio host, author of books on George Dewey, Audie Murphy, & the NEA. New bio of Alfred Thayer Mahan out now.
Joined May 2012
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My new bio of American naval thinker Alfred Thayer Mahan is now available from @USNIBooks. It’s the first full biography of Mahan in 50 years.
Late last year I began a series about the history of the Kennedy Center on my weekly radio show on @KWBU. Now is a good time to review that history. Here’s the SECOND installment:
kwbu.org/show/david-and-art/…
Here’s the first episode of the series: kwbu.org/show/david-and-art/…
🇺🇸The Fourth of July makes me think of four different American paintings. Three are ones you might suspect. The 4th is rather different but is the embodiment of a freedom without which the country ceases to exist. kwbu.org/show/david-and-art/…
Today in my “Global Power Dynamics” class @ the Center for European Studies @ Maastricht University we shifted our attention to Asia, looking at the assumptions about world order historically held by Japan & India, and looking into the notorious “Thucydides Trap.”@baylor_history
In day two of my “Global Power Dynamics” class at the Center for European Studies in Maastricht we talked through the idea of world order known after 1648 as the “Westphalian system” & the challenges facing the EU today as it attempts to act as a global great power…
Through his various deployments, American Navy Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan understood that points around the globe like Suez, Panama, and Malacca were critical to the global economy & would always draw the attention of Great Powers. #maritimestrategy @USNIBooks @BaylorHistory
The ongoing crisis at the Strait of Hormuz would not surprise Alfred Thayer Mahan at all. He understood how war was shaped by the relationship between sea power & economics. @baylor_history @USNIBooks #navalhistory #UShistory
One of the things I try to do in my new bio of Alfred Thayer Mahan is show how he’s guided by his conviction that principles of sea power are timeless, even as technology changes. #NavalHistory @Baylor_History @USNIBooks #history
In the long, long list of things I didn’t know, I didn’t know that the Cathedral of Reims has a series of Marc Chagall stained glass windows. They’re stunning.
My show this week on @KWBU remembers the great jazzman Sonny Rollins who died last week at age 95. kwbu.org/show/david-and-art/…
@BaylorHistory #jazz
David A. Smith retweeted
Texas' only licensed Hindi, Punjabi, and Urdu legal interpreter is now languishing in a Raymondville detention center. She’s lived in America for 35 years: texasobserver.org/immigratio…
David A. Smith retweeted
As CBS retreats from radio - which 233 million Americans use - NPR remains on and the audience is up.
The main CBS product was a short hourly newscast.
NPR’s hourly news is on your local station - and also available on demand! Hit Play on the NPR app
apps.apple.com/us/app/npr-na…
David A. Smith retweeted
The single greatest threat to religion in the world isn’t secularism or atheism.
It is religious people contradicting their religion by justifying evil, moral depravity, greed, selfishness, arrogance, hatred, and even the use of violence to preserve their religion.
David A. Smith retweeted
One of the most successful deceptions of our time was getting many Americans to fear diversity more than racism, equality more than misogyny, democracy more than fascism, immigrants more than authoritarians, the poor more than corrupt billionaires, and empathy more than cruelty.
David A. Smith retweeted
Texas voters have until Feb. 27 to vote early in the state’s primaries. Election day is March 3.
To help voters make informed decisions, the Tribune has pulled together comprehensive voter guides and reporting. Here’s what you need to know. 🧵
David A. Smith retweeted
A simple message with big meaning: "I am somebody." We are grateful to Rev. Jesse Jackson for helping teach generations of children to believe in themselves and in one another. Thank you for being part of our neighborhood. 💛💚
David A. Smith retweeted
These people are so allergic to taxing billionaires that instead of asking Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk to pay a little bit more in taxes, they're asking 150 million people to spend another year of their precious lives working.
Dr Oz: "If we could get the average American to start working a year earlier, right out of high school, or a year later -- not retire -- or work better during their lifetime because they're healthy, it would generate about $3 trillion to the US economy. That would more than remove the debt."
David A. Smith retweeted
The Washington Post has been not just a great newspaper, but a critical force in American conversation and life.
Those of use who love the city of Washington know how much we have needed the Post.
What is happening there today is gutting. Thinking of all the friends I love and admire there.