“I've been reading about and writing about the Civil War period and it is so striking that slavery was never made right - [Abraham] Lincoln was killed, Reconstruction came along, and all of that inequity was frozen in place and carried forward rather smugly. So I think the burden is now upon us white people, to say that this systemic inequality offends us.” PeopleThinkingWritingMadeWarReadingWhitePeriodsSlaveryBurdenInequalityCivil WarFrozenAbrahamReconstruction Author:George Saunders
“What happened in Ukraine? The coup d'état in Ukraine has led to a civil war, because, yes, let's say, many Ukrainians no longer trusted President Yanukovych. However, they should have legitimately come to the polls and voted for another head of state instead of staging a coup d'état. And after the coup d'état took place, someone supported it, someone was satisfied with it, while others were not. And those who did not like it were treated from the position of force. And that led to a civil war.” ShouldWarStatesForcePresidentHappenedPositionShould HaveSatisfiedTreatedCivil WarTrustedPollsUkraineCoupsHead Of StateStaging Author:Vladimir Putin
“[Cesar] Vallejo was at least metaphorically killed by fascist forces, in the sense that he wore himself out raising funds for the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War and got sick and died.” WarForceRepublicanSickDiedCivil WarFundFascistsSpanish Civil War Author:Robert Hass
“The Fourteenth Amendment, after the civil war, in principle brought former slaves into the category of persons, theoretically. But if you actually look, almost all the cases brought up for personal rights under the Fourteenth Amendment were by corporations. Freed slaves couldn't do it. In fact they were pretty much driven back into something like slavery by a north - south compact, that allowed former slave states to criminalize black life, which made a criminal force that was basically used as a forced labor force, up until the 1930s.” IfsLooksPersonsMadeWarStatesFactsUsedForceBlackPrinciplesCasesRightsLaborSlaverySlaveSouthDrivenCriminalsFormerCorporationsCivil WarCategoriesAmendments1930sCompactBlack LivesLabor ForcePersonal RightsFourteenth Amendment Author:Noam Chomsky
“I don't know that a movie like Doctor Strange couldn't have been the second or third film we made. I don't think we're doing anything in that requires past viewing, as opposed to Civil War which we wouldn't have done as the first or second movie because so much of that film is based on the pre-existing relationships between the characters.” ThinkingKnowsFirstsHas BeensMadeWarDoneCharacterPastFilmStrangeDoctorsThirdsCivil War Author:Kevin Feige
“We still have to realize that if you are say a historian of the Civil War, you don’t know anything special about say Columbus or for that matter the 20th century. You are a consumer of that information, especially if it’s stuff like Columbus and the American Indians. That information isn’t even in history, much of it. Much of it is in anthropology or archeology.” IfsKnowsStillsWarMatterStuffRealizingSpecialCenturyInformationConsumersCivil WarHistorian20th CenturyAnthropologyAmerican IndianColumbusArcheology Author:James W. Loewen
“Nobody would ever want to read a textbook about the Civil War and then interrupt that for two pages about water rights in the west.” WantTwoWarWaterRightsPagesWestCivil WarTextbooks Author:James W. Loewen
“You know, it's trying to put toothpaste back in the tube. Not only are there a lot of outsiders intervening but this also involves a vicious internal war. There are many who believe the Alawites will fight to the death because they believe that, should they lose power, the majority would take, would show no compassion for them. They ruled that country for a long time, ruthlessly. It is a vicious civil war that makes one want to cry every day.” KnowsWantShouldTryingBelieveLongWarCountryShowsFightingLosesCompassionCryLong TimeMajorityCivil WarInternalsOutsidersViciousTubesToothpasteInterveningNo Compassion Author:John Kasich
“We've just let too many things happen. And now, try to turn around and fix it. Getting involved in a [Syria] civil war directly was never something I thought made sense.” TryingMadeWarHappensTurnsInvolvedThings HappenCivil WarSyria Author:John Kasich
“My ancestors came over from Germany about the time of the Civil War and one of them lost a leg and went back to Germany.” WarLostLegsCivil WarGermanyAncestor Author:Kurt Vonnegut
“I picked up this book called Blue Mountain, supposed to be a really good book on the Civil War.” BookWarMountainBlueSupposed To BeCivil WarGood Book Author:Max Lucado
“Syria will remain a hotbed of terrorism as long as the civil war, aided and abetted by the Iranians and the Russians, continue.” LongWarTerrorismCivil WarSyria Author:Hillary Clinton
“Even [Ernst] Hemingway, perhaps the most intentionally non-political of American writers, became passionately partisan during the Spanish Civil War.” WarPoliticalCivil WarPartisansAmerican WriterSpanish Civil WarNon Political Author:Adam Hochschild
“Rich countries do civil wars with tweets and votes.” WarCountryRichVoteCivil WarTweetRich Countries Author:Van Jones
“In countries where there are real civil wars, people go through a lot, and we should be willing to go through a lot to help them.” PeopleShouldWarRealCountryHelpingWillingCivil War Author:Van Jones
“Libya faces along to the Mediterranean and had been effectively the cork in the bottle of Africa. So all problems, economic problems and civil war in Africa - previously people fleeing those problems didn't end up in Europe because Libya policed the Mediterranean. That was said explicitly at the time, back in early 2011 by [Muammar] Gaddafi: 'What do these Europeans think they're doing, trying to bomb and destroy the Libyan State? There's going to be floods of migrants out of Africa and jihadists into Europe, and this is exactly what happened.” PeopleThinkingTryingSaidWarEndsStatesProblemFacesHappenedEconomicEuropeCivil WarBombsBottlesFloodLibyaMigrantsFleeingEconomic ProblemsCorkGaddafiMuammar Gaddafi Author:Julian Assange
“When I wrote about the Spanish Civil War many years later, I used documents that I picked up when I was a child, as a lot hadn't been published (a lot more resources are available now).” YearsChildrenWarUsedResourcesAvailableCivil WarDocumentsSpanish Civil War Author:Noam Chomsky
“That was my big break [Lonesome Dove]. My first real kind of adult role on something really well-written. It was a spin-off of the miniseries, and I played Col. Mosby, a very dangerous, Southern colonel in post-Civil War, wandering the West.” FirstsWellsKindWarRealBigsRolesBreakWrittenDangerousAdultsWestWanderPostsCivil WarSouthernDoveWell WrittenLonesomeColonelsLonesome Dove Author:Eric McCormack
“I may be a descendant of Seth. I say to myself, What does [the story of Cain and Abel] teach me? So I go back to all the interpretations in the Talmud, which to me are a source of pleasure and joy. Then I say, maybe this story is not for then; maybe it's for now! It's possible for brothers to kill one another in civil wars. But most important, whoever kills, kills his brother. That's a moral conclusion that may not be there; but that must be my conclusion. Otherwise, why read it? Whoever kills, kills his brother.” MayDoeImportantWarStoriesJoyPleasureMoralTeachBrotherSourceConclusionCivil WarInterpretationDescendantsCainAbelCain And Abel Author:Elie Wiesel
“Syria is a civil war. Syria began as a popular uprising, just like the other experiences in the Arab Spring, with a repressive government that responded by basically killing the protesters. It's not a genocide, it's a war, and there's a difference. Genocide is a preplanned attack on people because of who they are. This is a interstate conflict.” PeopleWarGovernmentDifferencesConflictSpringKillingCivil WarGenocideSyriaUprisingArab SpringInterstate Author:Susan Rice
“You'd have civil war. You'd have a race war in this country.” WarCountryRaceCivil War Author:Malcolm X
“I know [Arthur Koestler] fought in the Spanish Civil War. He was in prison, I think, in Spain and in Russia. He came to the United States; that's when I saw him in the mid-1940s.” ThinkingKnowsWarStatesUnitedUnited StatesSawsPrisonRussiaCivil WarSpainArthurSpanish Civil War Author:Nat Hentoff
“I covered the Lebanese civil war. I could see a place that had once been prosperous and now was impoverished. I'm not seeing that in America.” WarAmericaSeeingCivil WarCoveredProsperousLebanese Author:P. J. O'Rourke
“I'm reading "Team of Rivals'' I'll probably ending up reading a bunch of books about the Civil War. But I think my all-time favorite book about the war is the novel, "The Killer Angels'' by Michael Shaara.” ThinkingBookWarReadingNovelTeamAngelBunchAll TimeCivil WarKillersRivalsFavorite BookAll Time Favorite Author:Dave Barry
“I'm working on a script right about Civil War re-enactors who go back in time to the actual Civil War. It's kind of a big, crazy Back to the Future comedy. So, of course, it's the Civil War - I play the banjo. I was just having a conversation with one of the producers about some of the material and he was like, 'You know, we have to work in a scene where you play the banjo. And I was like I'll get behind that.” KnowsKindWarPlayBigsCoursesBehindsComedyCrazyMaterialsLike YouSceneConversationScriptsProducersCivil WarBack In TimeBanjosGo Back In Time Author:Ed Helms
“I grew up in Georgia and I think if you're raised in the South it's where a lot of the war was fought, and it's just more present in the sort of psyche of the South. So I've always just been interested and sort of fascinated by [Civil War].” IfsThinkingWarGrewGrew UpSouthRaisedCivil WarFascinatedGeorgiaRaised In The South Author:Ed Helms
“I think the culture of Civil War re-enacting is also incredibly fascinating.” ThinkingWarCultureCivil WarFascinating Author:Ed Helms
“It's a fascinating culture [the South in the Civil War period] and so rife with comedic possibilities. And not in a way that...I have no intention of making fun of re-enactors. I think it's more just a celebration of their passion and enthusiasm, which is so infectious and maybe at times a little misguided.” ThinkingWayLittlesWarCulturePassionFunPossibilityPeriodsIntentionSouthEnthusiasmCivil WarFascinatingCelebrationComedicMisguided Author:Ed Helms
“People like to make fun of the fans who camp out but people have renaissance fairs; people do Civil War re-enactments; people do what they like. I'm tired of hearing people rage on the fans. If you don't like Twilight, don't buy a ticket.” PeopleIfsWarFunFansFairsTiredHearingRageCivil WarCampsTwilightTicketsRenaissanceI'm Tired Author:Anna Kendrick
“I would agree that much with people who accept private property - that conscription is an unpardonable transgression, whether it be "corrupt" or not. The Spanish anarchists opposed conscription during the civil war in Spain as a gross expropriation of property, the most precious property that we have, our own physical beings themselves.” PeopleWarAcceptingAgreePropertyCivil WarSpainGrossAnarchistPrivate PropertyTransgressionConscriptionDuring The Civil War Author:Murray Bookchin
“I went through the communist children's movement at the age of nine, in 1930, and into the Young Communist League in 1936. The Spanish civil war brought me back. I'd already broken with the communists - or the Stalinists, more precisely - in 1935. But the civil war in Spain and the desire to aid the remarkable people struggling against Fascism brought me back to the Young Communist League, so that I could effectively participate, however far removed from Spain, in their struggle. By 1938 I was ready to be expelled. By 1939 I was expelled.” PeopleChildrenWarAgeYoungDesireStruggleMovementReadyBrokenAidsNineLeagueCivil WarRemarkableCommunistFascismSpain1930sSpanish Civil War Author:Murray Bookchin
“Nothing will turn you into a Civil War buff like five years of reading. Some of the letters that people wrote from that time are so deep and so beautifully articulate. And you realize, especially with the stuff that's going on now in America, that it's always been chaos - people were disagreeing at least as much as they are now and 20,000 people would die in a day. It's the scale that's amazing, and also the proximity to our own time.” PeopleYearsWarAmericaDiesTurnsReadingStuffRealizingFiveLettersChaosScalesCivil WarFive YearsProximity Author:George Saunders
“I can't say with certainty that slavery would have ended more quickly and more completely if the South had been allowed to leave and escaped former slaves had been allowed to remain free, and the North and the rest of the world had been a positive influence on the South. However, it's certainly a possibility that it would have ended sooner if the southern slave owners had agreed to a system of compensated emancipation and freed the slaves without a war and without secession, as most nations that ended slavery did. That absolutely would have been preferable to the Civil War as it happened.” IfsWorldHas BeensI CanWarNationsHappenedInfluencePossibilitySlaverySlaveSouthCertaintyFormerCivil WarOwnersSouthernEmancipationSecessionPositive InfluenceSlave Owners Author:David Swanson
“Steve Bannon is the biggest threat to democracy that we've faced since the Civil War, but in the Civil War the champion of democracy was in the White House. So, even then, we were probably in less danger as a country than we are right now.” WarCountryHouseWhiteDemocracyDangerRight NowThreatChampionCivil WarWhite House Author:Van Jones
“In the last couple of years before Chairman Mao's death he said that the "Cultural Revolution" had been wrong on two counts: one was "overthrowing all", and the other was waging a "full-scale civil war". These two counts alone show that the "Cultural Revolution" cannot be called correct. Chairman Mao's mistake was a political mistake, and not a small one.” YearsSaidTwoWarShowsLastsPoliticalMistakeRevolutionCoupleScalesCivil WarChairmanMaoChairman Mao Author:Deng Xiaoping
“The 14th Amendment was passed after the Civil War to apply to former slaves to ensure that they are treated like all other citizens. It never did have anything to do with gay marriage. It was never intended to have anything to do with gay marriage or animal marriage or any other kind of social contract. It was specific to slavery, and after the Civli War.” KindWarSocialAnimalCitizensGaySlaverySlaveTreatedFormerCivil WarContractsAmendmentsGay MarriageSocial Contract14th Amendment Author:Rush Limbaugh
“The American tradition of foreign policy exceptionalism, our grand strategy as a nation, reaches back much further. Really at the turn - the end of the 19th century, when we achieved power a generation after the Civil War, the outlines of an American vision came into focus, and what we - it was based on two things. One, our realization that our values and our interests were the same, and that our business interests would advance as our values advanced in the world.” WorldTwoWarEndsValuesTurnsNationsInterestVisionFocusGenerationsCenturyPolicyTraditionStrategyRealizationCivil WarTwo ThingsForeign PolicyOutlines19th CenturyExceptionalismAmerican Tradition Author:Daniel Fried
“The Civil War was fought, in a sense, over whether that sentence - all men are created equal - is to be taken literally. And the southerners in the 1850s argued that it was not.” MenWarTakenEqualSentencesCivil WarSoutherner Author:Daniel Fried
“A lot of the people in history who I really admire lived before the hyperinformation age we're living in. Even if they were governing or solving problems in consequential periods, like the Civil War or the world wars or the Great Depression or the Cold War, they had a period of time and space to actually think, to be private and you read their biographies, and they had time to think about what was happening and how to respond. I don't think human nature has changed in the last 50-150 years, but the stresses, the demands on those of us in public life have just exploded.” PeopleIfsThinkingWorldYearsHumansWarProblemAgeLastsSpaceHuman NatureChangedColdPeriodsDemandHappeningsStressAdmireWar Of The WorldsCivil WarProblem SolvingCold WarBiographiesTime And SpaceGoverningPublic LifeGreat DepressionTime To Think Author:Hillary Clinton
“I have members of my immediate family, and my wife's immediate family, who voted for Donald Trump, and now there's this gulf that I have no interest in bridging however much I love those people. It's almost like the Civil War.” PeopleWarInterestWifeTrumpMembersMy WifeCivil WarImmediate Family Author:Steve Erickson
“There are millions of white Americans today who still can barely bring themselves to acknowledge that the Civil War, with its twin Americas locked in a death match, was about slavery. They'll argue it was about economics, and they're right only because one of those economies was a slave economy. They'll argue it was about culture, and they're right only because one of those cultures was a slave culture.” StillsWarTodayCultureWhiteMillionsEconomyEconomicsSlaverySlaveArguingAcknowledgeCivil WarLockedTwins Author:Steve Erickson
“The important thing is Burma needs to end the civil war and for this to happen both sides must want to end the war.” WantNeedsImportantWarEndsHappensSidesImportant ThingsCivil WarBoth SidesBurma Author:Aung San Suu Kyi
“I think in many ways, the Spanish Civil War was the first battle of World War II. After all, where else in the world at this point did you have Americans in uniform who were being bombed by Nazi planes four years before the U.S. entered World War II? Hitler and Mussolini jumped in on the side of Francisco Franco and his Spanish nationalists, sent them vast amounts of military aid, airplanes, tanks - and Mussolini sent 80,000 ground troops as well - because they wanted a sympathetic ally in power. So I think it really was the opening act of World War II.” ThinkingWorldWayYearsFirstsWellsWarWantedSidesFourMilitaryAmountBattleAidsOpeningPlanesWar Of The WorldsCivil WarAlliesWorld War IiFour YearsAirplaneWorld War ITroopsUniformsNaziTanksSympatheticFrancoSpanish Civil WarFrancisco Franco Author:Adam Hochschild
“Some 2,800 Americans went to Spain [during the Spanish Civil War], and it was, by far, the largest number of Americans before or since who've ever joined somebody else's civil war. I think they were primarily people who were deeply alarmed by the menace of fascism. They saw this on the horizon. I quote one volunteer, Maury Colow of New York, who said, "for us it was never Franco, it was always Hitler."” PeopleThinkingSaidWarNumbersSawsNew YorkCivil WarHorizonFascismVolunteerSpainMenaceFrancoSpanish Civil WarMaury Author:Adam Hochschild
“Two World Wars are sufficient and we are the ones who supported this notion of a united Europe, so there would never be another set of civil wars in Europe again, ever. That was a fabulous success. It was so fabulous that people now take it for granted.” PeopleWorldTwoWarUnitedEuropeNotionGrantedWar Of The WorldsSufficientCivil WarFabulousTwo Worlds Author:Daniel Fried
“The market literature, which was particularly strong in Igboland, in Onitsha, today it is no longer strong. It is one of the victims of the civil war, that market was actually destroyed and at the end of the war a new Nigeria has struggled to come into being and I believe that what is probably going to replace the market literature might be the video, which they have taken to in a big way, creating dramas. So that may be the next thing way we will see coming out of the local basic level in our society.” WayBelieveMayWarEndsBigsMightTodayNextLiteratureStrongI BelieveLevelsTakenDramaCreatingVictimLocalsVideoDestroyedCivil WarOur SocietyComing OutNigeria Author:Chinua Achebe
“Libya faces along to the Mediterranean and had been effectively the cork in the bottle of Africa. So all problems, economic problems and civil war in Africa - previously people fleeing those problems didn't end up in Europe because Libya policed the Mediterranean. That was said explicitly at the time, back in early 2011 by Gaddafi: 'What do these Europeans think they're doing, trying to bomb and destroy the Libyan State? There's going to be floods of migrants out of Africa and jihadists into Europe', and this is exactly what happened.” PeopleThinkingTryingSaidWarEndsStatesProblemFacesHappenedEconomicEuropeCivil WarBombsBottlesFloodLibyaMigrantsFleeingEconomic ProblemsCorkGaddafi Author:Julian Assange
“When you go into a country like Libya where a large chunk of the population wants the old regime back you could end up with a protracted civil war. That we're now in a stalemate was both entirely predictable, and predicted. That we're now relying on drones is disturbing. How vital can a cause be if we're not willing to risk American lives to defend it, and instead use robots and remote control operators? It gets me back to the larger feeling about the intervention - there's just not a compelling reason for us to be involved.” WarCountryReasonFeelingsRiskCivil WarPredictable Author:Michael Hastings