American
Essays

My relationship with suicide is longer than I would care to imagine. One of our dear family friends, an adult, took his life after several failed suicide attempts, which were explained as accidents to all of the young…

¶ … Wording in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings

For hundreds of years, maritime expansion represented the only way to reach distant shores, to attack enemies across channels of water, to explore uncharted territories, to make trade with regional neighbors and to connect the comprised empires. Leading directly into the 20th century, this was the chief mode of making war, maintaining occupations, colonizing lands and conducting the transport of goods acquired by trade or force. Peter Padfield theorized that ultimately, British maritime power was decisive in creating breathing space for liberal democracy in the world, as opposed to the autocratic states of continental Europe like Spain, France, Prussia and Russia. The Hapsburgs, the Bourbons, Hitler and Stalin all failed to find a strategy that would defeat the maritime empires, which controlled the world's trade routes and raw materials. Successful maritime powers like Britain and, in the 20th Century, the United States, required coastlines with deep harbors and security from aggressive neighbors that Germany, France and Russia lacked. This allowed them to concentrate on trade and commerce, and to develop powerful mercantile classes that won a share of power in government. Britain and Holland were the "first supreme maritime powers of the modern age", succeeded by the United States after the world wars of 1914-18 and 1939-45, and the fact that democratic institutions developed first in relatively open societies like these was not coincidental. Of course, the United States was a very weak maritime power in the 18th Century and its navy hardly existed, yet the Battle of Chesapeake Bay in 1781 was the key event that enabled it to win its independence. It depended on French and Spanish sea power to divert the British Navy to other theaters of the war, such as India, the Caribbean, Gibraltar or the defense of the home islands and in the end this strategy was successful enough so that at a crucial moment of the war, Britain temporarily lost its maritime supremacy in North American waters.

On June 06, 1944, the biggest combined naval, military and air operation ever contrived took place, code-named Operation Overlord (Commemorative pp).

Put-off by Europe's lag in paying off debts from the First World War, the United States remained committed to a policy of neutrality for the first several years of World War Two. Several issues led to American…

PART 1: In the 21st century the advent of new technologies have allowed for the development of new and innovative social networks that can be utilized as a means of ‘social capital." For instance, Facebook, MySpace, and other popular social networks have been instrumental in organizing a variety of political movements from the Arab Spring to the Occupy Wall Street protests. PART 2: When people stop reading newspapers and watching television to get their news, as often is the case with younger people, there is the danger of receiving a limited view of the news. People will then most likely get their information from Internet sites that possess a political view that is similar to their own. PART 3: It was on June 28, 2012 that the Supreme Court of the United States announced its ruling on the Affordable Care Act, widely known as "Obamacare." However, this decision enraged conservatives while it was simultaneously seen as honorable by liberals; clearly demonstrating how politically polarized the nation has become during the last 50 years.

The history of Palestinian-Israel conflict dates back to the end of Nineteenth century though fight for this holy land can be traced back to ancient times. In particular to Palestinian-Israel conflict; both sides have lost countless precious lives and still continue to do so. After the World Wars this conflict is definitely the most devastating in the human history. With no solution in sight the conflict still continues; raging Muslim sentiments against the Pro-Israel West, while the West continues to defend itself and Israel's existence against the acts of terrorists.

The United States is a country populated primarily by immigrants; in fact, the nation was founded by European settlers fleeing the Continent for various reasons including perceived persecution and financial opportunity.

The American Red Cross (ARC) is a humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance to victims, relief to the disaster stricken and also education to the victims of disaster in the U.S.A.

In light of the events of S-I-Gu, Spike Lee's 1989 film Do the Right Thing seems remarkably prescient. The film depicts racial tension in an inner-city neighborhood and although the central drama focuses on Mookie, an…