America is gearing up to host the World Cup of Soccer next month. Not exactly a sport that gets Americans excited, although an American team will be showing its stuff. Besides, hyphenated Americans can cheer on their ancestral homelands. Alas, ...

A note to my readers: I am taking a two-week trip to Rome (with a few days in Lucca and perhaps a side-trip to Florence) and will probably not be able to write a new blog until after my return ...

Contrary to Ken Burns’ recent documentary on the American Revolution, it was a band of Italians, the ancient Romans—not the Iroquois—who served as the model for our fledgling republic. Those are Roman fasces mounted in the U.S. House of Representatives ...