The uncertainties of banking were clearly revealed by the Bush administration's savings-and-loan crisis. Did this event bear any similarity to the crash that followed the end of the Second Bank of the United States? Or to the panic of 1907 that led ultimately to the Federal Reserve Act? Or to the collapse of banks in the Great Depression? Students will need more than a little guidance to understand the recurrence of massive bank failures. Is it that we really don't understand how banks work? Is it greed? or malfeasance? See the short essay by Michael A. Bernstein, "The Contemporary American Banking Crisis in Historical Perspective," Journal of American History 80 (March 1994): 1382-1396. Bernstein offers a good bibliography.

Most Americans saw Operation Desert Storm as the righting of an egregious wrong. Iraq, however, claimed legitimate rights to Kuwait. The brutal nature of Saddam Hussein's regime was not the issue, but it did influence American opinion. What was the basis for Iraqi claims? Why was the United States unprepared to take them seriously? Did the United States have unannounced motives in going to war? See Theodore Draper, "The True History of the Gulf War," New York Review of Books 39 (January 30, 1992): 38-45; Jean Edward Smith, George Bush's War (1992); and Gordon and Bernard E. Trainor, The Generals' War: The Inside Story of the Conflict in the Gulf (1995).

In the Middle East two ethnic groups contend for many of the same lands in Israel. In the Balkans the same problem threatens world peace, but the number of contending ethnic groups is larger. The United States has intruded itself to some degree in each case. What is the basis of such antagonism among contending groups? Why is the United States involved in such faraway places? A lecture of explanation may not solve any problems, but it will help students understand very complex matters. See Ian J. Bickerton and M. N. Pearson, The Arab-Israeli Conflict: A History (third edition; 1993); Avraham Sela and Moshe Maoz, The PLO and Israel: From Armed Conflict to Political Solutions, 1964-1994 (1997); Betrand De Rossanet, War and Peace in the Former Yugoslavia (1997); and Steven Burg and Paul Shoup, The Conflict in Bosnia-Herzegovina (1998).

President Clinton in the early days of his administration undertook, without success, to bring about major changes in the provision of health care to Americans. Yet many Americans continue to find fault with the system that exists. Why did Clinton fail? How does our health-care system actually work? Why is it so difficult to make a change in it? See Bernard D. Reams, Jr., Health Care Reform 1993-1994: The American Experience: Clinton and Congress--Law, Policy, and Economics (1996), and Nicholas Laham, A Lost Cause: Bill Clinton's Campaign for National Health Insurance (1996).

Campaign finance reform is also a bone of contention. Political action committees, "soft money," and the free speech rights of those who wish to support candidates are matters far from well understood by students (and by the general public). A lecture on how political campaigns are financed and why there is such contention will be helpful. See Thomas L. Gais, Improper Influence: Campaign Finance Law, Political Interest Groups, and the Problem of Equality (1998); Anthony Corrado et al., Campaign Finance Reform: A Sourcebook (1997); and Frank J. Sorauf, Inside Campaign Finance: Myths and Realities (1992).

When the North American Free Trade Agreement was concluded, President Clinton bathed in the glow of approval from supporters. Trade would be enhanced; there would be prosperity for all. Critics, however, worried about effects on the environment, about job losses in the United States, and even about depressing further the weaker sectors of the Mexican economy. Students need to know how NAFTA works and what the costs and benefits are. See William A. Orme, Jr., Understanding NAFTA: Mexico, Free Trade, and the New North America (second edition; 1996), and Carol Wise, The Post-NAFTA Political Economy: Mexico and the Western Hemisphere (1998).