Impasse, Bond et gagne. Jeux, théories des jeux et enjeux de la guerre froide

Bond had always been a gambler…He liked being an actor and a spectator and from his chair to take part in other men’s dramas and decisions, until it came to his own turn to say that vital “yes” or “no”, generally on a fifty-fifty chance…Above all, he liked that everything was one’s own fault. (Casino Royale) Gambling is central to every Bond novel and film. From being a metaphor for the game between the U.S.S.R. and the West in Casino Royale, to the cheats of Hugo Drax and Goldfinger, to the delicate play of a child’s game, Rocks Paper Scissors, in You Only Live Twice, the gamble is central to the Bond narrative. Bond, indeed, is not only known for his gambling abilities in the Service, but is effective because he is a gambler, and identifies himself as a gambler. This hero relies not only skill, but on the bluff, the feint of hand, and the downright cheat. This article will examine the gambling and game playing of Bond not as merely another glamorous accoutrement to Bond’s world (like his car, his custom cigarettes, his women), but within the context of game theory and ideas about gambling in Cold War international affairs

Past, present, and future: History and memory in New York City, 1800--1860

The first half of the nineteenth century saw New York City rise from a relatively small city to the largest metropolis in North America. The changes which affected the United States, from economic to demographic to cultural, appeared first in New York. New York City was a place of change and progress. At the same time, a new concern with the history of the City and concern with preservation arose. This study will examine how the need to balance preservation with change, the need to create an identity for New York, and the need to set New York's place in the nation, were explored in the early historical discourse surrounding New York, from formal chronicles to acts of preservation. I have examined the preservation and publication efforts of the New-York Historical Society, Washington Irving's Knickerbocker History and its effect on New York's culture, local histories of New York City and State, and the controversies surrounding the removal of New York City's burial grounds in order to explore these issues. The attempt of the New-York Historical Society to act as custodians of the City's history raises the question of just whose history was to be preserved. Washington Irving's works brought the Dutch history of New York to life for many of its citizens more vividly than any archive, and introduced the Knickerbocker character as a New York type. Local histories of New York City and State explored the relationship between regions and the nation as a whole. The efforts of New Yorkers to deal with the removal of burial grounds from New York City's boundaries show how important the past, particularly the personal past, was to New Yorkers of all classes and ethnicities. Themes of civic memory, the relationship between public and private, ideas of a usable past, and the relationship between myth and history run throughout this material. The historical discourse surrounding the New York of today was shaped by the historical discourse of the early nineteenth century

An Assessment of Recent Developments in Historical Editing

The American historical editing profession has a rich and varied history of publishing projects ranging from the collected papers of great men and women to diaries of relatively obscure individuals. However, one senses that as the profession enters the twenty-first century, as new technologies appear, and as boundaries between disciplines are blurred, the profession is at a loss as to where to place itself. This article is based on a survey of current projects, both in the United States and internationally, from a variety of disciplines, and in both traditional print and new media. My aim is to broaden our definition of historical editing and to encourage a dialogue among different kinds of projects. The current ongoing evolution of documentary editing spurred by the Internet raises a question: Is this a crisis or an opportunity

Review essay "The Sport of Kings and the Kings of Crime: Horse Racing, Politics, and Organized Crime in New York, 1865-1913" by Steven A. Reiss. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2011

Review essay of Steven Reiss's study of horse racing in New York. "Sport of Kings" traces the rise of horseracing in New York, its emerging dominance as a sport, efforts to police the sport, and the concurrent rise of legal and illegal gambling, set against the backdrop of Gilded Age politics and Progressive reform

In Service to the New Nation: The Life and Legacy of John Jay--Panel 4: Roundtable on The Future of Documentary Editing & the Founding Era

The John Jay Papers Project, Columbia University Libraries, and Columbia University’s Office of the Provost presented "In Service to the New Nation: The Life & Legacy of John Jay," a two-day virtual conference (January 22-23, 2021) celebrating the near completion of the Project’s seven-volume series The Selected Papers of John Jay. Featuring a keynote address and panel sessions, the conference events highlight John Jay’s (1745-1829) notable career in public service and his numerous contributions to the new American republic as a jurist, statesman, diplomat, and politician. The "Roundtable on The Future of Documentary Editing & the Founding Era" discusses the practices and future of the documentary editing method. The chair is R. Darrell Meadows (National Historical Publications and Records Commission), and the panelists are Sara Martin (Adams Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society), Holly C. Shulman (Dolley Madison Digital Edition), Jennifer E. Steenshorne (John Jay Papers), and Jennifer Stertzer (Washington Papers, Center for Digital Editing)