In a recent social media post, President Trump made the claim that the European Union was “formed for the primary purpose of ‘screwing’ the United States of America.” This is, like nearly every other historical claim Mr. Trump has made for more than a decade, a totally false statement. It is not a mis-statement, but rather an obvious lie intended to mislead, misrepresent, and confuse his ill-informed audience. What follows is a capsule history of the European Union, with special emphasis on the proactive and energetic role the United States played in establishing the EU. The internal politics of EU formation is fascinating and highly complex and worthy of study in its own right. The story recounted here is less about those intra-union dynamics than about the EU-US relationship.

In a city overflowing with prime tourist attractions, the Anne Frank house may be Amsterdam's greatest. A visit to Amsterdam must include a stop to see the house, an extremely well run and highly affective museum. A new traveling exhibit recreates Anne Frank's secret annex for American visitors (Bringing Anne Frank’s Secret Annex to New York, and the World - The New York Times), and a new book (The Many Lives of Anne Frank) examines the construction and lasting influence of the world's most famous diary. After the break, a brief excerpt about Anne and her diary from my own forthcoming book: