“The Alienist”

“The Underdogs”

“The Second World”

Susan HinerHist 141-Fall 2011

“The Underdogs”

• The economic struggle and politics of the Mexican Revolution between 1913 and 1915. • Demetrio Macías and his band of men fight the Federales, with knives and a small

amount of guns for a two year period.• Modern warfare advanced with twentieth century technology including airplanes and

machine guns which cause the eventual demise of most of Demetrio’s men.• Francisco Madero opposed Diaz and presidential reelection and the peasants felt

betrayed when reforms were not put in place. • Emiliano Zapata, a former supporter in southern Mexico, rebelled against Madero for

agrarian reform. • Francisco “Poncho” Villa was a legend in the Mexican Revolution as an outlaw of

twenty two years and a friend to the poor. Later he was made a general in Huerta’s army, defeating Orozco’s army. From El Paso, Texas he raised an army in 1913 and drove the Federal Army out of Northern Mexico then proclaimed himself military governor of the State of Chihuahua.

• Villa is defeated by General Obragón at the battle of Celaya on April 15 and then Carranza is assassinated

“The Alienist”

• New York City in 1896 experiences major growth in immigration and urbanization. The three main characters are Theodore Roosevelt, president of the Board of Commissioners of NYPD, Dr. Laszlo Kreizler an expert in mental pathologies (alienist), and John Moore a police reporter for the New York Times.

• A gruesome murderer on the loose and it’s up to Kreizler, Moore, two trustworthy detective sergeants and one spunky police secretary to solve the mystery of who the murderer is and stop him before another child is brutally killed.

• The police cannot be trusted because they are bought by gang leaders which were Paul Kelly and his Five Pointers, James T. “Biff” Ellison, Monk Eastman and Mallet Murphy’s Gophers.

• Poor immigrants are crammed into tenement buildings. The society, politics and living conditions of New York City gave the murderer ample situations in order to fulfill his self-hatred due to the proximity of the buildings, the large population of immigrants and disorderly houses

“The Second World”

• There are three empires, or superpowers; United States, European Union (EU) and China. All three powers are challenging one another to see who can usurp their authority over the second world countries first, which is called the “geopolitical marketplace”.

• America prefers to use military might . The decisions that America has made in the past, has not encouraged those countries to accept help from the U.S., in fact they specifically don’t want or need our kind of assistance.

• The European Union has a more accepted form of persuasion that uses trade and a corporate merger style where each party works together to obtain an equitable resolution.

• China’s influence is growing quickly, and its style of diplomacy is more readily accepted. They use a method focusing on the issues that need the most improvement with Confucian customs. It prefers to help a country economically and socially rather than militarily. A country does not have to be conquered as in previous years; today you can just buy it!

• America as a first world country is described as declining not rising. The economy is falling and we have an imbalance of income. Our debt outweighs our costs and more countries are investing in the Euro. Second world countries choose the aid they need from the superpower that can offer it best. Sometimes, it’s more than one power at a time.

• The three powers are like an unsteady three legged stool. In order to avoid another war and repeating history, the U.S., EU and China need to find equilibrium by adapting to one another, have mutual understanding, open discussions, understand second world country politics and increase diplomacy and negotiation.