As a social studies teacher, at times I have taught both US and World History. As person from an educated family (both parents graduated from Cornell in 1930's and both did substantial graduate work) I grew up reading widely. As a recipient of a liberal education (including a degree from Haverford where though my major was music my minors were history and philosophy) I have learned to read beyond official sources in order to have a more complete understanding.
Given all of what I have noted above, given some of my recent reading and one hell of a lot of reflection back on previous reading, I come to one inevitable conclusion:
the misconduct and atrocities we attribute to the Bush administration, especially but not exclusively in foreign affairs, are nothing new, differing from their predecessors not in kind but merely in degree.