Links to Recent Articles of Interest
By Marc Becker, Nacla, posted August 21
A detailed analysis of the upcoming Ecuadoran election, with background on the social dynamics of the country's recent history. The author teaches Latin American history at Truman State University in Missouri, with Ecuador as a special interest, and is a Steering Committee member of H-PAD.
By Alan Singer, Daily Kos, posted August 20
Eviscerates a sample video in the “PragerU” cartoon series approved this summer by the Florida Department of Education for use in elementary schools. This sample features a cartoon version of Frederick Douglass whose words directly contradict the actual words and deeds of the real Douglass. The author is a historian and director of social studies education programs at Hofstra University.
By John Feffer, Foreign Policy in Focus, posted August 16
The armistice that ended fighting in Korea turned 70 years old this summer. This essay ponders parallels and differences between Korea in 1953 and Ukraine today. The author is director of Foreign Policy in Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies.
By Jim Laurie, Al Jazeera, posted August 15
“The US stopped bombing half a century ago. But Cambodians are still dying from the 'bombies' that litter their land.” The author is a writer and broadcaster who has specialized in Asia for more than fifty years. He estimates that “somewhere between 9 and 27 million submunitions in Indochina remain unexploded today.”
By John Summers, Boston Globe, posted August 11
On the long silence over the more than 300,000 South Korean mercenary troops in Vietnam (paid for by the US) and the massacres committed by many of their units. The author is a historian and cultural critic who has taught history at Columbia and Harvard universities and Boston College.
“How Israel Occupied Itself: The Way the Crisis on the West Bank Became the Crisis in Israel Itself”
By Juan Cole, TomDispatch, posted August 10
Attributes the Netanyahu government's push to limit judicial autonomy to a desire “to ensure that the courts won’t be able to interfere with their plans to vastly increase the number of Israeli squatter-settlements on Palestinian land on the West Bank and perhaps someday soon simply annex that occupied territory.” The author teaches Middle East history at the University of Michigan.
By the National Security Archive, posted August 7
Declassified documents on radiation sickness from the first atomic bombings – what was known at the time and the efforts of US officials such as General Leslie Groves to minimize the amount of suffering.
By Caled Elfenbein, Salon, posted August 6
On continuity between the violent segregation typified by Bull Connor in Birmingham in the 1960s and present-day legislative efforts to restrict black voting, facilitated by the Supreme Court's Shelby decision (2013) weakening the Voting Rights Act. The author teaches history and religious studies at Grinnell College.
By Karen J. Greenberg, TomDispatch, posted August 1
Illuminates a report issued this summer by the UN Human Right Commission on the past and present of the US prison at Guantanamo Bay. The author is a historian and director of the Center on National Security at Fordham Law School. She has been reporting on Guantanamo for 18 years, since early in its history.
By Zaynad Quadri, Process (blog of the Organization of American Historians), posted August 1
“Today, as the war drums become ever louder in the American political establishment, with China and Russia now designated the primary threats to U.S. national security, it is essential to be clear-eyed about the recent past, and appropriately critical of the global American imperial project.” The author is a postdoctoral fellow in International Security Studies at Ohio State Univesity.
By William D. Hartung, TomDispatch, posted July 30
An essay on the hit movie Oppenheimer featuring an issue left to one side by the film. “Neither the film nor the discussion sparked by it has explored one of the most important reasons for the continued existence of nuclear weapons — the profits it yields the participants in America’s massive nuclear-industrial complex.” The author is a senior research fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft.
By Van Gosse, Portside, posted July 26
A short refutation of the widespread belief that the post-Revolution decades in the US brought a steady broadening of the electorate. ” Let's get rid of our myths of slow but inevitable progress and get down to the hard work of securing the right to vote for everyone. The author teaches US history at Franklin and Marshall University and is co-chair of the H-PAD Steering Committee.
Thanks to Rusti Eisenberg and an anonymous reader for suggesting one or more of the above articles. Suggestions can be sent to jimobrien48@gmail.com.