Links to Recent Articles of Interest
By Kenya Evelyn, The Guardian, posted June 19
A history of the observance of Juneteenth, the holiday that, according to President Trump, “nobody had ever heard about.”
By Kevin Young, Jacobin, posted June 17
On lessons from the southern civil rights movement of the 1960s, especially the Birmingham protests of 1963. The author teaches history at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and is a coauthor of the new book Levers of Power: How the 1% Rule and What the 99% Can Do about It (Verso Press, July 2020).
By Jeremy Kuzmarov, CounterPunch.org, posted June 15
On the historic use of US police training to bolster despotic regimes. The author teaches history at Tulsa Community College and Southern Nazarene University. He is the author of Modernizing Repression: Police Training and Nation Building in the American Century (Umass Press, 2012).
By Jill Lepore, The New Yorker, posted June 15
On the Kerner Report of 1968 as part of a long pattern of government commissions on race relations that led to no change.The author teaches history at Harvard University.
By Barbara Weinstein, The Viral Condition, Identities, posted June 15
The author teaches history at New York University and is a former president of the American Historical Association. This essay was written during the pandemic but before the murder of George Floyd.
By Andrew Bacevich and Danny Sjursen, CommonDreams.org, posted June 14
Proposes new names for the ten military posts now named for Confederate generals. Among the new honorees would be Robert Gould Shaw of the Civil War, Sgt. Alvin York of World War I, Capt. George McGovern and Lt. Daniel Inouye of World War II, Chief Warrant Officer Hugh Thompson of the Vietnam War, and Geronimo. Both authors are retired US Army officers who have taught at West Point.
By Lawrence Wittner, History News Network, posted June 14
A concise critique of jacked-up military spending amid a public-health and economic crisis. The author is a professor emeritus of history at SUNY Albany.
By Keisha N. Blain, The Conversation, posted June 12
The author teaches history at the University of Pittsburgh and is the author of Set the World on Fire: Black Nationalist Women and the Global Struggle for Freedom (U. of Pennsylvania Press, 2018).
By Stuart Schrader, The Guardian, posted June 8
The author teaches sociology at Johns Hopkins University and is the author of Badges Without Borders: How Global Counterinsurgency Transformed American Policing (U. of California Press, 2019).
By Eva von Dassow, History News Network, posted June 7
A very quick read, wryly enjoyable. The author teaches Classical and Near Eastern studies at the University of Minnesota.
Thanks to Teresa Meade and an anonymous reader for suggesting articles that are included in the above list. Suggestions can be sent to jimobrien48@gmail.com.