Links to Recent Articles of Interest
By Lawrence Wittner, History News Network, posted January 17
A capsule history of nuclear-weapons policies, with emphasis on the role of popular pressure in securing such steps that have occasionally been taken to reduce the risk of catastrophic war. The author is a professor emeritus of history at SUNY Albany.
By Matthew Avery Sutton, New Republic, posted January 14
“How 150 years of apocalyptic agitation culminated in an insurrection.” The author is chair of the History Department at Washington State University and author of American Apocalypse: A History of Modern Evangelicalism (Harvard U. Press, 2017).
By Lisa McGirr, New York Times, posted January 13
“Donald Trump Is Not an Aberration But a Blueprint.” The author teaches history at Harvard University and is the author of Suburban Warriors: The Origins of the New American Right (updated edition Princeton U. Press, 2015).
By Julilly Kohler-Hausmann, Dissent, Winter 2021 issue
On the multiple tactics that have been employed in the interest of voter suppression. The author teaches history at Cornell University and is currently writing a history of US democracy since the 1965 Voting Rights Act focusing on nonvoters.
By Ray McGovern, Consortium News, posted January 12
The author, who served in the CIA for 27 years under nine presidents, relates past history in considering whether the longtime diplomat William Burns, appointed head of the agency, can change its culture.
By David W. Blight, New York Times, posted January 9
A warning from the “Lost Cause” of the Confederacy after the Civil War. “All Lost Causes find their lifeblood in lies, big and small, lies born of beliefs in search of a history that can be forged into a story and mobilize masses of people to act politically, violently, and in the name of ideology.” The author teaches history at Yale University and has written many books on the Civil War era.
By Karen L. Cox, New York Times, posted January 8
The author teaches history at the University of North Carolina. Her book No Common Ground: Confederate Monuments and the Ongoing Fight for Racial Justice is forthcoming from the U. of North Carolina Press.
By Geraldo Cadava, The New Yorker, posted December 29
On the diverse reasons why a larger-than-expected minority of Latino voters supported Donald Trump in the 2020 election. The author teaches history and Latino Studies at Northwestern University.
By Rebecca Gordon, TomDispatch.com, posted December 17
An overview of the “war on terror” in its ramifications. The author is a longtime antiwar activist who teaches at the University of San Francisco and is the author of American Nuremburg: The U.S. Officials Who Should Stand Trial for Post-9/11 War Crimes (Simon & Schustert. 2016).
By Elliott Young, Washington Post, posted December 10
“The president’s immigration regime is the culmination of 140 years of harsh policies.” The author teaches history at Lewis & Clark College and is the author of Forever Prisoners: How the United States Made the World’s Largest Immigrant Detention System (Oxford U. Press. forthcoming in January).
Thanks to Rusti Eisenberg and an anonymous reader for suggesting articles included in the above list. Suggestions can be sent to jimobrien48@gmail.com.