Links to Recent Articles of Interest
“Israeli Massacres Continue in Gaza as Returnees to North Are Targeted and Refugee Camp Is Bombed”
By Juan Cole, Informed Comment, posted April 15
A reminder of the ongoing collective punishment in Gaza amid media focus on Israel-Iran tensions. The author teaches Middle East history at the University of Michigan
“How Ronald Reagan Helped Abortion Take Over the Republican Agenda”
By Jonathan Bartho, Time/Made by History, posted April 12
“Reagan’s public embrace of the Christian Right brought the movement political credibility, firmly anchoring them in the Republican Party and moving the social and cultural values of the white South to the forefront of American political debate.” The author is an independent scholar and wrote Whistling Dixie: Ronald Reagan, the White South, and the Transformation of the Republican Party (University Press of Kansas, 2024).
“These Stunning Images Show Palestinian Life Before the Nakba”
By Suyin Hayne, Jacobin Magazine, posted April 10
A review with photographs of the book Against Erasure: A Photographic Memory of Palestine Before the Nakba, edited by Teresa Aranguren and Sandra Barrilaro (Haymarket, 2024).
“A 1920s Lesson for Today’s History Textbook Wars”
By Bruce W. Dearstyne, Time/Made by History, posted April 8
On right-wing attacks in the 1920s on history textbooks for being insufficiently patriotic in their treatment of the American Revolution. “The struggles of a century ago show that historians need to keep explaining their work and role to the public.“The author is a historian of New York State who has taught history at SUNY Albany, SUNY Potsdam, and Russell Sage College
“Will the US Move Toward ‘Demonstration Elections’?”
By Van Gosse, The Nation, posted April 3
A warning that the election of Donald Trump as president would likely render future elections meaningless, as they are in a growing number of formally democratic nations. The author teaches history at Franklin and Marshall College and is co-chair of Historians for Peace and Democracy.
“The Road to Famine in Gaza
By Neve Gordon and Muna Haddad, New York Review of Books, posted March 30
A detailed critique of Israeli policies in Gaza since October 7 and their historical background. Neve Gordon is an Israeli academic who currently teaches international law and human rights at Queen Mary University of London and Muna Haddad is a Palestinian human rights lawyer.
“Israel Is Demolishing Gaza’s Cultural Heritage”
By James Robins, The New Republic, posted March 26
“During war, cultural property is supposed to be immune from attack. In Gaza, it’s being rapidly destroyed.” The author is a journalist and historian who wrote When We Dead Awaken (1921) about the Armenian Genocide.
“The Great Rupture in American Jewish Life”
By Peter Beinart, New York Times, posted March 22
“The emerging rupture between American liberalism and American Zionism constitutes the greatest transformation in American Jewish politics in half a century. ” The author is a former editor of The New Republic and teaches in the Graduate School of Journalism in the City University of New York.
“The Ugly Origins of Trump’s ‘America First’ Policy”
By Lawrence S. Wittner, Foreign Policy in Focus, posted March 19
“Although the seemingly innocent slogan goes back deep in American history, it began to develop a racist, anti-Semitic, and xenophobic tone after World War I,” embodied in the Ku Klux Klan and later the America First Committee. The author is a professor emeritus of history at SUNY Albany.
An American Who Has Helped Clear 815,000 Bombs From Vietnam”
By Seth Mydans, New York Times, posted March 15
The story of Chuck Searcy, 79-year-old Vietnam War veteran whose Project Renew, founded in 2001, has focused on the discovery and defusing of unexploded ordnance left in Vietnam by US war planes. The author is a former longtime correspondent for the New York Times and the International Herald Tribune.
“Iraq and the Pathologies of Primacy: The Flawed Logic That Produced the War Is Alive and Well”
By Stephen Wertheim, Foreign Affairs, posted March 17
A capsule account of US policy makers’ quest for global primacy, leading to the Iraq War and failing to learn from it. “If the United States applies to peer competitors the same will to dominate that brought it into Iraq, a far weaker country, the consequences will be severe. “The author is a historian and a senior fellow of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
“It’s Not Too Late for Restrained U.S. Foreign Policy”
By Stephen Walt, Foreign Policy, posted March 14
On the limits of military power.The author teaches international relations at the John F. Kennedy School of Harvard University.
Thanks to an anonymous reader for flagging some of the articles included in the above list, and to Roger Peace for valuable help in screening the articles considered for inclusion. Suggestions can be sent to jimobrien48@gmail.com.