Links to Recent Articles of Interest
“UN Commission of Inquiry: Israel Guilty of Crimes against Humanity, Hamas Guilty of War Crimes”
By Juan Cole, Informed Comment, posted June 13
A detailed summary of the June 12 UN investigatory report that detailed war crimes committed by Hamas and allied groups on October 7 and by the Israeli military in its ongoing offensive in Gaza. The author teaches Middle East history at the University of Michigan.
By John Weber, History News Network, posted June 11
Offers a snapshot from the 1920s to argue that “popular assumptions of borders made more porous in recent times” are “entirely fabricated and rest on the ahistorical assumption that there was ever a time when the border was fully controlled.” The author teaches history at Old Dominion University.
“How Israel’s Illiberal Democracy Became a Model for the Right”
By Suzanne Schneider, Portside, posted June 10
Starts with a history of Israel’s discriminatory political system, going back to David Ben-Gurion, and traces the growing alliance of the Israeli right with right-wing nationalist forces around the world, with Hungary’s Victor Orban as a facilitator. The author is a core faculty member of the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research.
“How Tuscaloosa’s ‘Bloody Tuesday’ Changed the Course of History”
By John M. Giggie, Made by History – Time, posted June 7
On a little-remembered but significant 1964 assault by police and Klansmen on black citizens rallying in a church in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The author teaches history and African American Studies at the University of Alabama and has written Bloody Tuesday: The Untold Story of the Struggle for Civil Rights in Tuscaloosa (Oxford U. Press, 2024).
“How We’ve Failed the Promise of Making ‘Genocide’ a Crime”
By Noah Lanard, Mother Jones, posted June 3
Revives the memory of Raphael Lemkin, the Polish/Jewish lawyer who coined the word “genocide” in 1941 and lobbied after World War II for what became (in somewhat watered-down form) the international Genocide Convention of 1949. Lemkin’s definition was much broader than mass killings. The article draws heavily on Douglas Irvin-Erickson’s book Raphael Lemkin and the Concept of Genocide (U. of Pennsylvania Press, 2017).
“On Imprisoning Presidential Candidates: From Eugene Debs to Donald Trump”
By Fran Shor, Common Dreams, posted June 3
A short article comparing the circumstances of Donald Trump’s recent felony conviction and Eugene V. Debs’ imprisonment for speaking out against US participation in World War I. The author is a professor emeritus of history at Wayne State University and an activist in Michigan on issues of peace and human rights.
By Francisco Cantú, Portside, posted June 16 (from New York Review)
A review essay of Michael John Witgen’s prize-winning Seeing Red: Indigenous Land, American Expansion, and the Political Economy of Plunder in North America (U. of North Carolina Press, 2023). “In its reexamination of entrenched narratives about the expropriation of Native land, Michael Witgen’s book is changing how Native people are situated in the arc of American history.”
“Biden on Trump: ‘No One Is Above the Law;’ Except for Israel’s Netanyahu”
By Juan Cole, Informed Comment, posted June 1
On President Biden’s response to the news that the chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court Karim Khan had asked the court to issue warrants for the arrest of Prime Minister Netanyahu and his defense minister, along with three Hamas leaders, on war crimes charges. The author teaches Middle East history at the University of Michigan.
“Learning from Zionism’s Jewish Critics”
By Marjorie N. Feld, History News Network, posted May 28
A brief introduction to the author’s new book, Threshold of Dissent: A History of American Jewish Critics of Zionism (NYU Press, 2024) and an annotated listing of some of the writings that influenced her decision to explore this topic. She teaches history at Babson College.
“‘We’re Seeing Universities Following a Corporate Agenda to Get Favor with Donors”
Interview with Ellen Schrecker by Janine Jackson, FAIR, posted May 28
Argues that political repression on campuses today is worse than in the McCarthy era because universities and their faculties are much weaker. Ellen Schrecker, a professor emerita of history at Yeshiva University, is the author of several books on the McCarthy era and, with Valerie C. Johnson and Jennifer Ruth, has edited The Right to Learn: Resisting the Right-Wing Attack on Academic Freedom (Beacon Press, 2024)
Thanks to Rusti Eisenberg and an anonymous reader for flagging articles included in the above list, and to Roger Peace for insightful comments on articles being considered for inclusion. Suggestions can be sent to jimobrien48@gmail.com.