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Links to Recent Articles of Interest
“A Massive Database of Evidence, Compiled by a Historian, Documents Israel’s War Crimes in Gaza”
By Nir Hasson, Haaretz, posted December 5
A lengthy article describing the work of Lee Mordechai, who teaches environmental history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and has compiled a massive database under the title Bearing Witness to the Israel-Gaza War, concluding that genocide is being committed. A reader without time to read the whole article can focus on particular episodes. The author is a veteran Israeli journalist for Haaretz.
“Resistance to ICC by World’s Most Powerful Nations”
By Lawrence S. Wittner, Foreign Policy in Focus, posted December 3
A brief history of the International Criminal Court, functioning since 2002, and the response of major powers, especially the US and Russia, to its existence and its rulings. The author is a professor emeritus of history at SUNY Albany.
“No, the Fight for the Climate Isn’t ‘Over'”
By Kevin A. Young, Jacobin, posted December 2
Argues against post-election environmental defeatism by detailing a variety of successes during the first Trump presidency. “Despite Trump’s best efforts, some of the US climate movement’s most notable recent victories happened on his watch.” Environmental activists, rather than “guardrails” within the White House, were responsible. The author teaches history at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and is a Steering Committee member of H-PAD.
“Israel’s Revenge: An Interview with Rashid Khalidi”
Interview of Rashid Khalidi by Mark O’Connell, New York Review of Books, December 19 issue
Touches on a range of issues, primarily related to responses in the US and other Western nations to the Israel-Gaza war. “If you look carefully, you’ll see that the United States is actually directly at war.” Rashid Khalidi is a professor emeritus of Arab Studies at Columbia University and author of, among other books, The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine (Metropolitan Books, 2020). Mark O’Connell is an Irish author and journalist.
“Berkeley Free Speech Movement Forged an Organizing Framework That’s Relevant Now”
By Derek Seidman, Truthout, posted November 30
Recounts the Free Speech Movement at UC Berkeley of sixty years ago (Autumn 1964) and notes parallels between campus dynamics then and now, with observations by Ellen Schrecker, noted historian of higher education over recent decades. The author is a writer and historian and frequent contributor to Truthout and other online publications.
“1934 and Now: History Lives!”
By Peter Rachleff, Portside, posted November 27
A brief, richly illustrated account of the significant Minneapolis Teamsters strike of 1934 and the ways in which its story has been kept alive in the Twin Cities in recent years. The author taught labor history at Macalester College for many years and co-founded the East Side Freedom Library in St. Paul.
“I Now Believe Ethel Rosenberg Was Innocent”
By Lori Clune, Portside, posted November 26 (from The Conversation)
Argues that recently declassified evidence shows conclusively that Ethel Rosenberg was not guilty of participating in atomic espionage, and supports a petition to President Biden to issue an official exoneration. The author, who teaches history at California State University, Fresno, wrote the Oxford University Press book Executing the Rosenbergs: Death and Diplomacy in a Cold War World in 2015.
“America Has Done Mass Deportation Before”
By Eric Foner, The Nation, posted November 25
“Trump’s deportation plan should be viewed in the context of other efforts to curate the population, including Indian removal, Chinese exclusion, and the 1924 law that severely reduced immigration from southern and eastern Europe.” This essay focuses on the widely supported American Colonization Society before the Civil War. The author is a professor emeritus of US history at Columbia University.
“Letting the World Scream”
By Sean T. Byrnes. History News Network, posted November 25
On the 1984 World Court case brought by Nicaragua against US efforts to overthrow the country’s Sandinista government. The Reagan administration denied the Court’s jurisdiction, which the US had always previously accepted. The author is a writer with a history PhD from Emory University and is the author of Disunited Nations: U.S. Foreign Policy, Anti-Americanism, and the Rise of the New Right (Louisiana State U. Press, 2021).
“The Bipartisan Origins of the New Cold War”
By Michael Brenes and Van Jackson, Jacobin, posted November 25
Traces US policy toward China over the decades since 1991, arguing that “The twenty-first century will not be ruled by any single great power. Primacy is unrealistic, unnecessary, and avoidable.” Michael Brenes teaches history at Yale University and Van Jackson teaches international relations at Victoria University of Wellington. They are co-authors of a book entitled “The Rivalry Peril,” forthcoming in January from Yale University Press..
“How Texas Jails Built Migrant Incarceration”
By Brianna Nofil, Texas Observer, posted November 19
On migrant detention in Texas in the 1920s. “Today’s immigration detention system is far more expansive than the system of the 1920s or 1950s … but many of the 20th-century operating logics endure.” The author teaches US history at the College of William & Mary. She wrote The Migrant’s Jail: An American History of Mass Incarceration (Princeton U. Press, 2024).
Thanks to an anonymous reader for recommending several of the articles included in the above list, and to Roger Peace for valuable consultation. Suggestions can be sent to jimobrien48@gmail.com.
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