The Latest 
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A Ten Year Old's Witness to the Liberation of Auschwitz
Bernice Lerner
Jerzy (George) Ogurek had beaten the odds to survive in Auschwitz for three months when the Red Army arrived to liberate the camp. 50 years later, none of his colleagues at Boston University knew of his ordeal.
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Blog
Ty Seidule on Exposing Robert E. Lee, Lost Cause Myths, White Supremacy, and Treason
Robin Lindley
"West Point in the nineteenth century saw Lee and his Confederate comrades as traitors. Lee made a comeback when West Point moved towards equal rights and integration. And that really informed...
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The Art of Swimming (Excerpt)
Bill Hayes
Unline many recognizable modern sports, for most of human history swimming was treated as a utilitarian activity (and occasionally as a pleasure), unsuited for competition or spectatorship.
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Patrick Henry and the Defense of Democracy
John A. Ragosta
Patrick Henry has become a hero of the Tea Party and the January 6 insurrectionists. But his famous demand for liberty or death doesn't capture his personal commitments to liberty under the rule of law and acceptance of the outcomes of elections.
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Peter Richardson on Hunter S. Thompson and the Long Shadow of the Counterculture
Aaron J. Leonard
"His historical significance, I think, lies in his willingness to challenge the nation’s political class, including the leaders of both major parties. He didn’t do that in established journals of opinion."
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Antisemitism is Toxic and Persistent. It's Not Inevitable
Ralph Seliger
International Holocaust Remembrance Day (January 27) follows an armed hostage incident at a Texas synagogue. The author reflects on moments when societies have chosen to embrace or reject antisemitism at moments of crisis and concludes that while the risk to Jews today is real, it is not inevitable.
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The Roundup Top Ten for January 21, 2022
The top opinion writing by historians and about history from around the web this week.
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No Land, No Life: The Structure of Debilitating Black Land Loss in the South
Annelise Straw
Despite pledges of aid by the Biden administration, access to credit remains an obstacle for African American farmers, who continue to face the loss of land and its attendant financial and emotional losses.
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New York State's Lessons on Preventing a Crisis of Judicial Legitimacy
Bruce W. Dearstyne
Forceful activism amid rapid social change results in legislation shot down by the most powerful court, leading to calls for sweeping court reform. This was New York State in the early 20th century. How the State Court of Appeals weathered this storm holds lessons for SCOTUS today, if the Justices and their critics care to learn from history.
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Can a New Labor Movement Grow and Win with Direct Action Instead of Collective Bargaining?
Lawrence Wittner
"In this time of growing corporate domination of the United States and of the world, William E. Scheuerman's A New American Labor Movement illuminates a useful path forward in the long and difficult struggle for workers’ rights."
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What Happens When the "End Times" are Now?
Martyn Whittock
Evangelical Christianity's enthusiasm for viewing current events as markers of the End Times is nothing new, but those tempted to mockery should nevertheless recognize how politically potent those ideas can be.
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Blog
The All-American Fallacies that Threaten Our Survival
Steve Hochstadt
"Thus far, Americans have failed miserably at the ultimate task of surviving today’s two greatest natural disasters, climate change and COVID. We show no sign of acting together in eithe...
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The Roundup Top Ten for January 14, 2022
The top opinion writing by historians and about history from around the web this week.
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We Almost Lost Our Democracy – and Still Could: A Conversation with Congressman Adam Schiff
Robin Lindley
"There's no division in our purpose. We're all united in wanting to get to the truth and expose the truth to the American people and then legislate in a way that protects our country going forward."
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One if by Land, Two if by Sea, and Three if by the Capitol Steps
Elise Lemire
On the first anniversary of the Capitol attack, and the 162nd of Longfellow's poetic canonization of the Boston patriot, Paul Revere's ride remains a contested and protean symbol for a nation in crisis.
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A Year Later: Our Tattered and Fragile Democracy
James D. Zirin
American political institutions face a crisis: can they defend themselves against a growing movement that will deploy violence to achieve its goals, or will January 6 become the new normal?
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Debt Jubilees: An Ancient Solution for a Modern Problem
Richard Vague
"Like our ancient forefathers, we need to reset our economy by offering hard-pressed debtors a jubilee now, not in some utopian future."
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A Walk Around the "Wood that Built London"
C.J. Schüler
The remnants of the North Wood outside London posed a mystery of cartographical history to the author: how to reconstruct the forest that was timbered to build the metropolis.
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The Roundup Top Ten for January 7, 2022
The top opinion writing by historians and about history from around the web this week.
News
- How the Pandemic and Anti-Asian Violence Spurred 2 States to Change History Lessons
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- Will SCOTUS Take the Opportunity to Ban Race-Conscious Admissions?
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