Roundup

What Lincoln Understood About Unity

by Harold Holzer

"The fact is, even the most eloquent calls for harmony seldom repair a house divided — not without the accompaniment of painful but unavoidable choices about national policy and purpose."

For American Racism, Slavery was Only the Beginning

by James Brewer Stewart

The Abolitionist Wendell Phillips would tell Americans today to cease arguing about the role of slavery in the founding and confront contemporary inequality as a product of ongoing political choices. 

Trump’s 1776 Commission and the San Francisco Board of Education Have a Lot in Common

by Max Boot

"It is no surprise that the 1776 Commission did not include a single expert on U.S. history and that the San Francisco school board also refused to consult historians."

The Trump Trial Wouldn’t Have Been Possible Without This Impeachment

by Richard White

The impeachment of Secretary of War William Belknap on 1876 seemed to have settled the question of whether an official's impeachment can be tried after they leave office in the affirmative. Today's Republican Party is ignoring the message. 

The Difference Between a Great President and a Terrible One is Empathy

by Lindsay Chervinsky

"As President Trump begins his post-presidential life, Americans will start to reckon with his legacy. They need look no farther than his callous indifference to human life — his response to the crisis marks the ultimate failure of presidential leadership."

Law Enforcement’s Double Standards for Black Radical Activists

by Denise Lynn

Those puzzled at the FBI's inability to monitor white supremacist and right-wing extremist groups like those involved in the Capitol rioting should consider how the bureau has historically worked to surveil and harass radical Black organizations like the Sojourners for Truth and Justice. 

The Roundup Top Ten for February 5, 2021

The top opinion writing by historians and about history from around the web this week. 

The GOP’s Bolshevik Moment

by Fred Kaplan

Alexander Kerensky's tenure as Russia's only prime minister between the overthrow of the Czar and the Bolshevik takeover was cut short in part because he viewed Lenin as an ally against his monarchist enemies. Republican Party leaders risk the same fate if they accept the likes of Marjorie Taylor Greene as allies against Joe Biden.

Movie at the Ellipse: A Study in Fascist Propaganda

by Jason Stanley

Not enough attention has been paid to the video shown to spectators at Donald Trump's January 6th "Save America" rally. A close look shows it to be a work of propaganda firmly in the tradition of fascism. 

Senate Must Punish Trump For Capitol Riot: Commentary

by David Marks

"Inciting lethal violence against the government, based on lies and selfish goals, has grave consequences. And considering the likelihood that some angry devotees will continue to be violent in the wake of Trump’s ongoing unwarranted assertions, legal action is obligatory."

Been There, Done That (Not!)

by Tom Engelhardt

"At 76 — almost as old, that is, as our new president — I fear that Donald Trump was just our (particularly bizarre) introduction to imperial disaster. We now live on a distinctly misused planet in a country that looks like it could be going to the dogs."

Americans Don’t Know What Urban Collapse Really Looks Like

by Annalee Newitz

"Having spent the past several years researching a book about ancient abandoned cities, I’ve come to realize that urban collapse is a modern-day version of an apocalypse prophecy: It’s always lurking just around the corner, seductive and terrifying, but it never quite happens."

Graduate School is a Foreign Country

by Susan Ferber

"Collaboration—that didn’t seem to be a skill much prized in grad school."

Townhouse Notes: The Shoulder We Cry On

by Ashley E. Bowen

In times of crisis, historians are tempted to enter into a forward-looking task of placing current grief in a narrative of progress. They cannot forget that their primary role is to make us uncomfortable with what we think we know about the past. 

The Case for a Third Reconstruction

by Manisha Sinha

During their brief hold on power, so-called "Radical Republicans" used their power to build multiracial democracy in the South and punish white supremacist terrorism. We face the same challenges today and must learn from and complete the work begun in Reconstruction and renewed by the modern Civil Rights movement.

First-Person Shooter Ideology​: The Cultural Contradictions of Call of Duty

by Daniel Bessner

"Right now, this one game is teaching millions of young Americans about the epic struggle between their government and the Soviet Union, a century-defining cataclysm that resulted in tens of millions of deaths, reshaped world history, and engendered the ideological struggles that presently bedevil the public sphere." But the lesson is one of cynical resignation to today's state of endless war. 

The Commonality between Biden’s Education Secretary and Betsy Devos is a Warning

by Adam Laats

Public education has long been envisioned as a black box that can fix the social problems created by inequality in the United States. When it has failed to perform this miracle, the education system has been subjected to successive waves of wrenching reform. It's time to fix the society outside the school walls. 

Amazon’s Cynical, Anti-Union Attack on Mail Voting

by Craig Becker and Amy Dru Stanley

Even before the pandemic, forcing unionization elections to be held at the workplace was the equivalent of holding a political election at one party's headquarters. Workplace democracy requires allowing workers to vote by mail to decide whether to be represented by a union. 

From Revolution to Reformism

by Adam Przeworski

A new book of political theory excerpted here locates the decline of the Left in its adoption of reformist rhetoric that accommodated capitalism's preferences for fiscal stability and austerity.

The Secret to Success for Biden’s First 100 Days

by Amber Roessner

Since Franklin Roosevelt, new presidents have been measured by the standard of the "First 100 Days." As a result, they've learned to aggressively manage the media and in turn received blowback from the press corps. The presidential "honeymoon" period is a thing of the past.