Roundup

Edmund Burke's Defense of Order Indulged Racism and Antisemitism

by Aidan Beatty

A critic argues that a founding document of modern conservatism was steeped in the author's belief that Jews were responsible for exporting French radicalism; while few right-wingers today seem to actually read Burke, some carry on this legacy.

At its 150th Anniversary, the Comstock Law is Relevant Again

by Jonathan Friedman and Amy Werbel

Anthony Comstock drew on elite connections to give himself near unilateral power to confiscate "obscene, lewd, lascivious, indecent, or immoral" materials —terms he was free to define on his own—and prosecute people for possessing them. Right-wing politicians seem to be inspired by the example. 

Why Are Dems Surprised at Eric Adams's Rant Against Church-State Separation?

by Jacques Berlinerblau

Democrats and secularists shocked by the New York mayor's declaration of religion as the heart of society need to confront facts: the church-state separation they revere has been all but entirely demolished. Secularists must now demand equal footing for their lack of belief.

Why is the Right Obsessed with Gramsci?

by Alberto Toscano

A lack of familiarity with the actual writings of the Italian Marxist hasn't stopped the right, including Christopher Rufo and Nate Hochmann, from placing Antonio Gramsci at the center of a conspiracy theory about leftists seeking to conquer social institutions to undermine American society. 

WDJD (What Did Jesus Do)?: Do Evangelicals Care?

by Adam Jortner

While American leftists could find much to embrace in the Gospels, the political actions of many white Evangelicals is likely to push them away. Is it too late to reverse the merger of evangelicalism with conservative movement politics? 

Cracking Stasi Puzzles is Key to Some Germans Finding the Truth

by Katja Hoyer

With an informant for every 90 citizens, the East German secret police left behind 16,000 sacks of shredded documents. Can information technology help reconstruct a record of what happens when a government commits to spying on its own citizens? 

Jimmy Carter Made Me a Better American; Did He Help Make America Worse?

by Jennifer Finney Boylan

Carter's call for a "moral revival" aimed at replacing materialism with collective purpose. His successors easily twisted that to make materialism into a collective purpose. 

Trump's Apocalyptic CPAC Speech Aimed Squarely at Southern Evangelicals

by Thomas Lecaque

In the past, Evangelicals and other apocalypse-minded constituencies have projected their views onto Donald Trump. Now, Trump seems to be fully embracing the bit, suggesting that violence above and beyond politics will usher in the Kingdom. 

In Chicago, the Political Vibes Echo 1983, but the Politics are Different

by Gordon Mantler

Harold Washington's victory in 1983 to become the city's first Black mayor promised a new multicultural coalition politics. Forty years later, that coalition is discouraged and demobilized, and seems unlikely to challenge the entrenched interests that Washington tried to dislodge from power. 

On "Cancel Culture"

by Thomas Zimmer

The alleged "cancellation" of Scott Adams shows that many pundits decrying "cancel culture" from the center are actually more interested in holding the power to declare ideas out of bounds than in letting the marketplace of ideas sort them out. 

Moral Panics Around the Humanities Reflect Long-Developing Paradigm Shift

by Steven Mintz

The ferocity of attacks on the humanities and academic research as "indoctrination" reflect the recent integration of ideas with long histories in academia into highly visible protest movements. Can humanists connect newer thinking to the established concerns of the humanities for understanding justice or the good life? 

We Can't Leave Climate out of History

by Peter Frankopan

Emerging "climate archives" of precise data about weather patterns can illuminate ways that the environment impacted human history. 

Fear and Loathing in Florida

by Samuel Hoadley-Brill

"Much like 'voter fraud,' the term 'critical race theory' can mean whatever DeSantis needs it to mean to justify his anti-democratic agenda."

The Roundup Top Ten for March 3, 2023

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

A Different Kind of Unfree Labor Haunts a Houston Suburb

by Ashanté Reese

Texas's convict labor system was a first step in reasserting white dominance over Black labor through criminal law. The discovery of remains of convicted laborers on the site of a former prison farm show the need to reckon with unfree labor after the end of slavery. 

Marjorie Taylor Greene's "National Divorce" Won't be Amicable

by Thomas Lecaque and Joshua Call

The greatest danger of the Congresswoman's call for red and blue states to disaffiliate is that it will encourage followers to use political and extralegal means to move their communities and states closer to the fantasy of unity and homogeneity she referenced. 

"Mr. Jones" Shows Fake News Has Always Been a Weapon Against Ukraine

by Walter G. Moss

The new Amazon feature "Mr. Jones" details the famine imposed on Ukraine by Stalin's policies in the 1930s, and the battle among journalists to control the story. It's a timely reminder of the connection of information and power. 

Little Bargains for Big Issues

by Michael Paul Berlin

Bargaining teams representing University of California graduate workers focused narrowly on economic issues, and not on building unity of workers and the communities around universities. This is a historical pattern of a "business unionism" model eclipsing a view of unions as social movements. Workers need to change this. 

Black History, White Terror, and Rosewood at 100

by Dan Royles

The efforts of historians and survivors to achieve a small measure of justice and acknowledgment for the Rosewood massacre demonstrate the stakes of Florida's current efforts to restrict the teaching of history that challenges white supremacy. 

Ignorance of Its Achievements Contributes to Feminism's Bad Rap

by Elizabeth Cobbs

Slanders of American feminism as disruptive and disloyal go back to John Adams. But advances in freedom from education to abolition, suffrage to labor rights, have reflected the work of feminists to claim a public role for women as citizens.