Roundup

Source: Contingent
6/12/19

The Closure

by Brendan O'Malley

What happens when the college you work for closes? A first-hand account of the state of higher education. 

Source: Washington Post
6/19/19

‘Never again’ means nothing if Holocaust analogies are always off limits

by Danya Ruttenberg

Yes, every situation is different. That doesn’t mean we can’t compare them.

Source: Civil War Memory
6/26/19

Boston’s Black History is American History

by Kevin Levin

We still have a ways to go in reaching beyond the traditional narrative of history in Boston and beyond.

Source: NY Times
6/24/19

Whatever Happened to Moral Capitalism?

by Michael Kazin

Let one loyal, if anxious, Democrat offer a solution: “moral capitalism,” a system that, in the words of Congressman Joe Kennedy III of Massachusetts, would be “judged not by how much it produces, but how broadly it empowers, backed by a government unafraid to set the conditions for fair and just markets.”

Source: WSWS.org
6/21/19

The war on journalism is a war on the humanities

by Monika Eisenhauer

"The intention of historical science is to write the history of people and societies as objectively as possible. For this purpose it needs free and unrestricted access to the sources."

Source: NY Times
6/21/19

Which of the F.D.R. Wannabes Actually Understands New Deal Liberalism?

by Jonathan Alter

Suddenly, Franklin D. Roosevelt is all the rage. But many Democrats don’t understand what his legacy means.

Source: PBS News Hour
6/24/19

Video of the Week: Why the Stonewall Riots represented a ‘sea change’ for LGBTQ rights

On a June night in 1969, patrons of a New York City gay bar called the Stonewall Inn battled with police and set in motion the modern movement for gay rights. Fifty years later, the milestone anniversary of the event has sparked observations and celebrations nationwide -- as well as reflections from LGBTQ Americans about what cultural acceptance has meant to them.

Source: NY Times
6/20/19

Black People’s Land Was Stolen

by Andrew W. Kahrl

In addition to invoking the 40 acres black people never got, the reparations movement today should be talking about the approximately 11 million acres black people had but lost, in many cases through fraud, deception and outright theft, much of it taken in the past 50 years.

Source: Washington Post
6/25/19

How right-wing talking points distort the history of slavery

by Tyler D. Parry

As we debate reparations, we need to get the facts right.

Source: Wall Street Journal
6/24/2019

Basking in Baseball’s Summer of ’69

Gil Hodges managed the Mets to a miracle. Give him his plaque in the Hall of Fame.

Source: Washington Post
6/21/2019

The constitutional revolution a century ago that is shaping the 2020 election

by Bruce J. Schulman

And why we need another one

Source: The Washington Post
June 25, 2019

What South Africa Can Teach Us About Reparation

by Ereshnee Naidu-Silverman

Reparations can work, but only if we start telling the truth about racism and slavery.

6/21/19

Roundup Top 10!

This week's broad sampling of opinion pieces found on the Internet, as selected by the editor of HNN.

Source: The Guardian
6/17/19

The historical argument for impeaching Trump

by Heather Cox Richardson

Since Nixon, Republicans have pushed the envelope under the guise of ‘patriotism’, and Democrats have tolerated it because of ‘civility’.

Source: Nursing Clio
6/18/19

The Opioid Epidemic as Metaphor

by Faith Bennett

As cinematic portrayals of opioid use and abuse tend to be this sensational, commonplace opioid usage almost feels as if it doesn’t fit into this pattern of addiction at all. 

Source: The Atlantic
6/19/19

There Is No Middle Ground on Reparations

by Ibram X. Kendi

Americans who oppose reparations care more about responding to political expediency than about the emergency of inequality.

Source: OUPBlog
6/14/19

The impeachment illusion

by Donald A. Ritchie

What is clear from the record is that politically-motivated impeachments fail. Only in cases where malfeasance has become overwhelmingly obvious to members of both parties in the House will there be any chance of conviction in the Senate, raising the question: is a losing effort worth the trouble?

Source: Washington Post
6/15/19

Why the Founders would be aghast that Trump would take ‘oppo research’ from foreign governments

by Christopher McKnight Nichols

Alexander Hamilton considered “the desire in foreign powers to gain an improper ascendant in our councils” among the “most deadly adversaries of republican government.”

Source: Tom Dispatch
6/16/19

Trump, America, and the Decline of Empires

by Tom Engelhardt

Trump is not an isolated phenomenon--historically or globally. 

Source: FDR Foundation
Accessed 5/15/19

The End of History? FDR, Trump and the Fake Past

by Cynthia Koch

Trump is thinking more about history than we imagine and he is doing so in a way very different from former presidents.