Roundup

The Passing of the Generation that Remembers the Last World War Makes the Next One More Likely

by Stephen Wertheim

The United States faces a growing risk of conflict with other global powers without a strong awareness of how difficult and all-consuming it could be for the military, civilians, and the entire society. 

Who Controls the Curriculum in Florida?

by Timothy V. Kaufman-Osborn

A federal court's ruling that Florida can't enforce it's "Stop WOKE" Act is a win for academic freedom, but not a total victory. Faculty must reassert the prerogative of setting curricular guidelines against administrators who see their role as serving the state. 

The UC Grad Worker Strike is the Most Important Labor Action in the History of Higher Ed

by Nelson Lichtenstein

The strike aims not only at raising the pay of graduate workers and postdocs, but reversing the austerity politics that have gutted California's public higher education and created a climate of precarity for intellectual workers in the system. 

William Still Preserved the Black History of Abolition at a Time of Danger

by Julia W. Bernier

After emancipation, the meticulous records William Still kept about the fellow Black people he helped to reach freedom became a tool in a different struggle: to fight against the erasure of Black humanity and power by proponents of Jim Crow and the Lost Cause. 

Open Hearts, Closed Doors: Immigration and the Eclipse of Protestant Cultural Authority in America

by Nicholas T. Pruitt

Liberal Protestants in the early 1960s supported the reform of racially restrictive immigration laws, but ended up encouraging a more diverse nation where their brand of moderate religion was eclipsed by both multiculturalism and conservative white evangelicalism. 

How Freaked Out Should Professors Be About Artificial Intelligence Language Tech?

by John Warner

ChatGPT can crank out essays full of plausible "content," but it can't engage in contextualization, analysis, or intuitive connection of ideas. The problem it reveals is an education system where outcomes have overtaken process and students are encouraged to write mechanically. 

The Racist Origins of Georgia's Runoff System

by Steven F. Lawson

Runoff elections were installed in Georgia to ensure that Black voters could not elect their preferred candidates, allowing white voters a second chance to consolidate support around white candidates. 

The Roundup Top Ten for December 2, 2022

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

Are Elite Conservatives Getting Too Weird to Win?

by Graham Gallagher

The right's move toward European nationalism, conservative Catholicism, and other departures from domestic conservative tradition are troubling to scholars of reactionary politics. But they might just seem weird to voters. 

Staughton Lynd, 1929-2022

by Rosemary Feurer

Lynd was an academic and activist when those combinations were reviled as unbecoming of a professional, and he was blacklisted from the profession for his bold anti-war stance. He then made an impact as an activist for labor and against war. 

Despite Defeat, Iran's Footballers Won

by Golnar Nikpour

Iranian players' show of solidarity with protesters facing government repression has been more important than the results on the pitch. 

Taking a Longer View, the Crime Spike Isn't a Mystery, but Solutions aren't Easy Enough for Politicians

by Patrick Sharkey

Crime is a whole-society problem that is experienced locally; solutions require deep reforms and can't be subjected to the shifting attention of politicians in an election year. 

What Will Russia Look Like Without Putin?

by Joy Neumayer

A transformation of Russia after the end of Putin's leadership will require unwinding the countless institutions that have been molded and warped around his power for decades, so that another authoritarian can't step right in to use them. 

Republicans Can Thank Suburban New Yorkers for House Majority

by Stacie Taranto

The volatile politics of New York's downstate suburbs trace back to the settlement of massive suburban tracts outside the city after World War II, which created a large constituency of homeowners concerned with "law and order." 

Can Universities Protect Diverse Admissions and Excellence?

by John Thelin

The vastly improved technology available to college admissions officers means that a handful of selective institutions can serve the interest of both nominal diversity and elite reproduction, while exacerbating the divide in elementary and secondary educational quality in the nation. 

From Rugged Individualists to Aggrieved Victims: The Rhetorical Trajectory of the Right

by Paul Elliott Johnson

Forms of grievance and victimhood have always been central to far-right politics. Only recently have mainstream conservative politicians felt free to embrace them without coming off as whiners. 

Reactionary Media are Fueling Anti-LGBTQ Violence

by Ben Miller

When the media give a platform to the idea that trans people living in public inherently encourages sexual abuse, violence aimed at removing them from the public will follow. The media need to take responsibility for Colorado Springs and call out icitement to violence. 

For Chinese Protesters, Blank Pages are the Punch Line. What's the Joke?

by Christopher Rea and Jeffrey Wasserstrom

To understand the current Chinese protests, consider the nation's traditions of creative, surreptitious, and subversive political humor. 

What the AHA President Got Wrong—and Right

by Jonathan Wilson

"History is political because human experience is political. Historians have power, or at least we want them to. We require that secondary-school and university students study history because we hope it will shape their behavior as citizens."

Jefferson's Time in Paris Revealed His True Beliefs About Slavery

by Fred Kaplan

Jefferson's discussions of slavery with his intellectual compatriots was at odds with the pragmatic and self-serving decisions he made about his own business affairs.