Roundup

Tucker Carlson and Ted Cruz are Wrong about the Weakness of "Woke" Militaries

by Phillips Payson O’Brien

It turns out that hypermasculinity, ruthlesness and reflexive brutality are liabilities in modern warfare. Ukraine is exhibit A. 

Puerto Rico Needs Public Electric Utilities, Not More Privatization

by Alex Standen

Worker protest movements created the public utilities that used to provide electricity to Puerto Rico. In the face of the disastrous failure of the privatized utility system highlighted by Hurricanes Fiona and Maria, a similar movement is needed now. 

There Are Two Ways America Can Go After January 6

by Thomas Zimmer

In some respects, the January 6 attack resembles the failed 1923 Beer Hall Putsch. What should concern us is what could happen if the Justice Department decides to give similarly lenient treatment to the Capitol conspirators and their leader. 

After Four Decades, Iranian Women's Frustrations are Erupting

by Kelly J. Shannon

Since the 1990s, Iranian women have been engaged in slowly escalating protest against the restrictions imposed by the Islamic Republic. Have those protests become too large and too public to be contained? 

Why Conservatives Have Turned Against Academic Freedom Again

by John K. Wilson

The legacies of William F. Buckley and Ronald Reagan suggest that the right demands freedom for its own perspective that it actively seeks to deny to radical critics of capitalism, religion, and conservatism. 

Forget Policy Wins, Biden Needs to Tell Voters the Story of His Administration

by Julian Zelizer

The Biden administration and the Democrats have both legislative successes of their own and unpopular Republican positions to present to voters. Do they have a story that ties them together? 

Teaching Black Perspectives

by Julia W. Bernier

Since emancipation, the effort to control curriculum has been a key part of broad reactionary politics opposing greater freedom for Black people. Educators and activists have seen today's battles over teaching the history of racism before. 

Rigged Elections: A Real New York Story

by Jim Sleeper

New York City's political history shows that brazen attempts to rig elections didn't emerge with Team Trump. 

The Ostensibly Apolitical Nature of the Royals Explains Americans' Obsession

by Suzanne Schneider

The Royals appeal to an American fantasy of power without politics, in which civility and decorum conceal the process of determining a society's winners and losers. 

The Roundup Top Ten for September 23, 2022

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

Republicans Were Trumpy Long Before Trump

by Nicole Hemmer

Although he ran as an independent, Ross Perot's 1992 presidential campaign raised questions about how the Republican Party would position itself in the post cold-war world. That same year, Pat Buchanan started to provide answers. 

Biden's Taiwan Rhetoric Risks Antagonizing China For No Gain

by Stephen Wertheim

The United States' "One China" policy is ambivalent, awkward and dissatisfying. But it's served to prevent a destructive war for decades. Biden's recent comments threaten to destabilize the arrangement. 

Institutional Histories of Canadian Slavery

by Melissa N. Shaw

McGill University’s institutional history dramatically changes when it accounts for the fact that its founder, James McGill, was an enslaver and trader of enslaved Black and Indigenous people.

Governors DeSantis and Abbott Borrow from the Jim Crow Playbook

by Greta de Jong

"Immigration scholars have noted how U.S. foreign policies contributed to the poverty and violence in Central and South America that migrants are fleeing. Yet rather than acknowledge this – along with assuming the moral responsibilities it entails – some GOP leaders denigrate and dehumanize refugees to win support from voters."

Book Bans Reflect Outdated Views on How Children Read

by Trisha Tucker

Research shows that children are not vessels into which books pour ideas, but co-creators of meaning as they read and process a book. Yet today's moral panic imagines books breaking down barriers between innocent childhood and a corrupt world. 

We're Living in Ken Starr's America

by David Greenberg

With two proceedings against Donald Trump and Republicans promising one against Joe Biden if they retake the House, we live in an age where impeachment is a part of national politics. Ken Starr can take as much credit or blame as anyone. 

DeSantis's Stunt Echoes a Cruel Chapter of American History

by Nicole Hemmer

The latest immigration stunt shows a Republican party committed to trolling its enemies and disinterested in actual immigration policy.

A Short History of Fake History, and Why We Fight for the Truth

by Robert S. Mcelvanie

One of the most important parts of the civil rights struggle was an interracial effort to fight against a narrative of fake history that had been institutionalized in and out of the Jim Crow South—the white supremacist mythology of the "lost cause." That legacy should guide schools today. 

Once More, Railroad Workers are Taking the Lead for American Labor

by Nelson Lichtenstein

Railroad companies' profits hinge on inhumane scheduling practices—cutting the workforce to the bone and squeezing everything possible out of those who remain—that will soon be part of every industry if workers aren't able to fight back. 

Disinformation Groups are Taking Dark Money to Influence Schools – and Elections

by Alyssa Bowen

National conservative groups are using "dark money" organizations to fund a national campaign of complaint about gender and race in schools to try to create a wedge issue for the 2022 midterms and beyond, says a progressive watchdog organization.