Roundup

The Existential Crisis of the Winter Games is a Long Time Coming

by Bruce Berglund

Avery Brundage of the International Olympic Committee had many faults, but he understood that the Winter Olympics were increasingly out of step with a sporting world less focused on Europe and North America and less tolerant of the massive expenditure needed to host the games.

Trump's NPR Interview Shows the Hazard of Giving Him Airtime

by Federico Finchelstein

The history of fascism shows that it's a mistake for the news media to treat propagandists as honest actors. They'll exploit the free press to promote their ideas, but crush independent journalism at the first opportunity.

The True History Behind HBO's "The Gilded Age"

by Kimberly A. Hamlin

The new series follows fictional characters but is well-grounded in the innovations and inequalities that characterized urban America in the late nineteenth century, thanks in large part to the work of the show's historical consultant Professor Eric Armstrong Dunbar.

Of Course the Federal Government Can Regulate Elections

by Heather Cox Richardson

The Constitution not only enables, but requires the federal government to act when state authority violates the principles of democracy, something President Harry Truman realized in 1946.

The White Moderates King Warned About

by Victor Ray

"By blocking voting reform today, Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema are the White moderates Dr. King warned us about."

If Latinos are the Key to 2024, Democrats Should Be Worried

by Geraldo Cadava

"I dream of vigorous town hall-style debates where both parties engage in arguments over whose policies are best, instead of hurling talking points in our general direction from a distance."

The Salieri Rumor and Gossip in History

by Kristin Franseen

"The strange reception history of Antonio Salieri’s life and career shows how the same piece of gossip can reflect an immediate historical context but also adopt a variety of shifting (and often historically contradictory) meanings."

Student Protests over COVID Policy (and Adults Ignoring Them) is Part of a Long Tradition

by Jack Hodgson

"Their message: Education needs to be delivered in cooperation with young people. They have a right to advocate for their own welfare, feel safe in school and receive teaching, not just supervision."

The Roundup Top Ten for January 14, 2022

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

None Dare Call it "Encirclement"

by Michael Klare

While the Pentagon won't use the term, American military policy is clearly aiming at surrounding China to reduce its influence in Asia. This revival of Cold War-era geopolitics is a dangerous provocation. 

Will Omicron Break Up America's Unhealthy Cycle of January Gym Resolutions?

by Natalia Mehlman Petrzela

Could one positive effect of the Omicron surge be that people are separating their personal motivations to exercise from the commercial imperatives of the fitness and diet industries?

Teaching (amid a) White Backlash

by William Horne

What can we learn from the work of creating and teaching a course on white backlash as a historical force as another one is unfolding? 

We Need “CRT” to Understand the Midwest, Too

by Bradley J. Sommer

"The continued existence of white nationalist groups came as a shock to many Toledoans. It has likely shocked a lot of Americans in recent years, many of whom thought that Nazis existed only in textbooks and as the bad guys in movies."

Sidney Poitier Set the Template for Barack Obama

by Aram Goudsouzian

Sidney Poitier's portrayals of characters whose self-contained charm, virtue and dignity obliterated previous racist stereotypes in film but also excluded the frustrations and anger of contemporary African Americans were a model for Barack Obama's campaign promise to heal America's racial wounds.

Online Christian Martyrs

by Peter Manseau

"Imagine if all the energy, resources, and marketing that have been used to inject ideas of martyrdom into issues of public health and safety had instead gone toward making real change."

Teachers’ Unions Are Making Totally Reasonable Pandemic Health and Safety Demands

by Josh Mound

Chicago's teachers, like those elsewhere, have led the way in making demands for students to return to safe classrooms. The media are scapegoating them for the failures of politicians to meet or even consider those demands, while advancing a privatization agenda.

Family Capitalism and the Small Business Insurrection

by Melinda Cooper

Trumpism's base includes significant leadership and financial support from a faction of capitalists who own and lead private companies and shun many of the concessions made by publicly-traded corporations toward liberalism. 

Our Last Insurrectionist President

by Daniel N. Gullotta

John Tyler's post-presidential second act, as a secessionist, yielded something worse than historical condemnation: irrelevance. 

Abortion is Vulnerable Because it was Never Assimilated into Mainstream Medicine

by Carole Joffe

Because mainstream doctors and their professional organizations stigmatized the providers of illegal abortions before 1973, they were neither willing nor able to provide a strong defense of abortion rights after Roe v. Wade. 

Poetry and the Struggle for Justice

by Paul Lewis

"During the antebellum period, newspapers and magazines featured poems that advanced a wide range of causes, including women’s rights, peace, and temperance" – and abolition.