Roundup

The Reparations Fight Must Include Costs of Climate Change

by Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò

The movement for reparations should be informed by the broader politics of anticolonial liberation struggles which sought not just to transfer resources but to raise new questions about the basic organiation of societies on a global scale.

Why Do We Know So Little about the 1930s Coup Attempt against FDR?

by Sally Denton

"In a climate of conspiracies and intrigues, and against the backdrop of charismatic dictators in the world such as Hitler and Mussolini, the sparks of anti-Rooseveltism ignited into full-fledged hatred."

We Must Fight the New Lost Cause Myth Trump has Birthed

by David Blight

"Yes, disinformation has to be fought with good information. But it must also be fought with fierce politics, with organization, and if necessary with bodies, non-violently."

The Deep Structure of Political Crisis

by Ruth Berins Collier and Jake Grumbach

The economic model of post-industrial America has produced the kinds of organization and disorganization, and mobilization and demobilization, that have led to profoundly antidemocratic politics. 

Sidney Poitier Gave More than He was Given

by Samantha N. Sheppard

Sidney Poitier's gift and burden as an actor was to constantly deliver more than his scripts contained, pushing the limits of Black representation in Hollywood films. 

MLK's History Lessons

by Jelani Cobb

Martin Luther King's use of American history to inform his developing demands for political and economic justice would run afoul fo legislation being passed by a growing number of states to restrict teaching about racism and inequality in the nation's past. 

The Shock Troops of the Next Big Lie

by Katherine Stewart

A historian of the religious right argues that the movement has recently integrated the Trumpist myth of stolen elections into its political mobilization of evangelical pastors. 

Don’t Make Meat Cheaper. Make It Much More Expensive

by Jan Dutkiewicz and Gabriel N. Rosenberg

The Biden administration hopes to score political points by making the meat industry more competitive and lowering prices. This is ignoring the horrible costs of cheap meat. 

Nine Decades Later, Critics of DuBois's "Black Reconstruction" Rehash Old Claims

by Martha S. Jones

For a new wave of critics, it's 1935 all over again, proving the ongoing vitality of DuBois's pioneering work. 

It’s 2086. This Is What American History Could Look Like

by Jon Grinspan and Peter Manseau

Think it's ridiculous that the likes of "QAnon Shaman" could be venerated and memorialized in 75 years? Think about Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee. The "judgment of history" depends on action today.

Secularism: The Essential, Fatally Weak Guardrail of Democracy

by Jacques Berlinerblau

The framers of the US Constitiution failed to build in the protections against religious belief overpowering the rights of others or the security of the state that Locke and other political theorists thought were urgently necessary. This oversight might imperil democracy.

The Roundup Top Ten for January 7, 2022

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

What Will We Remember of 2022?

by Tom Engelhardt

The response to the pandemic shows how the contemporary American urge toward nation un-building has returned home. 

Strange Beasts of Columbia

by Eduardo Vergara Torres

"According to the administration, the typical Columbia student worker must be an eyeless, toothless, infertile male creature bred on the cold shores of New England, who is about to inherit a fortune amassed by generations of well-educated ancestors."

The Truth About Prohibition

by Mark Lawrence Schrad

American historians have often identified Prohibition with a coalition of social reformers, nativists and religious fundamentalists. Looking at the international temperance and prohibition movement tells a different story of a fight against exploitation of workers and minority groups through addiction.

The DC Punk Scene Relied on the Local Latinx Community

by Mike Amezcua

"A big piece is missing from the stories told about punk and hardcore in the 1980s: Primarily, that marginalized spaces and communities in urban America gave a stage to the predominantly white subculture."

Braveheart: President Donald J. Trump

by Kristin Kobes Du Mez

Following the threads of religion and nationalism that form the unlikely comparison between Trump and Mel Gibson's (heavily mythologized) Scottish movie hero. 

Should Canadians be Preparing for the Collapse of U.S. Democracy?

by Thomas Homer-Dixon

"The country is becoming increasingly ungovernable, and some experts believe it could descend into civil war. How should Canada prepare?"

The Dangerous “Patriotism” of the January 6 Insurrection

by Ben Railton

The participants in the attack on the Capitol a year ago reflected a "mythic patriotism" founded on the belief in an authentic, white, Christian nation under attack by enemies dangerous enough to justify any measures in opposition. 

Homer Plessy's Posthumous Pardon Finally Recognizes His Heroism

by Keisha N. Blain

"The decision to pardon Plessy and finally clear his record are the culmination of efforts by Keith Plessy, the great-great-grandson of Homer Plessy’s cousin, and Phoebe Ferguson, the great-great-granddaughter of John H. Ferguson, the Louisiana judge who upheld the state's Separate Car Act."