Roundup

Conservative Colleges are Winning the Culture Wars

by Adam Laats

While battles over abortion information and teaching racism get headlines, Hillsdale College and other conservative institutions are quietly following the model created by Bob Jones University in the 1970s to push conservative Christian curricula into schools across the country.

Once Again, Republicans Will Choose Radicalization to Turn The Base Out

by Thomas Zimmer

The problem with the Republican Party isn't Trump, it's the fact that the party knows it can't win without riling up the far-right elements that compose a growing part of its base. 

A Near-Catastrophic Ferry Trip Recalls Past Naval Disasters

by Gary B. Ostrower

The Navy lost nearly 800 sailors to a Pacific typhoon in 1944. An admittedly less-serious incident on a study abroad trip makes the author mindful of the potential hazards of naval service. 

Screaming Past Each Other at Christmas: Debating the End of the Vietnam War

by Ryan Reft

In December 1972 the United States launched a massive bombing campaign, notionally to force the North back to the bargaining table and secure an "honorable" peace. The fierce debate between Anthony Lewis and Robert Conquest over the merits of that reasoning would resonate for years. 

The Roundup Top Ten for October 21, 2022

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

Sam Adams: The Sock-Puppet Propagandist of Revolution

by Stacy Schiff`

The journalistic standards of the day meant that the patriotic agitator saw no ethical reason not to publish inflammatory essays under multiple aliases. 

A Lesson in Humility and Justice

by Imani Pery

Margaret Burnham's study of lynching and of the legal sanction given to racist violence stands in a long tradition of African American intellectuals who have recognized the need to study society in order to change it. 

German Debate About Arming Ukraine is an Argument About Germany

by Anne Applebaum

Do Germany's lessons from the Nazi era mean that Germans should help other natins resist aggressive war, or that Germany shouldn't be involved? Germans still aren't sure. 

Remarks by LA City Council Members Struck at Local Oaxacan Community

by A.S. Dillingham

Remarks stigmatizing Mexican immigrants with indigenous ancestry point to the fallacy of a unitary Latino identity and highlight the persistence of racial hierarchies in Latin America. 

We Discovered the Archive of a Sex Education Academy; Is its Value for Auction or Research?

by Allison Miller

What happened when a historian and an archivist-in-training tracked down the much-rumored but long unseen archives of a defunct institute for the study of sexuality? 

Racism and Sweden's Right Turn

by Tobias Hübinette

The Sweden Democrats have a long lineage on the far-right fringes of Swedish politics beginning with postwar Nazi sympathizers, but have recently begun to capitalize on economic disaffection by invoking immigration restriction as the solution to perceived national decline.

Don't Pit Rosa Parks Against Claudette Colvin – Recognize the Movement Both Shared In

by Jeanne Theoharis and Say Burgin

Multiple myths about Rosa Parks – that she was a reluctant and accidental crusader, or that she usurped the leadership of the younger Claudette Colvin – obscure the grassroots movement in Montgomery and the intergenerational mentorship the two women shared. 

Hurricanes Have Been an Impediment to Racial Justice Before

by Brandon T. Jett

The hurricane that hit Miami in 1926 caused extensive damage to the city and killed more than 300 people. It also derailed a grand jury investigation into a lynching in Lee County, a rare instance of public pressure to stop racist terrorism. Will Florida's rebuilding take attention from fights against regressive politics in the state?

The Insidious Two-Step University Administrations Use to Squelch Faculty Speech

by Joshua Clover

Carnegie Mellon's treatment of a professor who made a controversial tweet about Queen Elizabeth and colonialism shows the willingness of universities to capitulate to outrage at the expense of free speech, as well as their lack of support for their faculty. 

The GOP Agenda Probably Won't Influence Midterms – the "Contract with America" Didn't

by Robert Fleegler

Long-simmering trends and anti-incumbent sentiment gave Republican House candidates a strong tailwind in 1994; the Contract with America policy agenda became an explanation after the fact, but was seldom referenced in the campaign. 

Confronting Slavery in the Archives at Georgetown

by Cassandra Berman

Jesuit records pertaining to slavery have been housed at Georgetown since 1977. Their unremarked presence highlights the important difference between presence and accessibility in the archives and the work required to document historical responsibility. 

Will Court's Abortion Overreach Galvanize Religious Americans Who Prefer Secular Society?

by Jacques Berlinerblau

Not all religious Americans loathe a secular society; many see it as the best protection of their own personal freedom of worship and conscience. Challenges to Florida's new abortion restrictions show they could be a powerful political force.

Social Pressures and Prejudices Shape Perceptions of Who is a Child

by Bill Bush and Erin Mysogland

The contrasting treatments of a 19 year-old white Capitol rioter and a Black 13 year-old charged with first degree murder and facing trial as an adult highlight a longstanding problem: age in the law is interpreted subject to social norms about race, gender and social class.

What American Dream did Asian Immigrants Find in the Southern California Suburbs?

by James Zarsadiaz

Asian-American suburbs grew east of Los Angeles in part because developers catered to a growing market and in part because Asian Americans embraced some of the anti-urban tropes common in postwar America. Today conflict still surrounds how much diversity the suburban ideal can accommodate.

Why Liz Truss Couldn't Channel Margaret Thatcher

by Robert Ralston

Truss couldn't claim to present a solution to British decline because she took over as Prime Minister as an insider to a party seen as the agents of that decline.