Roundup

White Christian Nationalism is Out in the Open Now

by Annika Brockschmidt and Thomas Lecaque

The boundaries of acceptable discussions of the relationship of religion and civil authority and citizenship have shifted on the right as political candidates now treat the label "Christian nationalist" with defiance instead of denial, and deploy a mythical version of the past to justify their views.

The New Army Tactical Brassiere Latest Episode of Military Connections with Fashion

by Einav Rabinovitch-Fox

The move to create new undergarments reflects the military's recent efforts to incorporate a more diverse population of servicemembers, as well as a longstanding concern with managing the appearance of women in service. 

India in a Different Voice

by Maya Jasanoff

Learning Hindi during a sabattical presented a researcher with the chance to engage with Indian history outside of the frame of English, and to grasp the power struggles pushing the country toward authoritarian nationalism today. 

The Dems' IRA Message Would Be More Effective If It Weren't Afraid of Touting Taxes

by Molly Michelmore

The last four decades of tax-cutting have crippled democracy. Democrats need to learn lessons from a time when paying taxes was popular and patriotic. 

When We All Boycotted a Lousy Beer

by Erik Loomis

Latino organizations and the AFL-CIO urged boycotts of Coors beer for its owners politics and the company's antilabor crusade. The company's national sales didn't take a serious hit until student, environmental, and gay activists helped form a broader coalition. 

The Roundup Top Ten for August 19, 2022

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

Ailing Empires: The Rhetoric of Decline in Britain and the US

by Jed Esty

If the US is following behind Great Britain in experiencing the strains of a collapsing empire, can Americans, their leaders, and their thinkers learn any lessons from the comparison and make a post-imperial society that is more humane and less nasty? 

Trump is Attacking the Most Conservative Agency of the Government

by Garrett M. Graff

The embedded conservatism of the FBI is so severe that Democratic presidents have never felt politically entitled to name a fellow Democrat to lead the Bureau. Trump's attacks on the FBI as part of a liberal "deep state" are ludicrous.

On Beer, or, Why Chicks Rock

by Eleanor Janega

The history of brewing in medieval Europe reflects on the present in interesting ways from the inside of the pub. 

Acceptance of Natural Hairstyles a Continuing Front in Civil Rights Struggle

by Jasmine Nichole Cobb

Recently signed legislation in Massachusetts prohibits workplaces and schools from banning many hairstyles associated with African Americans, showing that racism can work through sartorial standards to make opportunity and acceptance contingent on conformity to white norms. 

Whatever Else, Applaud Liz Cheney's Defense of the Constitution

by James M. Banner Jr.

James M. Banner writes "as difficult as it may be for Democrats, like me, who reject most of Cheney’s positions on specific issues to do, we owe her a salute for her elemental moral and civic clarity."

An Honest Conversation about Jews for Racial and Economic Justice

by Jacob Remes

The president of the Antidefamation League recently said the progressive Jewish group was out of line with "mainstream Jewish values." A member and historian begs to differ. 

Smuggled Recordings Revealed the Harshness of British Internment Policies in Northern Ireland

by Jack Sheehan

Tapes secretly recorded in the Long Kesh internment facility, where suspected IRA militants were detained without trial, revealed the degree to which the British government discarded human rights in its crackdown and speak to today's "states of exception."

Salman Rushdie Changed Everything

by Siva Vaidhyanathan

The novelist's creative brilliance and critical acclaim signaled a moment for south Asian people around the world to see themselves outside the frame of colonialism and to grapple with the subcontinent's ethnic and religious fissures. 

The Disturbing History of Sending Migrants to Other States

by Hidetaka Hirota

In the context of intense anti-Irish nativism, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts expelled and deported poor immigrants without due process. 

Faculty Need Labor Organizing, Not Shared Governance

by Eva Cherniavsky

"Beyond the walls of the academy, where the default vision of the college professor is (still) that of an over-educated, privileged elite reveling in the outrageous luxury of career-long job security, no one at all is much concerned with the erosion of faculty power. Yet they should be."

The Modern City was Shaped by Policing Black Women's Sexuality

by Simon Balto

In tribute to the work of Anne Gray Fischer, a historian of policing reflect on how central the goal of controlling sexuality was to the growth of police forces and the geography of urban America. 

The Context of the New History Wars is Our Missing Sense of a Shared Past

by Jonathan Zimmerman

Grievances over secular issues like teaching racism have replaced Christian concerns over evolution and prayer in the battles over curriculum. Have advocates of progressive curricula opened the door to this attack by undermining a shared national historical narrative? 

What Justice Kavanaugh Gets Wrong About the Court and Politics

by William E. Nelson

At the founding, the idea that the law was distinct from politics had not yet emerged. Since then, courts have often intervened in political matters, and doing so often prevented worse outcomes. 

Fighting Incarceration from the Inside: Prison Litigation as Resistance

by Charlotte Rosen

The Prison Litigation Reform Act has cut incarcerated people off from their rights to access the court system to seek personal relief from abuse and cruel punishment and systemic change to the mass incarceration regime.