This page features brief excerpts of stories published by the mainstream
media and, less frequently, blogs, alternative media, and even obviously
biased sources. The excerpts are taken directly from the websites cited in
each source note. Quotation marks are not used.
Source: Public Books
May 14, 2021
by Radhika Natarajan and John Munro
Two historians present a public syllabus on imperialism that emphasizes the historical origins of contemporary struggles and the ways that ideas of difference are essential to the imperial work of control and exploitation.
Source: The Atlantic
May 13, 2021
by Ron Brownstein
California's Recall law can allow a relatively small number of petitioners to initiate a recall of an elected official, and for that official to be removed even if he or she gets more votes than any alternative candidate. This isn't what the Progressive Era architects of the law intended, says San Jose State historian Glen Gendzel.
Source: Boston Review
May 13, 2021
by Esmat Elhalaby
Previous biographies of the Arab scholar and Palestinian advocate Edward Said have either reduced him to his more provocative political statements or treated those politics as a pose. A new biography by Timothy Brennan examines the connections between intellectual life and a global community of activists.
Source: History.com
May 12, 2021
Historian Sonya Michel describes the temporary provision of child day care during World War II as a boost to essential war industry that did not survive the end of mobilization.
Source: New York Times
May 12, 2021
Elizabeth Hinton's new book argues that anti-police uprisings, commonly called "riots," were frequent and widespread in American Black communities in the 1960s, and should be understood as a political movement against inequality and the inherently abusive nature of the "war on crime."
Source: National History Center and Woodrow Wilson Center
May 12, 2021
Joanne Meyerowitz gives historical perspective on the rise of microcredit aimed at women as a model of international development aid as part of the National History Center's Washington History Seminar. Join on Zoom on May 17.
Source: New York Review of Books
May 11, 2021
by Michael Kazin
Frederick Logevall's biography, written by a scholar who didn't experience the Camelot myth firsthand, should point toward a clearer-headed consideration of JFK's legacy, argues Michael Kazin.
Source: Inside Higher Ed
May 11, 2021
Seth Cotlar notes that history doesn't directly inform present action, but since advocates for retaining the filibuster had used many bad historical claims in their arguments it is only fair for historians to weigh in on the debate.
Source: HistoryExtra
May 11, 2021
Hitler's 1934 purge of his perceived rival Ernst Röhm and his followers suspected of disloyalty foreshadowed the eliminationist violence of his regime.
Source: MSNBC
May 10, 2021
Jonathan Chism of the University of Houston-Downtown contents that all anti-racist education is being labeled as "critical race theory" as part of a culture war strategy by the right.
Source: Keeping Democracy Alive
May 10, 2021
by Burt Cohen
Burt Cohen discusses Philip Zelikow's book which argues that diplomatic failures by the great powers extended the first world war by two years and contributed to the catastrophes of fascism and Stalinism.
Source: The Atlantic
May 10, 2021
by Clint Smith
Throughout the south, and in the minds of Americans, aesthetics and idealized depictions of valor continue to obscure the fact that the Confederacy fought to maintain a social order based on the ownership of human beings and white supremacy.
Source: New York Times
May 10, 2021
Jane L. Campbell of the U.S Capitol Historical Society offers perspective on the aging Democratic caucuses. Although it may be impolite to discuss, death in office for members of the House and Senate has been historically quite common.
Source: Black Perspectives
May 10, 2021
by Joshua Clark Davis
Louis Lomax was a provocateur, and was comfortable writing critically about both moderate and militant participants in the Black freedom movement; Thomas Aiello's new biography examines the complicated figure in African American journalism.
Source: NPR
May 10, 2021
Historians should recognize that many of their students are exposed to views of the past informed by video games and explore how to build on that interest while correcting errors, says University of Kansas historian Andrew Denning.
Source: NPR
May 10, 2021
Anika Prather of Howard's Classics Department shares her view of the decision to close the department.
Source: KPFA
May 10, 2021
Eric Rauchway of UC Davis joins Letters and Poltics on Pacifica Radio to discuss the ongoing legacy of the New Deal.
Source: History.com
May 10, 2021
The first Asian American settlement in what is now the United States was by Filipino sailors and indentured servants who escaped from Spanish ships in the Gulf of Mexico and established settlements in Louisiana.
Source: African American Intellectual History Society
May 10, 2021
Join the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy and the African American Intellectual History Society (AAIHS), for a conversation with leading policy makers, academics, and researchers on the historical legacy of the Massacre, the effects on current-day policy and organizing debates related to racial justice, and the movement for reparations.
Source: Society of American Historians
May 10, 2021
Lonnie G. Bunch III, Christopher Tomlins, Brianna Nofil and Afia Atakora are recognized by the Society of American Historians for their achievements in the last year.
