Recently Published

Recovering the Story of the Empress Messalina After a Roman Cancellation

by Honor Cargill-Martin

After the empress Valeria Messalina's fatal fall from favor with her husband Claudius, her name and image were stricken from public and private spheres, an episode that reveals the tightly-regulated dissemination of imperial women's images (and puts current "cancel culture" panic and whisper networks into perspective). 

Can the Left Take Back Identity Politics?

by Umut Özkırımlı

Recovering the liberatory potential of identity politics means going back to the term's source—the Combahee River Collective—and recognizing its radical roots and embrace of coalition-building and politics.

California's Collusion with a Texas Timber Company Let Ancient Redwoods be Clearcut

by Greg King

It wasn't shocking that a Houston-based energy company would seek to liquidate newly acquired holdings of ancient redwood trees and defy California law to do it. It was shocking that state agencies seemed determined to help them do it. 

Ayn Rand's Defense of an Anti-Union Massacre

by Greg Mitchell

The screenwriter and novelist was inspired by the 1943 memoir of Republic Steel head Tom Girdler, in particular his refusal to apologize for collaborating with Chicago Police to crush a march of striking steelworkers and their families in 1937. 

What We Can Learn From—and Through—Historical Fiction

by Carol K. Kammen

"I have written this to praise historical fiction when it respects the line between our times and the past, when it adheres to the known-truth and does not pervert it for excitement—or for book sales."

The Mexican War Suggests Ukraine May End Up Conceding Crimea. World War I Suggests the Price May Be Tragic if it Doesn't

by Alan J. Singer

Ukrainian leadership would likely compare the abandonment of its claim to Crimea to be an injustice on par with Mexico's surrender of California and the southwest to the United States. Is it the least bad alternative? 

Dangerous Records: Why LGBTQ Americans Today Fear the Weaponization of Bureaucracy

by Emily Hand

Requests made by Texas's Attorney General for information about gender change requests on drivers' licenses and other documents alarmed transgender advocates because the data could support an official list of trans Texans at a moment when the group faces public vilification. History shows that innocent bureaucratic records can be used oppressively.

The Modern Relics in Crow's Cabinet of Curiosities

by Matthew Dennis

Understanding Harlan Crow's collection, including Nazi memorabilia, as a set of relics (and not trophies or investments) helps to clarify the unease Americans feel about his understanding of power and cultivation of relationships with people of influence over the federal judiciary.

Texas Judge Revives Anthony Comstock's Crusade Against Reproductive Freedom

by Bill Greer

The career of Anthony Comstock shows what can happen when a highly committed moral crusader gains traction in the political system. His rehabilitation in the contemporary abortion war is cause for concern. 

AI the Latest Instance of our Capacity for Innovation Outstripping our Capacity for Ethics

by Walter G. Moss

The words of General Omar Bradley are as prescient as ever: "Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. If we continue to develop our technology without wisdom or prudence, our servant may prove to be our executioner."

Stronger Global Governance is the Only Way to a World Free of Nuclear Weapons

by Lawrence Wittner

The war in Ukraine and escalating tensions between the PRC and Taiwan are just two examples of the resurgent danger of nuclear war. A revived movement for true international governance is needed to ensure that the unthinkable becomes impossible. 

Forget "Finding Forrester"—Our Best Teaching Can Be Ordinary

by Elizabeth Stice

Hollywood loves to tell the stories of singularly brilliant students pushed to greatness by similarly singular mentors with unconventional methods and unaccommodating personalities. This ideal won't help anyone teach the real students in their classrooms. 

From "Shell Shock" to PTSD, Veterans Have a Long Walk to Health

by Charles Glass

Iraq War veteran Will Robinson brought himself out of a mental health crisis by hiking more than 11,000 miles of trail from the Pacific Crest to the Appalachian, following the century-old prescription of British military doctor Arthur Brock. 

Mary Wollstonecraft's Diagnosis of the Prejudices Holding Back Girls' Education Remains Relevant Today

by Victoria Bateman

Since Wollstonecraft's 1792 condemnation of the strictures of modesty and sexual purity as unjust impediments to the education of girls and women, they remain principal justifications for keeping girls out of school. 

Contemporary Pundits Need a Refresher on Populism's History

by Steve Babson

"Elites who tar their critics in the U.S. with the sly pejorative of 'populist' count on our collective amnesia. They’d rather the real Populists remained forgotten, along with the potential they represented."

How a Little-Known Anti-Vietnam Protest Reverberates Today

by Gary B. Ostrower

A 1968 disruption of an ROTC ceremony at Alfred University in 1968 involved just 15 students and 2 faculty. It won't be remembered with Berkeley or Columbia in the annals of student protest, but it made a significant impact on the legal requirements placed on universities' policies for dealing with student protest. 

Brandon Johnson Built a Coalition to Win in Chicago. Can He Keep it to Govern?

by Gordon K. Mantler

When Brandon Johnson takes office on Monday as Chicago's mayor, he will experience the same challenge that his political predecessor Harold Washington did in 1983: turning a winning electoral coalition into a durable governing coalition. It won't be easy, but progressive change in the city depends on it. 

Political Pundits, Apply the "Resentment" Label with Caution

by Robert A. Schneider

As the brief respite between two Trump-Biden races reaches its end, "resentment" is once again the go-to political explanation. But too often the term is used to describe voters as irrational and unhinged while obscuring some real causes of moral aggrievement in contemporary society. 

Buried Footage Helped Chicago Police Get Away with Killing 10 Labor Activists in 1937

by Greg Mitchell

Paramount's newsreel division shot footage of the murderous attack on a steelworkers' march in 1937. They sided with the bosses by burying the footage. Even after Senator Robert LaFollette pushed for the film's release, cities banned it from the screen as Chicago prosecutors ruled the killings justifiable. A new documentary tells the story of the film. 

"An Inconvenient Truth" Shows the Missed Opportunities to Act on Climate Change

by Robert Brent Toplin

Al Gore's documentary project was more influential on the public than on the political system when it came to advancing awareness of climate change. One wonders what might have been if Gore had been advancing his message from the Oval Office 20 years ago.