Links to Recent Articles of Interest
“Trump, Antisemitism & Academia”
By Christopher R. Browning, New York Review of Books, April 10 issue
“[Trump’s] campaign against campus antisemitism is simply a hypocritical pretext for his assault on American higher education.” The author is a professor emeritus of history at the University of North Carolina and wrote The Origins of the Final Solution: The Evolution of Nazi Jewish Policy, September 1939–March 1942 (U. of Nebraska Press, 2024).
“The US Government Has Sent Columbia University a Ransom Note”
By Sheldon Pollock, The Guardian, posted March 19
On the Trump administration’s March 15 demands on Columbia, with special attention to the demand for a five-year receivership for the department of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies, of which the author, a professor emeritus of South Asian Studies, is a former chair. “This is an unparalleled attempt to seize control over people and ideas in a US university.”
“War Architects Enjoy Top Academic Gigs 22 Years After Illegal Invasion of Iraq”
By Derek Seidman, Truthout, posted March 19
On prestigious university positions occupied by such Iraq War decision makers as Condoleezza Rice and David Petraeus, joined more recently by several former Biden administration higher-ups involved with US policy enabling the Israeli destruction of Gaza. The author is a journalist writing for a variety of dissenting publications.
“The Last Time Pro-Palestinian Activists Faced Deportation”
By David Cole, The New Yorker, posted March 19
On the “L.A. Eight,” immigrants whom the US government sought to deport in the late 1980s based on their political activities. The case was dropped in 2007, and no similar deportation efforts were made until this month in the case of Mahmoud Khalil. The author, a former National Legal Director of the American Civil Liberties Union, served as part of the “L.A.Eight” defense team.
“Among ‘DEI’ Purge, Pentagon Removes Page on Iwo Jima Flag Raiser”
By Jon Swaine and Alex Horton, Washington Post, posted March 18
Presents a sampling from among the tens of thousands of historical references to minority service members removed from Defense Department websites in response to anti-“DEI” directives. The authors are Washington Post reporters.
“Social Movements Constrained Trump in His First Term – More Than People Realize”
By Kevin A. Young, The Conversation, posted March 16
Challenges the widely expressed view that protests during Trump’s first term had little impact by describing effective local organizing efforts, especially campaigns that frustrated administration objectives on immigration and fossil fuels. The author teaches history at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and is a member of the H-PAD Steering Committee.
“The End of the University as We Know It”
By Meghan O’Rourke, New York Times, posted March 16
An overview of universities’ role in the US and decades of right-wing attacks on their principles, leading up to Trump administration actions. “[W]hat we are witnessing is not just an attack on academia or a set of fiscal reforms or a painful political rebalancing. It is an attack on the conditions that allow free thought to exist.” The author teaches English at Yale University and edits the Yale Review.
“AHA-OAH Condemn Federal Censorship of American History”
Joint statement by the American Historical Association and the Organization of American Historians, posted March 13
Denounces “recent efforts to censor historical content on federal government websites, at many public museums, and across a wide swath of government resources that include essential date” – efforts amounting to “a systemic campaign to distort, manipulate, and erase significant parts of the historical record.”
“MESA Board Statement on the Repression of Academic Freedom in the United States”
Statement by the Middle East Studies Association, posted March 13
A broad-barreled critique of recent Trump administration policies toward higher education. Among other points,”Palestine-related scholarship and advocacy have now become focal points of a frontal assault on universities as centers of critical thinking and knowledge production.”
“How the Red Scare Shaped American Politics”
By Beverly Gage, The New Yorker, posted March 10
This review essay on Clay Risen’s new book Red Scare (Scribner, 2025): lays out highlights from the era and ties it to the present. “As Roy Cohn once instructed a young Donald Trump, much can be accomplished by attacking first and dealing with the consequences later.” The author teaches history at Yale University and won a Pulitzer Prize for her 1922 book G-Man about J. Edgar Hoover.
“What Made the Irish Famine So Deadly?”
By Fintan O’Toole, The New Yorker, posted March 10
A wide-ranging essay on the Irish famine of 1845-52, drawing from a new history of the episode, Rot, by Padraic F. Scanlon. “Above all, ‘Rot’ reminds us that the Great Hunger was a very modern event, and one shaped by a mind-set that is now again in the ascendant.” The author has published over twenty books of history, literature, and political commentary.
“Anti-Fascist Movements Have Succeeded in the Past.Can They Work in the U.S.?”
By Zeb Larson, DAME, posted March 6
Briefly describes a medley of experiences of social movements resisting authoritarian regimes in various settings, such as apartheid South Africa, Warsaw-Pact countries, Nazi-occupied Europe, the segregated American South, Brazil and Chile under military rule, Franco’s Spain, and Mussolini’s Italy.
Thanks to an anonymous reader for suggesting some of the above articles, and to Roger Peace for valuable consulting. Suggestions can be sent to jimobrien48@gmail.com.