Links to Recent Articles of Interest

“When Does Power Concede? Thwarting MAGA Will Take More than Protest and Symbolic Resistance”

By Van Gosse, The Nation, posted November 19

On the mixed history of “states’ rights” in the US, evoking the legacy of northern resistance to fugitive slave laws before the Civil War to argue that successful opposition to extreme Trump policies will have to involve mobilizing in states and municipalities. The author is a professor emeritus of US history at Franklin and Marshall College and co-chair of H-PAD.

“Requiem for an Empire: How America’s Strongman Will Hasten the Decline of U.S. Global Power”

By Alfred McCoy, TomDispatch, posted November 19

Traces the fraying of US economic and political leadership over recent decades and what’s to come. “Adding up the likely impact of Donald Trump’s policies in this country, Asia, Europe, and the international community generally, his second term will almost certainly be one of imperial decline, increasing internal chaos, and a further loss of global leadership.” The author teaches history at the University of Wisconsin.

“8 Reasons Why Marco Rubio Would Be a Disastrous Secretary of State”

By Nicolas Davies, Common Dreams, posted November 18

A cogently argued analysis of Senator Rubio’s public positions on a range of foreign policy issues. “In most hot spots around the world, Rubio is likely to make conflicts even hotter, or start new ones.” The author is an independent journalist and researcher for CODEPINK.

“The Civil Rights Law Shutting Down Pro-Palestine Speech”

By Alex Kane, Jewish Currents, posted November 15

A lengthy, detailed report on the emerging use of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act (which bars schools that get federal funds from allowing a “hostile environment” for some students), to prevent expressions of opposition to Israeli policies. Complaints under Title VI can be filed by persons with no connection with a particular campus. The author is the senior reporter at Jewish Currents.

“Presidential Politics: Somethings Are Old and Somethings Are New”

By Alan J. Singer, Daily Kos, posted November 12

Looks for lessons in past presidential elections, including the rapid back-and-forth of Democratic and Republican administrations. Warns, “Historical patterns predict that the Democrats can sweep back into office as Trump and the Republicans fail to address the needs and desires of the voters who elected him, but new conditions and contempt for democratic values may mean the patterns no longer hold.” The author is a historian who is director of social studies education at Hofstra University.

“The Cheney-Loving Democratic Party Needs a Reckoning about War”

By Stephen Wertheim, The Guardian, posted November 11

“As Democrats reckon with the future of their party, foreign policy must be part of the reckoning.” The author is a historian and a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He wrote Tomorrow, the World: The Birth of U.S. Global Supremacy (Harvard University Press, 2020).

“Hitler’s Enablers”

By Christopher R. Browning, New York Review of Books, November 7 issue

Summarizes the insights from three recent books on Hitler’s rise to power in Germany, with particular focus on the role of conservative nationalists in facilitating that rise. The author is a professor emeritus of history at the University of North Carolina. His latest book is The Origins of the Final Solution: The Evolution of Nazi Jewish Policy, September 1939 – March 1942 (U. of Nebraska Press, November 2024).

“How Trump Could Reorder the World”

By Stephen Kinzer, Boston Globe, posted November 6

Speculates on the incoming regime’s approach to different world trouble spots. “Any other president-elect could have been relied upon to keep American foreign policy fundamentally unchanged. Trump is a wild card. The world may be in for some shocks.” The author is a journalist who has written several historical books on US foreign policy.

“Israel’s Scholasticide and the Irrelevance of US Politics”

By Juan Cole, Informed Comment, posted November 6

“Palestinians are the most literate of the Arabs because the United Nations has educated Palestinian refugee children for decades.” Israel’s actions in Gaza, aimed in part at UN agencies, amount to “attempts to turn the Palestinians into illiterate dummies who are easily controlled and deprived of all their rights, to erase their very identity as a people.” The author teaches Middle East history at the University of Michigan.

“Ohio’s Little-Known Fascist Member of Congress”

By Dana Frank, History News Network, posted November 4

On Robert F. Jones, a county prosecutor and four-term member of the US House of Representatives (1939-1947), whose political rise benefited from his secret membership in the terrorist, white supremacist Black Legion. The author is a professor emerita of history at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

“Trump’s Deportation Model”

By Ana Raquel Minian, Dissent, posted October 31

On previous waves of immigrant deportation, most notably ‘Operation Wetback’ of the early 1950s. “Our history speaks loudly to the legal and human toll of anti-immigrant rhetoric and policies.” The author teaches history at Stanford University and has written In the Shadow of Liberty: The Invisible History of Immigrant Detention in the United States (Penguin Random House, 2024).

“America’s Top Archivist Puts a Rosy Spin on America’s Past – Pruning the Thorny Parts”

By Andrew Restuccia and Rebecca Ballhaus, Wall Street Journal, posted October 29

A account, based on inside sources, of ongoing changes in US history exhibits under the control of the National Archives and Records Administration. The changes amount to a pattern of downplaying conflict in the nation’s past and reducing depictions of racial minority groups. The authors are reporters for the Wall Street Journal.

Thanks to Teresa Meade, Rusti Eisenberg, and an anonymous reader for suggesting articles included in the above list, and to Roger Peace (creator of the U.S. Foreign Policy History and Resource Guide) for valuable consulting. Suggestions can be sent to jimobrien48@gmail.com.