The US is a Procedural, Not a Substantive, Democracy
By Van Gosse
The Latest 
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Why CRT Belongs in the Classroom, and How to Do It Right
Stacie Brensilver Berman, Robert Cohen, and Ryan Mills
"If classroom realities matter at all to those governors and state legislators who imposed CRT bans on schools, they ought to be embarrassed at having barred students in their states from the kind of thought provoking teaching we witnessed in this project."
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What's Hiding in Putin's Family History?
Chris Monday
The details of Vladimir Putin's personal and family life are surprisingly (and by design) difficult to pin down. A historian suggests that his grandfather was more powerful, and more influential on the future Russian leader's fortunes, than Putin's common man mythology suggests.
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Do Sanctions on Russia Portend a Return to the Interwar Order of Trade Blocs?
Carl J. Strikwerda
The economic response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine has raised the specter of a new Cold War. But a better—and scarier—analogy might be the drastic contraction of global trade and the rise of colonial and imperial trade blocs between the World Wars.
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The Pope at War: Pius XII and the Vatican's Secret Archives
James Thornton Harris
David Kertzer's book argues that defenders of Pope Pius XII's actions during the Holocaust mistake his defense of the prerogatives of the Catholic Church for a defense of the victims of Nazi persecution and genocide.
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"The Dawn of Everything" Stretches its Evidence, But Makes Bold Arguments about Human Social Life
Frank A. Palmeri
David Graeber and David Wengrow seek to pull less hierarchical and more egalitarian and sustainable forms of settlement and social organization out of the frame of utopia and into the narrative of human history. To the extent they succeed, they show humanity today has the choice to organize ourselves for survival.
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As the Progressive Era Ideal of Regulation Vanishes, What Will Stop the March of AI?
Walter G. Moss
If capital decides that artificial intelligence is sufficiently profitable to put in charge of driving our cars, writing our essays, or even teaching our history classes, what is left to stop it, even if the products are terrible or even dangerous?
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The Roundup Top Ten for January 20, 2023
The top opinion writing by historians and about history from around the web this week.
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50 Years Ago, "Anti-Woke" Crusaders Came for My Grandfather
Max Jacobs
In 1972, "Search for Freedom" was rejected for adoption in Texas classrooms after conservative activists launched a national media campaign to attack it as unamerican and corrupting. The author's grandfather wrote the book.
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Resisting Nationalism in Education
Jacob Goodwin
"Countering the pull toward nationalistic authoritarianism requires intellectual openness and curiosity. This is a challenge in the time of recovery from the global pandemic, environmental catastrophe and jagged economic turbulence."
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One Term, Two Presidencies: Biden's Prospects under Divided Government
Michael A. Genovese
If recent patterns prove out, the second half of Biden's term will be marked by executive orders with little prospect of significant legislation.
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With Academic History in Crisis, can Departments Pivot to Reach Interested Audiences?
Elizabeth Stice
Americans don't actually hate history; they often begin to appreciate it after their undergraduate years and outside of the classroom. Does this point in a possible direction for securing the future of the profession?
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Martin Sherwin's "Gambling with Armageddon" Strips away the Myths of Nuclear Deterrence
Lawrence Wittner
As Sherwin points out, “the real lesson of the Cuban missile crisis . . . is that nuclear armaments create the perils they are deployed to prevent, but are of little use in resolving them.”
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Teach the History Behind "Emancipation" with the Primary Sources
Alan J. Singer
Antoine Fuqua and Will Smith's "Emancipation" has rediscovered the life of an enslaved man variously called Peter or Gordon, who had been made famous through an 1863 photograph. Here's how history teachers can use the primary records of his life to accompany the film.
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Blog
Professor Marcia Chatelain on McDonald's and MLK
Skipped History with Ben Tumin
"When we abdicate the responsibility of the public good to corporations... then more McDonald’s is what we get."
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Revisiting Kropotkin 180 Years After His Birth
Sam Ben-Meir
The rise of automation and the concurrent squeeze of workers in the name of profit offer an opportunity to revisit the ideas of Russian anarchist Pyotr Kropotkin as a forward-looking critique of power.
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The Roundup Top Ten for January 13, 2023
The top opinion writing by historians and about history from around the web this week.
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Hillsdale College's New Strategy in the School Wars Merges Curriculum and Privatization through "Choice"
Megan Threlkeld
During the Progressive era, as today, American education reformers examined the connection between schooling and the cultural and political divisions affecting the nation. Today's conservative agenda, however, openly rejects the idea of public schools as a force for unity and democratic culture.
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Blog
Ken Burns Discusses His New Photographic History of America
Robin Lindley
I have had the great privilege and opportunity of operating in that special space between the U.S. and “us” for decades—and if I have learned one thing, it is that there is on...
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"You Don't Have the Votes": The House Speaker Fight Echoes 1839
Michael Trapani
With multiple votes, partisan hostility, and charges of an electoral "steal" in the air, the House Speaker battle of 1839 offers a compelling comparison to today.
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My First Trip to Russia 30 Years Ago Is a Cautionary Tale Now
Steven Knipp
The decades since the fall of Communism have borne out a Russian saying: "The horses of hope gallop. But the donkeys of experience go slowly.”
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The Legacy of Charlene Mitchell: The First Black Woman Presidential Candidate
Alyssa Spinosa and Adam Arenson
Although Charlene Mitchell's candidacy with the Communist Party gained few votes, her campaign reflected an effort to advance a critique of capitalism that addressed the American context of racial inequality and oppression.
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Two Unlikely Champions of Fundamentalist Parties Show it's More about Power than Faith
Donne Levy
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returns to power after embracing religious fundamentalist parties in a coalition. Like his friend Donald Trump, he seems an unlikely leader for a faith-based constituency to embrace.
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Republicans (Finally) Rally Around McCarthy as Speaker
Kevin McCarthy has secured the speakership through apparent deals allowing a group of right-wing hardliners to have greater influence over legislation and more investigative power. Historians followed the voting and discuss what comes next.
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The "Critical Race Theory" Controversy Continues
The appointment of right-wing activist Christopher Rufo to the board of Florida's public New College is a significant escalation of the war on teaching and research on race, gender and sexuality.
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The Roundup Top Ten for January 6, 2023
The top opinion writing by historians and about history from around the web this week.
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