World War II

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  5/12/2023
  

  A Servicemember in My Family was Never the Same after WWII—My Mother

  As part of the Clubmobile service of the Red Cross, Phyllis McLaughlin was an indirect witness to the traumas of the soldiers she served with hospitality, even before the jeep accident that ended her own service after nearly killing her. 

• 
• 11/7/2021
  

  Writing a Classic: Richard Tregaskis and "Guadalcanal Diary"

  by Ray E. Boomhower

  Combat reporter Richard Tregaskis's account of the August 1942 Marine invasion of Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands passed military censors and became a popular sensation while offering the public an account of the difficulty and brutality of the Pacific war.

• 
• 3/7/2021
  

  Review: Does "The Princess Spy" Pierce the Veil of its Subject's Fictions?

  by Robert Huddleston

  A new biography of Aline Griffiths, Countess of Romanones, takes on the self-fashioned myths of the American-born woman who married a Spanish aristocrat after serving the OSS in Madrid during World War II. Does it succeed in finding the facts of her career as a spy?

• 
• SOURCE: Salon
  1/18/2021
  

  My Grandfather was a Nazi. Our Family's Story of Complicity Shows Where the Road to Extremism Leads

  by Mary Louise Wells

  Republicans who continued to contest the legitimacy of the election after the Capitol riots should consider the German example, which shows the potential for disaster if people accept authoritarianism out of expediency.

• 
• 9/6/2020
  

  The "Triple Nickles": Jim Crow Was an Elite Black Airborne Battalion's Toughest Foe

  by Robert F. Williams

  The lesson of the 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion for African Americans is a sadly familiar one: proving oneself is not enough; becoming members of a select fraternity was not enough to earn the respect and equality that comes with full citizenship.

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  8/20/2020
  

  For Japanese Americans, Housing Injustices Outlived Internment

  After enduring internment, Japanese Americans were forced to resettle in a changed society with a dire housing shortage. The government's response was grossly inadequate. 

• 
• SOURCE: Telegraph
  7/23/2020
  

  Wearing A Face Mask Is Not New - But The Backlash Against Them Is, Say Historians

  "The striking thing about 1941 is that there was no debate or controversy between the scientists and the government, there was just rapid agreement that this made sense and it wasn't costly," said Dr Jesse Olszynko-Gryn.

• 
• SOURCE: Washington Post
  4/26/2020
  

  How Past Crises Changed America’s Public Schools — ‘And so too Will COVID-19’

  by Ann Marie Ryan and Charles Tocci

  While this certainly feels unprecedented, the history of American public schooling shows us it's not.

• 
• SOURCE: The New York Times
  4/27/2020
  

  He Found One of Stalin’s Mass Graves. Now He’s in Jail.

  Yuri Dmitriev's family believes he has been jailed on false pedophelia charges because his findings challenge a sanitized version of history favored by Russian nationalists.

• 
• SOURCE: Time
  4/21/2020
  

  The Holocaust Was an Attempt to Erase Millions of People. Today, the World Must Honor the Evidence That They Existed

  "Naming the great European void, recognizing its existence by remembering, is thus not only a moral duty but also the only way for us, as survivors, to maintain our own humanity," writes author Elisabeth Åsbrink.

• 
• SOURCE: Washington Post
  4/17/2020
  

  Americans Must Embrace Hope, Not Fear

  by Kevin M. Schultz

  Amid covid-19, it’s time to come together and recognize that diversity is an asset.

• 
• SOURCE: The New York Times
  4/7/2020
  

  What Were the Origins of the Holocaust?

  A review of German historian Gotz Aly's new book "Europe Against the Jews: 1880-1945."

• 
• SOURCE: The New York Times
  4/10/2020
  

  When Asian-Americans Have to Prove We Belong

  by Jia Lynn Yang

  "This isn’t the first time we’ve been treated as a threat," writes Jia Lynn Yang.

• 
• SOURCE: Fox News
  4/9/2020
  

  Princeton Historian: America Can Beat Coronavirus if We Don't 'Defeat Ourselves'

  Stephen Kotkin, renowned for his work studying authoritarian regimes, said history teaches that the United States can triumph over the coronavirus pandemic if America doesn't "defeat ourselves."

• 
• SOURCE: National Interest
  3/31/2020
  

  America Has a History of Pandemic Denial

  by Joseph Loconte

  Donald Trump wasn't the first president to misunderestimate a national threat. Franklin Roosevelt played his part in the collective denial and dishonesty of the age—until the "ideology of fascism" contagion came knocking.

• 
• SOURCE: Washington Post
  3/30/2020
  

  In Fighting Covid-19, Remember That America’s WWII Mobilization Was Hardly Flawless

  by Richard B. Frank

  Mobilizing all Americans is a lofty challenge. Some will resist, just as they did 80 years ago.

• 
• SOURCE: Detroit Free Press
  3/29/2020
  

  Coronavirus Comparisons to World War II Are Rampant. Are We Ready to Be the Greatest Generation?

  How similar is coronavirus mobilization to World War II mobilization?

• 
• SOURCE: The Atlantic
  3/29/2020
  

  How to Survive the Blitz

  Five lessons from 1940s Britain about national resilience and social solidarity during a crisis.

• 
• SOURCE: Washington Post
  3/27/2020
  

  Democrats Have the Right Idea of what COVID-19 Relief Should Look Like

  by Elizabeth Tandy Shermer

  The failure to create a better social safety net has left us unprepared to deal with covid-19.

• 
• SOURCE: Dissent
  3/20/2020
  

  It Doesn’t Have to Be a War

  by Tim Barker

  The Trump administration appears ready to invoke the Defense Production Act to speed manufacture of essential goods like face masks. What if we didn’t have to resort to the analog of war?