Links to Recent Articles of Interest
By Kevin M. Levin, The Atlantic, posted June 11
“Real Estate Developers used the statues on Monument Avenue to draw white buyers to a neighborhood where houses could not be sold 'to any person of African descent.'” The author is a historian who wrote Searching for Black Confederates: The Old South's Most Persistent Myth (U. of North Carolina Press, 2019).
“Confederate Statues Are Being Removed Amid Protests over George Floyd's Death. Here's What to Know”
By Jasmine Aguilera, Time, posted June 10
A useful roundup, with quotes from historians James Grossman, Khalil Muhammad, and Dana Ramey Berry.
By Keisha N. Blain and Tom Zoellner, The Guardian, posted June 10
Compares present-day protests against the current order of American policing to antislavery resistance in the late 18th and 19th centuries. Keisha Blain teaches history at the University of Pittsburgh and Tom Zoeller is the author of Island on Fire: The Revolt That Ended Slavery in the British Empire (Harvard U. Press, 2020).
By Charlotte Lydia Riley, The Guardian, posted June 10
On the toppling of Edward Colston's and other statues. The author teaches British history at the University of Southampton.
By Andrew J. Bacevich, The New Republic, posted June 9
An essay on the nation's obsession with war in the entire post-World War II era. “The US has historically chosen war to address all kinds of problems: terror, drugs, unfriendly countries. This time is different.” The author is a professor emeritus of history and international relations at Boston University.
By Lawrence Wittner, LA Progressive, posted June 8
A short account of efforts since the 1950s to make New York City police officers accountable to the public. The author is a professor emeritus of history at SUNY Albany.
By Roger Peace, History News Network, posted June 7
A short piece on US decision making after World War II and at the end of the Cold War, based on new essays in the United States Foreign Policy History and Resource Guide website, sponsored by H-PAD and the Peace History Society. The author is a former college history teacher and is coordinator of the website.
Interview with Khalil Muhammad, Vox, posted June 6
Khalil Muhammad teaches history, race, and public policy at the Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, and is the author of The Condemnation of Blackness: Race, Crime, and the Making of Modern Ureban America (Harvard U. Press, 2010).
By Michael Shank, NYR [New York Review of Books] Daily,posted June 3
On the influence of Defense Department transfers of military-grade weapons and Israeli training on the evolution of local police forces in the US.
By Elizabeth Hinton, New York Times, posted June 2
On federal “tough-on-crime policies since the late 1960s. The author teaches history and African American studies at Harvard University and has written From the War on Poverty to the War on Crime: The Making of Mass Incarceration in America (Harvard U. Press, 2017).
Thanks to an anonymous reader for flagging some of the articles in the above list. Suggestions can be sent to jimobrien48@gmail.com.