Links to Recent Articles of Interest:
“Hitler Used a Bogus Crisis of ‘Public Order’ to Make Himself Dictator”
By Timothy W. Ryback, The Atlantic, posted June 12
Tells the story of how, at the outset of Nazi rule in Germany, Hitler maneuvered to crush the partial autonomy of the nation’s component states, especially opposition-controlled Bavaria. The author is a historian and director of the Institute for Historical Justice and Reconciliation in The Hague.
“The Revolutionary Idea That Remade the New World”
By Greg Grandin, The Atlantic, posted June 10
On the adoption of birthright citizenship by Latin American countries as they broke away from Spanish rule in the early nineteenth century.”The granting of citizenship to all children born within its territory does not, as Trump insists, make the United States exceptional. It makes it American.” The author teaches history at Yale University and has written America, América: A New History of the New World (Penguin Random House, 2025).
“From South Africa to Haiti: The History of White Refugee Narratives”
By James Alexander Dun, Made by History – Time, posted June 9
Likens the open-arms admission of white South Africans to the welcoming of white – but not black – refugees before and after Haiti became the hemisphere’s second independent nation in 1804 . The author teaches history at Princeton University and is the author of Dangerous Neighbors: Making the Haitian Revolution in Early America (U. of Pennsylvania Press, 2016).
By Michael Kazin, New York Review of Books, posted June 5
An easy-reading review essay on Nick Witham’s book Popularizing the Past (U. of Chicago Press, 2023) on five historians of different persuasions who reached a large popular audience: Richard Hofstadter, Daniel Boorstin, John Hope Franklin, Howard Zinn, and Gerda Lerner. The author teaches US history at Georgetown University and is co-editor of Dissent magazine.
“ICE Now Expanding into Local Law Enforcement as Spearhead of Trump Repression”
By Marc Cooper, The Coop Scoop, posted June 4
Relates ICE to numerous historical examples, as “every authoritarian regime in recent history has formed its own elite corps of feared special police and/or military units to suppress dissent and act as the spearhead of state repression.” The author is a longtime journalist and journalism teacher. In 1973 he escaped Chile eight days after the military coup.
By John Washington, New York Review of Books, posted June 1
A deeply researched account of US-supported repression in El Salvador from the 1960s on, and the meeting of minds of the Bukele and Trump administrations. The author is a staff writer for Arizona Luminaria, a community-focused media outlet, and is the author of The Case for Open Borders (Haymarket Books, 2024).
“These Historians Oversee Unbiased Accounts of U.S. Foreign Policy. Trump Fired Them All”
By Petula Dvorak, Washington Post, posted May 28
On the firing of all nine members of the federal Advisory Committee on Historical Diplomatic Documentation, representing the most prestigious organizations of professional historians. The author is a columnist for the Washington Post.
“The Horrors Inflicted for 500 Years: Then (the New World) and Now (Israel)”
By Greg Grandin, TomDispatch, posted May 22
Finds parallels, in tactics and ideology, between sixteenth-century Spanish conquests in the New World and Israel’s destruction of Gaza. The author teaches history at Yale University and has written America, América: A New History of the New World (Penguin Random House, 2025).
“Karl Marx’s Legacy in the United States”
Interview of Andrew Hartman by Cal Turner and Sara Van Horn, Jacobin, posted May 18
A wide-ranging discussion of Marx’s insights into nineteenth-century America and the waves of interest in his ideas in this country, including the present one that began in the 2008-09 economic crisis. Andrew Hartman, author of the new book Karl Marx in America (U. of Chicago Press, 2025), teaches US history at Illinois State University and was the founding president of the Society for U.S. Intellectual History.
“How the Iran-Contra Scandal Impacts American Politics Today”
By Alan McPherson, Made by History – Time, posted May 14
Quoting a Steve Martin movie line that the 1986-87 Iran-Contra scandal was “worse than Watergate, just not as interesting,” the article outlines the executive overreach that lives on in the Trump years. The author teaches history at Temple University and wrote The Breach: Iran-Contra and the Assault on American Democracy (U. of North Carolina Press, 2025).
Thanks to an anonymous reader for suggesting some of the above articles, and to Roger Peace for insightful comments on articles being considered. Suggestions for these occasional lists can be sent to jimobrien48@gmail.com.