Links to Recent Articles of Interest
“‘We’ve Got to Kill and Kill and Kill’”
By Dan Kaufman, New York Review of Books, December 4 issue
Review essay on Paul Preston’s Architects of Terror: Paranoia, Conspiracy and Anti-Semitism in Franco’s Spain (William Collins, 2024). “As Francisco Franco’s reputation grows on the far right, a new history of his regime reminds us of its unrelenting violence.” The author is a journalist who has written for The New Yorker and the New York Times Magazine.
“Killing Shipwrecked Survivors Is Not Just Illegal – It Endangers US Servicemembers”
By Mark Nevitt, Just Security, posted December 1
Gives historical examples of the observance and non-observance of the duty to rescue or protect wounded survivors at sea, and explains the importance of this internationally recognized principle. The article also cites the Bush administration’s use of torture in the “War on Terror” as having damaged the United States’ public standing. The author is retired from the Judge Advocate General’s Corps and teaches in the Emory University School of Law.
By Lawrence S. Wittner, Z, posted December 1
Catalogs ways in which the administration has acted against union rights, most notably through mass cuts in the federal workforce, revoking recognition of some federal-worker unions, and rendering the National Labor Relations Board unable to function for lack of a quorum. Quotes AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler, “This has been the most hostile administration to workers in our lifetime.” The author is a professor emeritus of history at SUNY Albany
“The Russia-Ukraine Peace Deal Is Not a Loss. Nor Is It a Victory”
By Stephen Wertheim, The Guardian, posted November 29
Draws lessons from Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan to underline the costs of prolonging a war in which outright victory is impossible. In the current war, “[t]he best that can be achieved is a compromise settlement that gives Ukraine a viable chance at peace and security while allowing Russia to reap strategic and territorial gains.” The author is a historian and a senior fellow in the American Statecraft Program of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
“The Genocide in Gaza Is Far from Over”
By Raz Segal, The Guardian, posted November 28
A complex piece that treats the Gaza destruction as an ongoing Nakba, or forced relocation, and examines ways in which it has been rationalized. “Israel’s portrayal of Palestinians as Nazis – this grotesque weapnization of the Holocaust – cannot but reveal the truth about its function as justification for Israeli genocide.” The author is an Israeli historian living in the US who teaches Holocaust and genocide studies at Stockton University.
By Grey Anderson, NLR [New Left Review] Sidecar, posted November 20
A compressed account of the career of the late Dick Cheney, an apostle of strong presidential power and American indispensability in world affairs. “He preferred hard options, saw coercion and concealment as ordinary disciplines of rule.” The author is a historian of contemporary Europe who holds a doctorate in history from Yale University.
“Housing Segregation Today Has Deep Historic Roots”
By Alan Singer, The Daily Kos, posted November 17
A quick-read on how mob violence in the World War I era and federal policies of the 1930s and ’40s had a lasting effect on housing patterns in the US. The author is a historian and director of social studies education at Hofstra University.
“The Lesson We Teach Schoolchildren About the Holocaust Is Wrong”
By Jochen Hellbeck, New York Times, posted November 17
On the Nazis’ depiction of “Judeo-Bolshevism” as an enemy against which Germans had to unite in self-defence, drawing parallels to attacks on internal enemies by present-day authoritarians including Putin, Trump, and Victor Orban. The author teaches history at Rutgers University and is the author of World Enemy No. 1: Nazi Germany Soviet Russia, and the Fate of the Jews (Penguin Random House, 2025).
“How the US Intervened to Sabotage Angola’s Independence”
By Elizabeth Schmidt, Jacobin, posted November 11
Published on the fiftieth anniversary of Angola’s independence from Portugal, this article recounts nearly three decades of US maneuvering, initiated by Henry Kissinger in 1975, that kept a civil war going in Angola and “crushed Angola’s prospects for establishing a successful democracy.” The author is a professor emerita at Loyola College in Maryland and is currently president of the African Studies Association.
“Capitulation at Columbia: Fear and Loathing under the New Rules”
By Helen Benedict, TomDispatch, posted November 11
A detailed and up-close chronology of three years of “groveling submission” by Columbia University’s trustees to the demands of the Trump Administration in the name of combating “antisemitism.” The author is a novelist and journalist who teaches in Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism.
By Eisenhower Media Network, Substack, posted November 11
Uses quotes from eight former military and national-security officials to provide a chronologically based critique of Dick Cheney’s policies as secretary of defense from 1989 to 1993 and vice-president from 2001 to 2009. The Eisenhower Media Network is a project of the People’s Power Initiatives, formed in Burlington, Vermont by Ben & Jerry’s cofounder Ben Cohen in 2013.
“What Was the American Revolution For?”
By Jill Lepore, The New Yorker, posted November 10
A kaleidoscopic look at ways in which Americans are marking, in the shadow of the Trump White House, the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding, including an appreciative commentary on the Ken Burns PBS series on “The American Revolution.” The author teaches history at Harvard University and has written a wide range of books on US history including We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution (Liveright, 2025).
“The Nation’s Founders Warned Against King Donald”
By Alan Singer, The Daily Kos, posted November 5
Quotes a dozen accusations made against King George III in the Declaration of Independence, each accompanied by a mention of similar actions of the Trump administration. The author is a historian and director of social studies education at Hofstra University.
Thanks to Rusti Eisenberg and an anonymous reader for flagging some articles included in the above list, and to Roger Peace for very helpful comments on articles being considered. Suggestions can be sent to jimobrien48@gmail.com.