Links to Recent Articles of Interest
By Juan Cole, Informed Comment blog, posted May 24
Uses the Allies’ strategy in building toward D-Day to critique Trump’s lack of a plan regarding Covid-19. The author teaches history at the University of Michigan.
By Selina O’Grady, History News Network, posted May 24
On the differing reactions of Christendom and the Islamic world to the Black Death of the fourteenth century. The author is a BBC radio and television producer and author of the book In the Name of God: The Role of Religion in the Modern World (Pegasus, 2020).
By Margaret Power, LSE [London School of Economics] Latin America and Caribbean blog, posted May 21
On the nearly 100-year history of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party. The author teaches history at the Illinois Institute of Technology and is co-chair of Historians for Peace and Democracy.
By Heidi Morefield, Washington Post, posted May 19
Cites the frustrated efforts to develop vaccines for malaria and HIV-AIDS in warning that the vaccine search mustn’t come at the expense of strengthening the public health infrastructure. The author is a historian of medicine and technology in the global health program at Princeton University.
By David Nasaw, New York Times, posted May 19
A review-essay on new books by Jia Lynn Yang and Adam Goodman on the history of US immigration policy. The author is a professor emeritus of history at the CUNY Graduate Center. His latest book, on Europe’s displaced persons after World War II, will be published in September.
By Vincent Bevins, NYR [New York Review of Books] Daily, posted May 18
A long article on the US-encouraged mass murders of up to a million Indonesians in 1965-66, excerpted from the author’s just-published book, The Jakarta Method: Washington’s Anticommunist Crusade and the Mass Murder Program that Shaped Our World (Public Affairs Press).
By Mark Lause, LABOR Online, posted May 18
Reflections on class and race in Philadelphia’s yellow fever epidemic of 1793 and today’s pandemic. The author teaches history at the University of Cincinnati and has written widely on US working-class history.
By Danny Sjursen, The American Conservative, posted May 18
“Our history in Latin America is marked by arrogance and aggression. Is what’s happening in Venezuela any different?” The author is a retired US Army major who served combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan and has taught history at West Point.
By Van Gosse, Organizing Upgrade, posted May 14
Warns that the US is in danger of joining the worldwide trend of formally democratic authoritarian states seen in nations such as India, Brazil, Turkey, Russia, Poland, and Hungary. The author teaches history at Franklin and Marshall College and is co-chair of Historians for Peace and Democracy.
By James C. Cobb, Zócalo Public Square, posted May 6
“In defying the CDC’s expert advice, Governor Kemp is employing a political strategy more than 150 years old.” The author is a professor emeritus of history at the University of Georgia.
Thanks to Rusti Eisenberg and an anonymous reader for flagging some of the above articles. Suggestions can be sent to jimobrien48@gmail.com.