News at Home

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• 5/31/2020
  

  COVID and the Deadly Logic of Efficiency in Meatpacking and Elder Care

  by Jeff Kolnick

  The economic logic of efficiency is responsible for the severity and deadliness of the Coronavirus outbreak in both meatpacking plants and nursing homes. 

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• 5/31/2020
  

  Trump and the Puritans

  by Martyn Whittock

  No one would ever call Donald Trump a Puritan. But the 17th century religious movement is a foundation of Trump's America.

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• 5/31/2020
  

  COVID-19 is Devasting Native American Communities. History Illuminates Why.

  by Pete Sigal, Robbie Ethridge, and Nancy Shoemaker

  Centuries of unequal access to resources and decision-making served to weaken indigenous health across the Americas and beyond.

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• 5/31/2020
  

  Little Richard: Bold, Pioneering, Complex, and Unapologetic

  by Elwood Watson

  Little Richard left a lasting musical and cultural legacy because of his talent and his willingness to be more boldly black and sexual than other artists dared.

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• 5/31/2020
  

  Ways that Donald Trump is Just Like Henry Ford, And Why That’s Not Good for American Democracy

  by Victoria Woeste

  Trump's comments praising Henry Ford's "bloodline" are no coincidence. Both men used the American cult of the businessman to amass power and wealth while championing the idea of racial hierarchy.

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• 5/31/2020
  

  Disruption and Resilience: Lessons from the Ancient History of the 2000s

  by Garrett Peck

  The history of the 2000s is a story of human resilience in the face of crisis. We must find ways to respond to disruption with mutual care and creativity. 

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• 5/31/2020
  

  Stop the Machine: Why We Should Resist Online Learning

  by Jonathan Rose

  A history professor argues that, even given the risks of COVID, the intellectual and social missions of higher education will be crippled if in-person education isn't resumed soon. 

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• 5/31/2020
  

  Fly me to the Moon: Covering the Early Space Program

  by Ron Steinman

  Will people struggling to get through a normal day be inspired by a renewed space program? Will either the government or the media commit for the long haul?  At least I knew there was a time when we all had it in us. For the future, only time will tell.

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• 5/24/2020
  

  The Pandemic Exposed a Major Flaw in America’s Health Care System

  by Robert Brent Toplin

  The crisis may create an opportunity to do what once seemed impossible: deliver universal healthcare and end the employer-based insurance system.

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• The Post Office is Mentioned, but Not Protected, by the Constitution

  by David Head

  If the day comes when the USPS, like privateering, has outlived its usefulness, the Constitution will prove no obstacle. The only question that matters is the practical one: does the postal service accomplish its mission better than the alternatives?

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• 5/24/2020
  

  Pandemic, Pandering and Prejudice: Trump's Effort to Weaponize Xenophobia

  by James D. Zirin

  Blaming China and threatening reprisals is not going to save any lives. It won’t open up the country any sooner. It won’t create a single job. But it might just get Trump re-elected--at least he thinks so.

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• 5/24/2020
  

  The Social Psychology of Popular Right-Wing Conservatism

  by Daniel Burnstein

  Right-wing conservative movements are driven by a psychological complex of threat and hostility to heterodox opinion that makes them difficult to stop once they've developed.

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• 5/24/2020
  

  Will History Judge Trump? Only if We Preserve Our Capacity for Judgment

  by Christine Adams and Nina Kushner

  The idea of truth reached by reason and evidence is under grave threat. Historians must find ways to publicly defend their methods for the good of history and society.

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• 5/24/2020
  

  No More Business as Usual! It’s Time for Joe Biden to Defend our Democracy

  by Claudia Koonz

  A historian of European dictatorship argues that Joe Biden must recognize that not just the election but the health of democracy is at stake and challenge the administration's efforts to operate above the law.

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• 5/24/2020
  

  Citizen’s Arrest: Racist at its Roots

  by Alan J. Singer

  Georgia's Citizens's Arrest law has always been used to enable and support white supremacy since its enactment during the Civil War.

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• 5/24/2020
  

  "The News Will Get Out Soon Enough": Homefront Jim Crow and the Integration of the U.S. Navy

  by Dan C. Goldberg

  Politico reporter Dan Goldberg's new book details how thirteen black men overcame prejudice and indifference to integrate the Navy's officer corps in 1944. 

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• 5/17/2020
  

  Amid the Coronavirus Pandemic, America’s Billionaires Thrive and Prosper

  by Lawrence Wittner

  Americans may wonder whether the nation can afford to maintain a small, parasitic stratum of society in splendor during economic collapse and pandemic.

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• 5/17/2020
  

  100 Years of Political Spectacle: Women, Political Protest, and the White House

  by Bernadette Crehan and Susan Liebell

  Like suffrage protesters a century ago, nurses demonstrating at the White House to demand adequate protection for frontline medical workers can win by taking on the President on the grounds of spectacle and social media to shape public opinion. 

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• 5/17/2020
  

  Morning or Mourning in America? Political Advertising and the Politics of Emotion

  by Wendy Melillo

  The Lincoln Project's recent "Mourning in America" ad seeks to connect Donald Trump to deep misery in America. The history of political advertising suggests it's likely to work.

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• 5/17/2020
  

  Coronavirus Exposed the Contradictions Behind the Curtain. Will Americans Pay No Attention?

  by Walter L. Hixson

  Liberal centrism has come up short in the COVID-19 crisis. Decades of cold war demonization of social democracy have made it disturbingly likely that an American fascism will fill the void.