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American Revolutions and Counterrevolutions

Martha Nussbaum, Robin D. G. Kelley, Noam Chomsky, and more

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Ahead of July 4, this week’s reading list examines the meaning and limits of American patriotism—including Martha Nussbaum’s influential 1994 forum, with responses by Anthony Appiah, Judith Butler, Arthur Schlesinger Jr., Immanuel Wallerstein, and many others; Claudio Lomnitz’s lacerating dissection of Samuel Huntington’s account of American identity; essays by U.S. historians Robin D. G. KelleyDavid WaldstreicherSteven HahnBarbara Clark SmithAlfred F. YoungWilliam Hogeland, and Nikhil Pal Singh on the American Revolution and beyond; interviews with two of American empire’s fiercest critics, Noam Chomsky and Arundhati Roy; and more.

A tragedy in Birmingham and the making of a radical.

Ed Pavlić

Historian Gerald Horne has developed a grand theory of U.S. history as a series of devastating backlashes to progress—right down to the present day.

David Waldstreicher

A more complete, bottom-up picture of the role sailors and Black political actors played in making the Atlantic world.

Steven Hahn

Noam Chomsky on the Capitol coup attempt, 2020 unrest, and the Biden administration.

David Barsamian, Noam Chomsky

Critics of the 1619 Project obscure a longstanding debate within the field of U.S. history over the antislavery implications of the American Revolution.

David Waldstreicher

Many took part in other radical movements—including Free Love, which promoted women’s independence and an end to traditional marriage.

Britt Rusert

More than simple racism or discrimination, it is built upon violent elimination.

Nikhil Pal Singh

An interview with Arundhati Roy on censorship, storytelling, and her problem with the term "postcolonialism."

Arundhati Roy, Avni Sejpal

Surveying Trumpism with Cedric Robinson.

Robin D. G. Kelley

As soon as there was a Constitution, fights about its meaning began.

William Hogeland

Since the American revolution, “owning” the Tea Party has been a political act.

Alfred F. Young

The basic principle of Samuel Huntington’s patriotism: never recognize that anything of substance comes from somewhere besides Anglo-Protestantanism.

Claudio Lomnitz

What the public life of American colonists can teach us about politics.

Barbara Clark Smith

Our primary allegiance should be to the community of human beings across the entire world.

Martha C. Nussbaum

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