History
Imagining Ukraine
Poland and Russia both think of Ukraine as a seat of authentic Slavic culture. Józef Czapski’s war memoir highlights how this has often clashed with Ukraine’s independence.
Who Gets to Be American?
During the Cold War, El Paso public schools taught the children of former Nazis how to be white Americans.
NATO and the Road Not Taken
Condemning Putin’s war must go hand in hand with imagining a more just security order.
Care Work in a Wageless World
Selma James’s work with the Wages for Housework movement shows that we ignore the labor of care at our own peril.
The Beginnings of Queer Citizenship
In the 1970s, gay and lesbian West Germans sought to forge political solidarity from sexual identity.
Classical Music and the Color Line
The field is reckoning with a long legacy of racial exclusion, despite its universalist claims.
Frederick Douglass and American Empire in Haiti
Toward the end of his life, Frederick Douglass served briefly as U.S. ambassador to Haiti. The disastrous episode reveals much about the country’s long struggle for Black sovereignty while always under the threat of U.S. empire.
SNCC’s Unruly Internationalism
Though the organization’s legacy has been domesticated, its grassroots leadership embraced the global fight for freedom.
A Path to Neighborhood Power
Well-meaning nonprofits don’t go far enough in the fight against gentrification. Residents themselves must be in charge, and neighborhood trusts point the way.
The Changing Same of U.S. History
Two books on the Constitution reflect a vigorous debate about what has changed in the American past—and what hasn’t.
Whose Anthropocene?
Because it hinges on who will accept blame for causing climate change, there’s never been so much at stake in the naming of a geological era.
Radical Movements and Political Power
Today’s social movements are grappling once again with a central challenge for the New Left: how to remedy injustice while maintaining vitality and independence from the political system.
The Radical Promise of Human History
A sweeping new history of humanity upends the story of civilization, inviting us to imagine how our own societies could be radically different.
Guantánamo’s Other History
For decades Haitian migrants have been subjected to brutal mistreatment by the U.S. government, much of it at Cuban detention facilities.
The Inescapable Dilemma of Infectious Disease
Our mastery over microbes is only a few decades old. It is also far more precarious than we imagine.
Abandoning Afghans from the Start
Tactical critiques of the war’s conduct are a distraction from U.S. imperialism.
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