The Latest 
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New content will return on May 16 and our email newsletters will resume May 18.
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The Dangerous Trend of Imperial Nostalgia – It's not Just Russia
Lawrence Wittner
The embrace of the belief that nations are entitled to reclaim their past dominance underlies Russia's invasion of Ukraine but also is influencing the politics of Britain, France, China, and the United States. A renewed commitment to international cooperation is needed to thwart this dangerous turn.
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Confronting the Erasure of Native Americans in Early American Towns and Cities
Edward Rafferty
Colin Calloway's book explores the presence of Native Americans in early American towns and cities, demolishing the longstanding myth that they vanished with the wilderness and highlighting indigenous critiques of the settler society.
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How Will History Remember Xi?
Robert Brent Toplin
Despite China's growth as an economic and military force, Xi Jinping's authoritarian government may ultimately be seen as a drag on the nation's prosperity and the flourishing of the Chinese population.
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Blog
Thoughts From the Zoo
Steve Hochstadt
What does the term "pro-life" mean in the context of humanity's relationship to other living things and the planet?
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Reigniting a Nuclear Arms Race is the Wrong Take-Home from Ukraine
David P. Barash
A simplistic assumption of nuclear deterrence – that having nuclear weapons protects a nation against aggression – has frequently failed in practice. The Ukraine invasion should be a call to rethink deterrence and move toward abolishing nuclear weapons.
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The Roundup Top Ten for May 6, 2022
The top opinion writing by historians and about history from around the web this week.
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High Crimes and Lingering Consequences: How Land Sale Contracts Looted Black Wealth and Gutted Chicago Communities
Tiff Beatty
Chicago artist Tonika Lewis Johnson is creating public installations documenting properties where Black residents were subjected to predatory contract home sales, and connecting the past to the present struggles of the city's south and west sides.
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Leaked Draft of SCOTUS Abortion Decision Rejects Roe, Tees Up Obergefell, Griswold, Lawrence
HNN Staff
Samuel Alito's leaked decision heavily invokes history to argue that rights based on personal privacy have no place in the American cultural or legal tradition. Historians weigh in.
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When Will the French Dam Against the Far Right Crack?
Brian Sandberg
Macron is the latest representative of the French center to call for an electoral coalition to act as a "dam" against the far right. In another French presidential election, the dam has held, but will it endure?
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A Century After the First Insulin Injection, It's Time to Make Sure It's Affordable
Martin Abrahamson and Sanjiv Chopra
The US Senate has the opportunity to honor the legacy of the doctors who pioneered insulin treatment by making sure that everyone who needs this life-saving medicine can afford it.
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Democracy's Enemies are Abroad, but Also at Home
Jim Sleeper
If neoconservative warnings of a coming global struggle between Russia and "the West" are right, the west must consider what changes it is willing to make to allow for a victory without planetery catastrophe.
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Ukraine Evokes Past "Eve of Destruction"
Richard Aquila
In 1960s America, popular songs gradually roused the conscience of many Americans against the war in Vietnam. What forces might make Russia (as well as Ukraine and the west) push away from the brink of unthinkable acts mass destruction?
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1968: A Year of Dashed Hopes
Walter G. Moss
While people seek to confront life's challenges with hope and courage and banish fear and doubt, some years, like 1968, don't make that easy.
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Recent Violence Shows the Need to Teach More Asian American History
Alan J. Singer
The targeting of Asian Americans for violence and harassment shows the need to teach more of the history of Asian ethnic groups and acknowlege legacies of exclusion and discrimination.
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The Roundup Top Ten for April 29, 2022
The top opinion writing by historians and about history from around the web this week.
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The Issue of Visibility in Latino Art
Ricardo Romo
"The moment is ripe for bringing Latino art to public spaces and public museums. The number of talented Latino artists has multiplied over the past two decades, and the opportunity to make their work visible is now."
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"Two-Spirit" Visibility and the Year Activists Rewrote History
Gregory D. Smithers
In 1990, a group of Native activists coined the term "Two-Spirits" to encompass a variety of people who embodied masculine and feminine traits in indigenous communities, replacing colonizers' terminology that emphasized shame or deviance. Marginalized communities change their history by changing who tells their story, and how.
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Blog
Tate Reeves's Stealth Announcement of Confederate History Month
Ann Banks' Confederates in My Closet
Mississippi's governor couldn't refuse to put the state's endorsement behind the Lost Cause mythology, but apparently couldn't take the heat for making a visible announcement either...
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Understanding How Counterfactuals Shape Putin's Worldview and Historical Rhetoric
Gavriel Rosenfeld
While historians have noted the instrumental use of history in Putin's speeches about Ukraine, more attention should be paid to his use of broad counterfactuals that, however they oversimplify historical contingency, successfully evoke politically potent emotions like regret, relief and fear.
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Footage in NYC's Archives Sheds Important Light on the Northern Civil Rights Movement and Police Efforts to Undermine It
L.E.J. Rachell
Surveillance footage in the New York City Archives helps to highlight the importance of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) to the northern civil rights movement – and the techniques the NYPD used to disrupt it.
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Why I Can't Wave a Ukrainian Flag – A Dissenting Teach-In on Russia's Invasion
Daniel Herman
"If Americans who fly Ukrainian flags actually want to help Ukrainians, they would be well advised to support diplomatic negotiations rather than limitless flows of weaponry."
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The Roundup Top Ten for April 22, 2022
The top opinion writing by historians and about history from around the web this week.
News
- Where Americans Agree and Disagree on Teaching Race in School
- Is Alito's Plan to Repeal the 20th Century?
- Why the End of Roe Isn't Likely to Energize the Democrats
- Smithsonian Announces Plans to Return Looted, Unethically Sourced Artifacts
- Traveling Smithsonian Exhibition to Highlight 1968 Poor People's Campaign
- The Rent is Too Damn High(ly Central to Modern Economies)
- The Anti-Abortion Movement's Pre-Roe Roots
- Virtual Event: Scholars Discuss Free Speech at American Writers Museum May 18
- Abortion Historian Gillian Frank on Religious Leaders who Once Helped Women End Pregnancies
- Tim Snyder Discusses Putin's "Big Lie" about Ukraine on Maddow
