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Roundup

This page features brief excerpts of stories published by the mainstream media and, less frequently, blogs, alternative media, and even obviously biased sources. The excerpts are taken directly from the websites cited in each source note. Quotation marks are not used.

  • SOURCE: Perspectives on History
    4/16/2021

    Vaccine Hesitancy is a 21st-Century Phenomenon

    by Gareth Millward

    The progress of public health practice means that today's policymakers seek to make vaccination widespread enough to eradicate, rather than suppress, disease. Looking at success as a continuum could lead to more constructive approaches to work toward eradication. 

  • SOURCE: Blue Book Diaries
    4/16/2021

    The Conservatism of My Teaching: Seven Elements

    by Jonathan Wilson

    Despite the frequent accusations of liberal indoctrination, many history teachers' work is, at a deep level, conservative: it respects the past, focuses on community, and is tethered to the current needs of students and the legacy of scholarship. 

  • SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
    4/20/2021

    The Long History of Members of Congress Talking Directly with U.S. Adversaries

    by Richard A. Moss and Sergey Radchenko

    New documents demonstrate that Senator Ted Kennedy had back-channel contact with the Brezhnev regime in the 1970s, which aimed both at resolving sticky diplomatic issues and at elevating Kennedy above Democratic party rivals. It's unclear if Kennedy was acting with or undercutting American intelligence agencies. 

  • SOURCE: Perspectives on History
    4/20/2021

    Terminal Does Not Mean Dead: Why the History MA Deserves Our Attention

    by Lauren Braun-Strumfels and Tim Herbert

    Caught between the Bachelor's and the PhD, the Master's degree in history needs to get much more careful consideration as a part of the historical profession and as training for historians outside of higher education. 

  • SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
    4/21/2021

    Revisiting a 19th Century Medical Idea Could Help Address COVID-19

    by Melanie A. Kiechle

    Although the miasma theory of disease has been replaced by the germ theory, it's nevertheless the case that it drew attention to the connection between air quality and health, and the practical measures inspired by it can be useful in the COVID pandemic. 

  • SOURCE: The Atlantic
    4/21/2021

    Racism Has Always Been Part of the Asian American Experience

    by Mae Ngai

    Anti-Asian racism draws from different historical origins than Jim Crow, but their histories are part of the same conflict: whether White Americans are entitled to rule over other people, domestically or globally. 

  • SOURCE: New York Times
    4/15/2021

    Why the Amazon Workers Never Stood a Chance

    by Erik Loomis

    "We may be in a period where economic justice concerns are more central to our politics than any time since the mid-20th century. But without a new round of labor law reform, organized labor cannot succeed."

  • SOURCE: The Bulwark
    4/20/2021

    All the President’s Historians

    by Daniel N. Gullotta

    Joe Biden's attraction to Jon Meacham's historical narratives of American ideals triumphant over adversity makes sense for a president dedicated to healing and reunification. 

  • SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
    4/20/2021

    How White Americans’ Refusal to Accept Busing has Kept Schools Segregated

    by Matthew D. Lassiter

    The legal distinction between "de facto" and "de jure" segregation has always been a convenient fiction allowing the perpetuation of segregation by obscuring the role of government in creating and sustaining a racially discriminatory housing market. 

  • SOURCE: The Atlantic
    4/20/2021

    The Men Who Turned Slavery Into Big Business

    by Joshua D. Rothman

    "We still live in the world that Franklin and Armfield’s profits helped build, and with the enduring inequalities that they and their industry entrenched."

  • SOURCE: The Guardian
    4/19/2021

    Is America’s Longest Forever War Really Coming To An End?

    by Adam Weinstein and Stephen Wertheim

    The authors argue that Joe Biden has recognized that the US faces the choice of absolute withdrawal from Afghanistan or permanent entanglement. His resolve will be tested by inevitable bad news, but the time is now to move on from the policy of perpetual war. 

  • SOURCE: Contingent
    4/17/2021

    How To Make An Oligopoly

    by Brittany McWilliams

    A document from the Eli Lilly corporate archives shows how the pharmaceutical giant strategized to control the global market in insulin.