The Story of the M1 Garand: The Iconic and Influential World War 2 Weapon
Reading time: 7 minutes
Called the “greatest battle implement ever devised”, the M1 Garand semi-automatic rifle served the USA well during WW2 and beyond.
The Mafia, The Godfather, and the Hollywood romance
Reading time: 8 minutes
The Godfather. Perhaps one of the greatest films and franchises of all time; March 24, 2022, will mark the 50th anniversary of the film’s theatrical release, which is a number that in ways seems both large and small. Large from the perspective that it has already been five decades since it shook the cinematic world, yet small in that a film of such importance and influence was released in the backyard of our modern history: 1972.
REEL OR UNREAL HISTORY
Reading time: 5 minutes
Long before “fake news” wedged itself into American vernacular, “fake” or “engineered” news on film had a powerful influence on democracy and world regimes. A few years ago, one of my history students observed that a film reel of Teddy Roosevelt from the 1915 Panama–California Exposition was shockingly authentic. After viewing the reel, my student reflected on how useful it was to see the world “exactly” as it was lived in history. This response gave me pause. Had I done enough to introduce the reel and complicate it as a primary source? My student accepted the moving images on the screen as pure historical truth. This reflection helped me realize I was missing an opportunity to use newsreels as a teaching tool to engage critical analysis and media literacy in my history classroom.
B.C. FRANKLIN AND THE TULSA MASSACRE
Reading time: 5 minutes
On May 31, 1921, Buck Colbert Franklin peered up at the Tulsa, Oklahoma, sky and saw planes dropping turpentine bombs onto the roofs of nearby homes and businesses. On the street around him, he watched Black women, men, and children being felled by the guns of their white neighbors. Under the guise of extracting retribution for a Black teenager’s supposed assault on a white woman a day before, white Tulsans strategically destroyed the physical manifestations of their Black neighbors’ success.
Why January 6 Was Not Like a Banana Republic
Reading time: 5 minutes
After the January 6 insurrection, many observers, including former US presidents, current legislators, pundits, journalists, and editorial writers invoked the mob violence and bloody mayhem as the usual political culture of so-called “banana republics.” Although it is an easy comparison to make, Latin Americanists found this galling, because the term refers to a specific economic and political trope created by and in service to US interests. Using the phrase banana republic to describe any attempted coup or insurrection draws on a century of stereotypes about Latin America created by the US to serve US interests. As a description of the events of January 6, the comparison lacked both subtlety and accuracy.
Humans domesticated horses – new tech could help archaeologists figure out where and when
Reading time: 8 minutes
In the increasingly urbanized world, few people still ride horses for reasons beyond sport or leisure. However, on horseback, people, goods and ideas moved across vast distances, shaping the power structures and social systems of the premechanized era. From the trade routes of the Silk Road or the great Mongol Empire to the equestrian nations of the American Great Plains, horses were the engines of the ancient world.
A SNAPSHOT OF THE PUBLIC’S VIEWS ON HISTORY
Reading time: 7 minutes
The teaching of history has become a political football in recent years, resulting in efforts by those on both ends of the political spectrum to regulate what appears in classrooms across the country. Lost in this legislation, grandstanding, and punditry is how the American public understands the past, a measurement that was last taken systematically by historians Roy Rosenzweig and David Thelen in their 1998 landmark study, The Presence of the Past.
US prep schools held student exchanges with elite Nazi academies
Reading time: 7 minutes
In the summer of 1935, the Nazi government hijacked a student exchange program between leading American and German schools.
The International Schoolboy Fellowship, as it was known, was first set up by Walter Huston Lillard, the headmaster of Tabor Academy in Massachusetts, in 1927 to foster better relations between all nations through schoolboy exchange. Participating countries included the U.S., Germany, France and Great Britain.
That time private US media companies stepped in to silence the falsehoods and incitements of a major public figure … in 1938
Reading time: 6 minutes
In speeches filled with hatred and falsehoods, a public figure attacks his enemies and calls for marches on Washington. Then, after one particularly virulent address, private media companies close down his channels of communication, prompting consternation from his supporters and calls for a code of conduct to filter out violent rhetoric.
The Chatterley Trial 60 years on: a court case that secured free expression in 1960s Britain
Reading time: 6 minutes
The paperback copy of Lady Chatterley’s Lover pictured above is of great cultural significance. Leafing through the pages one discovers hidden gems: pencil markings, underlinings, marginal annotations. Accompanying the book are sheets of headed stationery from the Old Bailey, containing handwritten notes relating to the novel along with a clumsily hand-stitched fabric bag – apparently made not to protect the book but rather the person carrying it by obscuring its title.
Domino Theory and U.S. Foreign Policy
Reading time: 4 minutes
When looking at the cold war and the way the United States went about its foreign policy, you can’t escape the influence of the so-called domino theory. This belief, a common one in American’s halls of power, stated that if one country fell to communism, the surrounding ones would, too. Was there any truth in this theory, though, or was it more scare mongering?
PEARL HARBOR AND AMERICA’s ENTRY TO WAR
Reading time: 6 minutes
The commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor also marks the United States’ entrance into the Second World War, forever changing the course of the ultimate conflict.
I asked historians what find made them go ‘wait, wut?’ Here’s a taste of the hundreds of replies
Reading time: 6 minutes
Often when historians visit an archive or conduct research, we are not sure what we’ll find. With the help of archivists and librarians, we may know broadly what is contained in an archival record or a database, but we never know what may or may not be useful to us. Approaching our research material with a particular set of questions or analytical framework, what we actually find may leave us surprised, confused or taken aback in another way.
When France extorted Haiti – the greatest heist in history
Reading time: 7 minutes
Much of the reparations debate has revolved around whether the United States and the United Kingdom should finally compensate some of their citizens for the economic and social costs of slavery that still linger today.
But to me, there’s never been a more clear-cut case for reparations than that of Haiti.
Cuba without Fidel: Five Years Later
Reading time: 6 minutes
For nearly 60 years, and for better or for worse, Fidel Castro was Cuba; at least he fancied himself as such, and the Communist Party which he largely governed with total control, never questioned this image. But what about the Cuban people? Did they really view Fidel as a “modern day Simon Bolivar”, and their one defender against American imperialism?
Supreme Court upholds American Indian treaty promises, orders Oklahoma to follow federal law
Reading time: 5 minutes
Land in eastern Oklahoma that the United States promised to the Creek Nation in an 1833 treaty is still a reservation under tribal sovereignty, at least when it comes to criminal law, the Supreme Court ruled on July 9. Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote for the majority, “Because Congress has not said otherwise, we hold the government to its word.”
Maurice Hilleman, the scientist who saved more lives than any other
Reading time: 5 minutes
Maurice Hilleman is credited as the man who saved more lives than any other scientist in the 20th century. He developed over 40 vaccines throughout his career, eight of which are still routinely administered today. His intuitiveness prevented the spread of a possible flu pandemic during the 1950s. Despite these lifesaving achievements and the fact that he is widely considered the father of modern vaccines, Maurice Hilleman is not a well-known figure today.
The Final Campaign: Marines in the Victory on Okinawa
The Final Campaign: Marines in the Victory on Okinawa By Joseph H. Alexander (1938 – 2014) The three-month-long battle of Okinawa covered a 700-mile arc from Formosa to Kyushu and […]
The Aeroplane in War – Audiobook
The Aeroplane in War – Audiobook By Claude Grahame-White (1879 – 1959),Harry Harper (1880 – 1960) “Although it is still a crude machine—in view of the perfected apparatus which is […]
Closing In: Marines in the Seizure of Iwo Jima – Audiobook
Closing In: Marines in the Seizure of Iwo Jima – AUDIOBOOK By Joseph H. Alexander (1938 – 2014) Sunday, 4 March 1945, marked the end of the second week of […]
Across the Reef: The Marine Assault of Tarawa – AUDIOBOOK
ACROSS THE REEF: THE MARINE ASSAULT OF TARAWA – AUDIOBOOK By Joseph H. Alexander (1938 – 2014) “Tarawa Atoll is 2085 miles southwest of Pearl Harbor and 540 miles southeast of […]
Susan B. Anthony Rebel, Crusader, Humanitarian – Audiobook
SUSAN B. ANTHONY REBEL, CRUSADER, HUMANITARIAN – AUDIOBOOK By Alma Lutz (1890 – 1973) Alma Lutz’s outstanding biography of Susan B. Anthony is revered for its descriptive power, attention to detail […]
“The Flu”: A Brief History of Influenza in U. S. America, Europe, Hawaii
“THE FLU”: A BRIEF HISTORY OF INFLUENZA IN U. S. AMERICA, EUROPE, HAWAII By A. Mouritz (1861 – 1943) PREFACE This Booklet has been written and compiled for the use of […]
Slave revolt film revisits history often omitted from textbooks
Armed with machetes and pitchforks and uttering chants of “Freedom or Death,” hundreds of men and women made their way along a 26-mile route along the River Parishes of Louisiana.
The spectacle – which I witnessed in November 2019 in St. John the Baptist Parish, in the heartland of Louisiana’s sugar cane and oil industries – was a reenactment of what historians believe was the largest slave rebellion in United States history, the 1811 German Coast Uprising.