History

Naima Morelli naimamorelli ( Middle East Monitor ) – Duty and care are the words that would best describe the approach of Dr Adila Laidi-Hanieh towards the Palestinian Museum in Birzeit. She is stepping down as director of the museum at the end of this month, and we took the opportunity for her to […]

Archaeology

Dismantling the Myth that Ancient Slavery “Wasn’t that Bad”

The Conversation

By Chance Bonar, Tufts University | – As someone who researches slavery in the ancient Mediterranean world, especially in the Bible, I often hear remarks like, “Slavery was totally different back then, right?” “Well, it couldn’t have been that bad.” “Couldn’t slaves buy their freedom?” Most people in the United States or Europe in the […]

Bill of Rights

Trump’s Indictment for Jan. 6: Revisiting “Psychopathocracy”

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – A Grand Jury empaneled by Special Prosecutor Jack Smith has issued an indictment (full text here) against Donald John Trump on four counts, Smith delivered a statement, saying, “Today, an indictment was unsealed charging Donald J. Trump with conspiring to defraud the United States, conspiring to disenfranchise voters, and conspiring […]

History

Thom Hartmann’s “The Hidden History of American Democracy: Rediscovering Humanity’s Ancient Way of Living”

contributors

Thom Hartman interviewed on The Mark Thompson Show: “The Hidden History of American Democracy: Rediscovering Humanity’s Ancient Way of Living” Thom Hartmann is the host of the Thom Hartmann Show on Youtube. His new book: Thom Hartmann, The Hidden History of American Democracy: Rediscovering Humanity’s Ancient Way of Living. Click here. “About The Hidden History […]

Africa

Dear Ron DeSantis: Consider all the Valuable Skills the Enslaved Taught Cracker Slave-Holders (For Which they were never Paid)

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The new Florida history curriculum on slavery says that some enslaved persons learned skills while enslaved that later benefited them, provoking shock and outrage across the nation. One of the things that is wrong with this way of looking at the issue is the white nationalist assumption that white slavers […]

Archaeology

416,000 Years Ago, All Greenland’s Ice Melted and Raised Sea Levels 5-20 Feet: A Warning from the Past

The Conversation

By Paul Bierman, University of Vermont, and Tammy Rittenour, Utah State University | – About 400,000 years ago, large parts of Greenland were ice-free. Scrubby tundra basked in the Sun’s rays on the island’s northwest highlands. Evidence suggests that a forest of spruce trees, buzzing with insects, covered the southern part of Greenland. Global sea […]

Batteries

On this 4th of July we need to Declare a War of Independence from Fossil Fuels and Climate Change

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, kicked off the Revolutionary War in earnest, which the Continental Army only finally won seven years later, in 1882. The Revolutionary War was a rare conflict for the United States, in that it was fought on our own soil, such that every […]

Colonialism

Fascist Italy’s forgotten Concentration Camps in Libya

Middle East Monitor

Mustafa Fetouri MFetouri ( Middle East Monitor ) – On 30 August 2008, Italy and Libya signed their Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Partnership, ending their awkward past of feuding and diplomatic tensions over Italy’s colonisation of Libya from 1911 to 1943. Libya was seeking compensation, recognition of suffering of its people and, above […]

African-Americans

Teaching Juneteenth: One Black Family’s Struggle for Freedom Offers lessons for Texas lawmakers trying to Erase History from the Classroom

The Conversation

By Jeffrey L. Littlejohn, Sam Houston State University and Zachary Montz, Sam Houston State University | – (The Conversation) – The news was startling. On June 19, 1865, two months after the U.S. Civil War ended, Union Gen. Gordon Granger walked onto the balcony at Ashton Villa in Galveston, Texas, and announced to the people […]