History

History

Why Weimar is an Imperfect Mirror

Its polarized culture reinforced the destructive energy of an increasingly polarized politics

April 8, 2021 • by
"It would be too much to say that the Weimar Republic fell to Nazism because of its bifurcated culture. But the high culture of Weimar was not a supporting pillar of democracy either. Instead, Weimar’s polarized culture reinforced the destructive energy of its increasingly polarized politics. " - Helmut W. ...
Read More
Why Weimar is an Imperfect Mirror
History

When Welfare Was a Route to Community Empowerment in Las Vegas

In 1971, Black women workers seized control of their own destiny—and won

April 1, 2021 • by
_____ This month, Congress passed, and President Joe Biden signed, a bill that seeks to address longstanding economic, educational, local government and health care needs that have become desperate during the pandemic. Even though it was missing key elements – a $15 federal minimum wage, and a lower cutoff for eligibility ...
Read More
When Welfare Was a Route to Community Empowerment in Las Vegas
Democracy

Winston Churchill’s North American Tour

In the summer of 1929, the future prime minister almost quit politics

March 30, 2021 • by
_____ One night in the summer of 1929, Winston Churchill, who was staying in a bungalow owned by William Randolph Hearst, was horrified to see a bulky figure clambering through his window.  The intruder, Winston realized, was his son Randolph, who seemed equally startled. Randolph had expected to find Hearst’s daughter-in-law, who ...
Read More
Winston Churchill’s North American Tour
Higher Ed

The Education Trap

Schools and the remaking of inequality in Boston

March 22, 2021 • by
————— Despite its centrality in public life and scholarly debate, education, surprisingly, has not been a chief focus of political or economic histories of the modern United States. The role of schools, however, has been fundamental to American historical development in several key ways. Politically, education was a key driver of ...
Read More
The Education Trap
History

An Empire of Sanctions

A syllabus from the Historians for Peace and Democracy

March 12, 2021 • by , and
Sanctions are now the preferred economic weapon that the United States uses to pressure, discipline and coerce enemies and even allies.  Sanctions restrict targeted states from importing, exporting and receiving investments; they prohibit US corporations and banks from dealing with those countries, and they limit the economic activities of individuals in ...
Read More
An Empire of Sanctions
Feminism

Women’s History, An Origin Story

In 1975, Carroll Smith-Rosenberg published “The Female World of Love and Ritual, and changed how my generation of feminists understood the practice of history

March 1, 2021 • by
I first encountered Carroll Smith-Rosenberg’s “The Female World of Love and Ritual” in 1978. I was twenty and a junior at Yale. A teaching assistant passed it on to me when I met with her after class: a paper was due and my mind was empty. She said that there ...
Read More
Women’s History, An Origin Story
Democracy

The United States Is in Recovery

What Texas, white supremacy and coronavirus can teach us about American history

February 18, 2021 • by
"In the exchange, Americans saw a president who cared, and a government that finally, after its previous leaders had told them to get out of a terrible catastrophe on their own, responded to their needs."...

Read More
The United States Is in Recovery
History

Larry Flynt

Past Present Podcast, Episode 267

February 16, 2021 • by , and
Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show: Larry Flynt, founder of the Hustler empire, died this month. Niki recommended historian Carolyn Bronstein’s book Battling Pornography: The American Feminist Anti-Pornography Movement, 1976-1986 and referred to this Politico article about the GOP abandoning the war on pornography. Natalia mentioned ...
Read More
History

Insurrection and Apocalypse: Staring Down Monsters, from the Middle Ages to America Today

How the medieval understanding of redemptive violence can illuminate the impulses of some Christian conservatives today

February 11, 2021 • by
Nine hundred years ago, on April 25, 1112 – an Easter Sunday – a mob in the French town of Laon rose up in a carnival of vandalism and homicide. Witnesses describe a world turned upside down. Merchants murdered the local bishop and set fire to the town’s cathedral. Serfs ...
Read More
Insurrection and Apocalypse: Staring Down Monsters, from the Middle Ages to America Today
Subscribe

Join our global intellectual commons

Free to subscribe. No spam. Delivered by Substack.

Most Popular
1
JFK’s Queer White House
December 13, 2018 by
JFK’s Queer White House
2
Entertaining Propaganda: Hate-watching Fauda
March 20, 2023 by
Entertaining Propaganda: Hate-watching Fauda
3
Greg Abbott’s Wheelchair
June 10, 2025 by
Greg Abbott’s Wheelchair
4
NAZA Gives A Name to the Machinery of Killing
October 13, 2026 by
NAZA Gives A Name to the Machinery of Killing
5
Gender as Colonial Object
July 26, 2018 by
Gender as Colonial Object
The Latest
Higher Ed
Why Our Soldiers Need to Learn From Civilians
October 26, 2026 by and
Why Our Soldiers Need to Learn From Civilians
The Right
When Disintegration Becomes Political Desire
October 21, 2026 by
When Disintegration Becomes Political Desire
North America
When Texans Were Socialist Revolutionaries
October 19, 2026 by
When Texans Were Socialist Revolutionaries
Art & Design
Before Social Media, There Were Postcards
October 15, 2026 by
Before Social Media, There Were Postcards
Genocide
NAZA Gives A Name to the Machinery of Killing
October 13, 2026 by
NAZA Gives A Name to the Machinery of Killing

Newsletter

Free to subscribe. No spam.
Delivered by Substack.

Connect With Us

Instagram
Bluesky
Facebook
Twitter
Copyright © 2014–2026 The Editorial Board of Public Seminar, All Rights Reserved.