See the new issue of History of Social Science, just published! Half the articles are free, including @brad.bolman.com’s account of Bruno Latour’s blocked appointment at the Institute for Advanced Study and Chas Camic’s short bio of Veblen’s Theory of the Leisure Class muse.jhu.edu/issue/56614
Listen to this episode. I am biased, but judge for yourself.
Bar graph with caption: "Figure 2. Distribution of psychological distress among combat soldiers in the pacific theater in World War II (data from five S100 surveys). The shaded bars represent distress scores that are high enough to have disqualified potential inductees for service in the army in 1944."
I'm so pleased our article on combat stress in WWII is now out, using data from americansoldierww2.org.
One key finding: 62% of surveyed combat veterans in the Pacific Theater exhibited enough psychological distress that they would have been disqualified from induction.
doi.org/10.1177/2156...
Does World War II -- the "lessons," the institutions, the commitments, the sacrifices, the people who served, endured and died--matter anymore?
This guy steals all Nixon’s ideas. His threats are straight out of the Nixon’s “Madman Theory.” It did not work with Vietnam. It will not work with Iran. It’s like none of the lessons from the past 60 years of American war are ever learned.
And so it goes
Another great pair of papers from @abbyswhitlock.bsky.social and @edgitre.bsky.social at #SMH2026, on Army Talks and GI Roundtables, and segregation and desegregation in the SWW respectively.
Thanks much, Peter!
Happy St. Patrick's Day, New York.
Can someone please start now on a Judt-style updated Postwar if they haven't already?
Agreed! I think its popularity was and is misinterpreted, thanks in part to Whyte and The Organization Man, as blind acceptance of conformity and loyalty oaths.
I can't even....
Astute summation from @vermontgmg.bsky.social.
"Instead, we have a government that has been repeatedly surprised by the most basic and foreseeable consequences of its own actions."
I keep thinking of Eisenhower as well, and of Marshall.
The US will pay the price. Some families have paid the ultimate price already.
Reporting from two weeks ago said that only about half of these expeditionary units were sufficiently prepared to forward deploy.
Indeed a lesson hardly if ever learned. Certain WWII British officials urged the carpet bombing of German population centers because, they opined, it would break civilian morale. They asserted this after the German blitz had failed to break the morale of ... you got it... the British populace.
Another flagged WWII project: "War Heroes: Chinese American Experiences." Why? "This collaboration aims to uplift and recognize the contributions and experiences of Chinese American veterans, which is in line with the principles of DEI." A third project focuses on female service members in the WASP.
One of the NEH grants I know well, a Library of Virginia WWII digitization project. Why was it flagged DEI? "Digitizing and making discoverable the WWII separation notices can provide accessibility to historical records, promoting inclusivity and diverse perspectives in humanities research." 😠
Isn't it more probable that the administration is trying to calm markets? When DOD & State are on the same page, I'll find this more believable.
With this war, POTUS is breaking decisively with the anti-interventionist America First tradition. Certain movement leaders were convinced at the outset of WWII that wealthy Jewish internationalists were behind the drive to get the US into the war. Hard to imagine how MAGA reconciles this cleavage.
Unconditional surrender = defeat & occupation. No diplomacy. Only military action. This was the Allied plan & objective for WWII Germany & Japan. We are going to need so many body bags.
On Presidents’ Day 2026, a 77-year-old federal judge in Philadelphia issued a ruling that blocks the Trump administration’s efforts to take down or otherwise excise information from Independence National Historical Park relating to George Washington’s ownership of slaves.
Law Dork:
So true. Carnegie Foundation funding of Gunnar Myrdal's study of race in the US wasn't a problem until the Supreme Court used it in support of Brown vs Board of Education.
Recommend looking into the fascinating history of the "Better Baby" movement with books like Annette K. Vance Dorey's Better Baby Contests.
The most commented on characteristic of the first draft selectees in 1940 was the diversity of ethnicities. The ignorance of US history is remarkable.
McCarthy-era congressmen accused foundations of being captured by Communists. coxcommitteereport.weebly.com/uploads/1/3/.... They tore into Carnegie for funding Gunnar Myrdal's *An American Dilemma* after the landmark study of race in the US was cited in Brown vs Board.
Mellon is in good company.
I am speechless.
"The National Park Service has removed visitor brochures from the Medgar & Myrlie Evers Home National Monument. Among the anticipated changes? No longer calling his murderer a 'racist.'" 🗃️ mississippitoday.org/2026/02/05/m...
I was looking forward to reading Shake's book. I find the history of civilian-military relations to be far more lively, overflowing with drama, conflict, politics, passion, and negotiation.
This is a bit rich, isn't it? Moyn and his crew chastised anyone who dared make a historical comparison of precisely this sort, simply with a different political figure.
