Modern American History

The full issue 9.2 is here! This special Issue considers the U.S. Semiquincentennial. Thank you to the editorial board for all their help with putting together this body of scholarship. See the full issue here: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Today in history: 10/20/1976, two attorneys general resigned rather than agree with President Nixon to fire Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox. The “Saturday Night Massacre” led to his impeachment.

In a powerful 2020 article, Kathryn Brownell examines how the Watergate hearings proved innovative TV programming and led to a reimagining of the power of TV in political life. Link Below.

cambridge.orgWatergate, the Bipartisan Struggle for Media Access, and the Growth of Cable Television | Modern American History | Cambridge CoreWatergate, the Bipartisan Struggle for Media Access, and the Growth of Cable Television - Volume 3 Issue 2-3

“We need to tell historical stories to keep Native pasts, presents, and futures on the table, to defy and decry practices of erasure as loudly and persuasively as we can.” - Philip J. Deloria

"Indigenous peoples the world over are constantly subject not only to material dispossession, but to rhetorical violence: erasure, belittlement, appropriation, marginalization, benevolent tokenism. I believe that words matter, that they shape beliefs, which then shape actions." - Deloria

cambridge.orgThe WRITER'S STUDIO with Philip J. Deloria | Modern American History | Cambridge CoreThe WRITER'S STUDIO with Philip J. Deloria - Volume 4 Issue 3

Meditate on more of Deloria’s ideas on history and writing this Indigenous Peoples’ Day with his Writer's Studio: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

On first view! 1980s California saw both calls for larger police budgets and limits on taxes. Apparently at odds, David Helps reveals the conflicted relations between “neoliberal” austerity and carceral state-building. Link Below.

cambridge.orgMore Police, No New Taxes: Proposition 13 and the Fiscal Limits of Law and Order | Modern American History | Cambridge CoreMore Police, No New Taxes: Proposition 13 and the Fiscal Limits of Law and Order

Excited to announce a new addition to our editorial board: @briannanofil.bsky.social! Nofil is a historian of the modern United States, focusing on migration, incarceration, and law. Her recent book, The Migrant’s Jail, examines the rise of the U.S. immigrant detention system. Profile below.

www.wm.edu/as/history/f...

wm.eduBrianna Nofil

Excited to announce four new additions to our editorial board: 3: Erik McDuffie! McDuffie researches Black movements, Black feminisms, Black (inter)nationalism, the Midwest, gender, sexualities, urban history, and Global Africa. His profile: history.illinois.edu/directory/pr...

Excited to announce four new additions to our editorial board: 2: Gretchen Heefner! Heefner researches the history of the U.S. in the world, focusing on militarization, the environment, and the intimate relations between national security and the everyday. Profile Below

cssh.northeastern.edu/faculty/gret...

Excited to announce four new additions to our editorial board: 1: Jonathan Bell! Bell is a historian of US politics since the New Deal. His book, The Health Care Closet, unites rights and health care politics to understand the sexual/gender dynamics of medical care since the 1960s. Profile Below

profiles.ucl.ac.uk/44800-jonath...

profiles.ucl.ac.ukDiscovery

Modern American History reposted

Victoria W. Wolcott

@vwidgeon.bsky.social

Thrilled to see this article coming out! In addition to exploring the power of noncooperation in the long civil rights movement it offers a sneak preview of my new book on one of those activists, Eroseanna Robinson. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

cambridge.orgStruggle at the Margins: The Elkton Three and the Power of Noncooperation | Modern American History | Cambridge CoreStruggle at the Margins: The Elkton Three and the Power of Noncooperation

Modern American History@modamhist.bsky.social

On First View! In 1961, the “Elkton Three”—three veterans of pacifist and civil rights movements—refused to leave a racially segregated restaurant in Maryland. @vwidgeon.bsky.social shows how their improvised protest drew attention to the anti-racist cause. Link Below.

On First View! The Woodlands, Texas, has long been considered an example of early sustainable urban design. Here, Andrew Busch uses a scalar perspective to argue instead that this town hindered sustainability and increased inequality in Houston. Link Below.

cambridge.org“To Live among the Trees”: Sustainability, Sprawl, and Scale in The Woodlands, Texas | Modern American History | Cambridge Core“To Live among the Trees”: Sustainability, Sprawl, and Scale in The Woodlands, Texas

23 Sept

In 1985, some of the first children of Chinese American immigrants—who were themselves blocked from voting—exercised their birthright citizenship and signed up to vote. @migrantherstory.bsky.social shows that nativists failed to disenfranchise them and yet left a racist legacy. Link Below.

cambridge.orgThe Struggle for America’s Ballot Box and the Making of Wong Kim Ark | Modern American History | Cambridge CoreThe Struggle for America’s Ballot Box and the Making of Wong Kim Ark - Volume 8 Issue 3

23 Sept

It is National Voter Registration Day. Make sure you are registered to vote in this year's midterm elections. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

21 Sept

On First View! @eyellin.bsky.social argues that even though Jewish residents of DC remembered restrictive housing covenants discriminating against Black and Jewish home seekers in equal measure, telling these histories separately reveals more about both groups’ experiences. Link Below.

21 Sept

cambridge.orgBroken Covenants: Jewish Memory and Racial Restrictive Covenants in Greater Washington | Modern American History | Cambridge CoreBroken Covenants: Jewish Memory and Racial Restrictive Covenants in Greater Washington

cambridge.orgPartisan Origins: Politicizing the Memory of the American Revolution | Modern American History | Cambridge CorePartisan Origins: Politicizing the Memory of the American Revolution - Volume 9 Issue 2

cambridge.orgBound by the Mockingbird Creed: Anniversaries, Myths, and the Enduring Power of Atticus Finch | Modern American History | Cambridge CoreBound by the Mockingbird Creed: Anniversaries, Myths, and the Enduring Power of Atticus Finch - Volume 9 Issue 2

cambridge.orgThe Visitor’s Corner with George Pelecanos | Modern American History | Cambridge CoreThe Visitor’s Corner with George Pelecanos - Volume 9 Issue 2

cambridge.orgRebranding a Nation: The U.S. Bicentennial Logo and the Politics of Graphic Design in the Nixon Administration | Modern American History | Cambridge CoreRebranding a Nation: The U.S. Bicentennial Logo and the Politics of Graphic Design in the Nixon Administration - Volume 9 Issue 2

cambridge.orgThinning the Nation? The 1976 Bicentennial and the Politics of Revolutionary Memory in a Neoliberal Age | Modern American History | Cambridge CoreThinning the Nation? The 1976 Bicentennial and the Politics of Revolutionary Memory in a Neoliberal Age - Volume 9 Issue 2

cambridge.orgCommemoration, Creation, and Sounding the Nation’s Future at St. Louis’s Bicentennial Horizons of American Music | Modern American History | Cambridge CoreCommemoration, Creation, and Sounding the Nation’s Future at St. Louis’s Bicentennial Horizons of American Music - Volume 9 Issue 2

cambridge.orgMaking Protest Patriotic Again: The Peoples Bicentennial Commission and America’s 200th Anniversary in 1976 | Modern American History | Cambridge CoreMaking Protest Patriotic Again: The Peoples Bicentennial Commission and America’s 200th Anniversary in 1976 - Volume 9 Issue 2

cambridge.org“Here Come the Beads and Trinkets”: Native Americans and the 1976 Bicentennial | Modern American History | Cambridge Core“Here Come the Beads and Trinkets”: Native Americans and the 1976 Bicentennial - Volume 9 Issue 2

cambridge.orgA Commemoration in Washington or a Commemoration for Washington? The Federal Government and the DC Bicentennial Assembly | Modern American History | Cambridge CoreA Commemoration in Washington or a Commemoration for Washington? The Federal Government and the DC Bicentennial Assembly - Volume 9 Issue 2

cambridge.org“The Second American Revolution”: Murray Rothbard and the Libertarians Imagine the U.S. Founding | Modern American History | Cambridge Core“The Second American Revolution”: Murray Rothbard and the Libertarians Imagine the U.S. Founding - Volume 9 Issue 2

The banjo has a complex symbolic history, from black cultural identity in the 19th century to Post-WWII film associations with lower-class Americans and their presumed criminality. And yet, Rhae Lynn Barnes concludes, Dolly Parton helped redeem the banjo. Link Below. RIP Dolly Parton.

cambridge.orgSeptember 11th Revisited: The Troubled History of Victim Compensation | Modern American History | Cambridge CoreSeptember 11th Revisited: The Troubled History of Victim Compensation - Volume 6 Issue 2

16 Sept

Excited to announce the winner of the 4th annual Brooke L. Blower and Sarah T. Phillips Essay Prize: Maia Silber with “‘Steady Work for the Steady-in-Work’: Unemployment Insurance, Seasonal Layoffs, and Workers' Survival Strategies in Industrial Wisconsin, 1935-1954”

16 Sept

Maia Silber is Assistant Professor of History at @nyu.edu and a 2026 graduate of @princeton.edu. Keep an eye out for the full article in a future issue of MAH!

13 Sept

In this recent Soapbox, Beryl Satter explores the 1974 Equal Credit Opportunity Act and its recent scholarly treatment. She calls on scholars to carefully avoid reproducing misogynist tropes, especially when writing the history of feminism. Link Below.

13 Sept

cambridge.orgRich, Selfish, and Useless: Recent Scholarly Attacks on Feminists and the 1974 Equal Credit Opportunity Act | Modern American History | Cambridge CoreRich, Selfish, and Useless: Recent Scholarly Attacks on Feminists and the 1974 Equal Credit Opportunity Act

11 Sept

As we remember 9/11, 25 years later, we return to this article by Joanne Meyerowitz, in which she explores some of the understudied repercussions of the attack. The article shows how, in the first days after the attack, a divisive debate began over who deserved the nation’s largesse. Link Below.

11 Sept

10 Sept

On first view! Jennifer Ritterhouse writes the history of a 1973 ACLU lawsuit and campaign against involuntary sterilization of Black women. She shows how black feminists worked with and taught middle-class white activists about intersectionality, strengthening the ACLU. Link Below.

cambridge.orgFrom Grassroots to Ginsburg: How a Feminist Network Absorbed Lessons from Southern Black Women’s Experiences, Fought Involuntary Sterilization, and Won a Late-1970s “Magna Carta” for the ACLU | Modern...From Grassroots to Ginsburg: How a Feminist Network Absorbed Lessons from Southern Black Women’s Experiences, Fought Involuntary Sterilization, and Won a Late-1970s “Magna Carta” for the ACLU

10 Sept

Rest in peace, Gloria Steinem. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

8 Sept

Politicians’ deployments of the U.S. Revolution in the 2020s risk converting it into a fractious ideological weapon. Here, Zachary Clary reflects on the historians’ role in deciphering the political memory of the nation’s founding revolution at its 250th Anniversary. Link Below.

8 Sept

7 Sept

This Labor Day, return to one of MAH’s most cited articles: The “Sonorous Summons.” Here, Nan Enstad argues that for historians to write truly oppositional histories of capitalism amid political crisis, they must take gender and race seriously and center the bodies of the marginalized. Link Below.

7 Sept

cambridge.orgThe “Sonorous Summons” of the New History of Capitalism, Or, What Are We Talking about When We Talk about Economy? | Modern American History | Cambridge CoreThe “Sonorous Summons” of the New History of Capitalism, Or, What Are We Talking about When We Talk about Economy? - Volume 2 Issue 1

6 Sept

Acclaimed novelist and TV producer George Pelecanos writes about the U.S. by crafting dramas of people and cities. Here, historian Adriane Lentz-Smith interviews him about his novel King Suckerman, DC as an exemplary city, and his approach to American stories. Link Below.

6 Sept