Conflicting Missions: Havana, Washington, and Africa, 1959-1976, takes readers beyond the familiar categories of the Soviet-American Cold War. In the wake of decolonization, as charismatic national leaders emerged across Africa – from Algeria to Zaire – statesmen in Washington and Moscow waited anxiously to see if the new governments would align with democracy or communism.
15 Minutes History – US China relations in the 1970s
During the 1970s, relations between the US and China were transformed. Previously the two nations were cold war enemies. But Kazushi Minami argues that the ’70s saw Americans reimagine China as a country of opportunities, while Chinese reinterpreted the US as an agent of modernization, capable of enriching their country. Crucial to this process was […]
This is Democracy – China’s Domestic and Foreign Policy
On this episode of This Is Democracy, Jeremi and Zachary are joined by Sheena Chestnut Greitens to discuss the changing political landscape in China and how that affects their relationship to the United States and other world leaders. Zachary sets the scene with his poem entitled, “Far Away.” Sheena Chestnut Greitens is an Associate Professor […]
Resources for Teaching Women’s History
From the editors: To mark Women’s History Month, we collected a range of Not Even Past articles and reviews and assembled them here, on a single page devoted to resources on women’s history. We’ve organized our content around seven topics. The articles grouped under each topic heading highlight groundbreaking research. However, they are also intended […]
Review of Catastrophic Diplomacy: US Foreign Disaster Assistance in the American Century (2024) by Julia Irwin
The United States became an influential global actor during the twentieth century, cementing its role on the world stage through decisive interventions in both World Wars and via a range of US cultural and technological innovations. So pervasive was the US presence that some scholars have since christened this era the “American Century.” In Catastrophic […]
Review of A Ritual Geology: Gold and Subterranean Knowledge in Savanna West Africa (2022) by Robyn d’Avignon
Using the goldfields in Kedougou in southeastern Senegal, historian and anthropologist Robyn D’Avignon, in Ritual Geology, explores the instrumentality of African indigenous knowledge systems in developing modern mining economies in French West Africa from the nineteenth century to the present. D’Avignon defines ritual geology as a set of practices, prohibitions, and cosmological engagements with the […]
Motherhood, Patriotism and Enfranchisement: How Mexican Catholic Women Defined Womanhood in the Mid-Twentieth Century
This is Democracy – Middle East in the 1970s and Today
This week, Jeremi and Zachary are joined by Professor Salim Yaqub to discuss how the 1970s changed the Middle East, and how those changes are still relevant in the modern day. Zachary sets the scene with his poem entitled, “To Israel, a Widow.” Salim Yaqub is Professor of History at the University of California, Santa […]
Saving History: Cultural Heritage, Preservation and Public Service
In 2018, I was on a research expedition in Caracas, Venezuela. My days were filled with scheduling visits to libraries and repositories to start research for my dissertation on foreign oil companies and their activities in twentieth-century Venezuela. One sunny afternoon, an old mentor from my undergraduate years invited me to his private club. We […]
October 1973: Nixon’s decision to resupply Israel
Note: This article was written and published before Hamas’ brutal attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. “500 tanks!” exclaimed Henry Kissinger. The national security advisor-cum-secretary of state did not want to believe what he was hearing from the Israeli Ambassador Simcha Dinitz as he recounted the losses sustained by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) […]