Questions of race have complicated histories in Russia and the Soviet Union, where a commitment to anti-racist and internationalist ideology often disguised racialization and racial conflict. The strong negative reactions to Black Lives Matter in Russia in 2020 have given these questions new attention and urgency. One factor in this history that is routinely overlooked is […]
This is Democracy Reading List: Participatory Democracy from the Sixties to Today (Episode 126)

Not Even Past is proud to partner with This is Democracy, a groundbreaking podcast that brings together thoughtful voices from different generations to help make sense of current challenges and propose positive steps forward. This is Democracy Reading Lists are designed to accompany the podcast interview and to provide additional, curated readings for anyone interested in the topic under […]
The Vanishing American Century?

By Jeremi Suri (with comment by Daniel Immerwahr) From the Editors: This article is accompanied by a comment from Daniel Immerwahr (Northwestern University) who specializes in twentieth-century U.S. history within a global context. Such comments are a new feature for Not Even Past designed to provide different ways to engage with important new work. One […]
An Intimate History of the Twentieth Century

Simone de Beauvoir would not be surprised by #metoo. After all, she wrote the book that laid out just how profoundly women’s position as the subordinate Other warped sexuality, intimacy, and even love . The Second Sex, Beauvoir path-blazing 1949 work of feminist theory, did not mince words on what Kate Manne in Down Girl […]
IHS Climate in Context Roundtable Book Review: The Death of Nature: Women, Ecology, and the Scientific Revolution (1980) by Carolyn Merchant

In 2020-21, the Institute for Historical Studies will convene a series of talks, workshops, and panel discussions centered on the theme “Climate in Context: Historical Precedents and the Unprecedented”. As part of that, we are delighted to publish this roundtable discussion consisting of three reviews focused on Carolyn Merchant’s The Death of Nature, a classic […]
This is Democracy Reading List: Dissent and National Security (episode 120)

Not Even Past is proud to partner with This is Democracy, a groundbreaking podcast that brings together thoughtful voices from different generations to help make sense of current challenges and propose positive steps forward. For Episode 120 of This is Democracy, Jeremi and Zachary Suri hosted Professor Hannah Gurman and Professor Kaeten Mistry to discuss […]
Fifty Years On: Remembering Gamal Abd al-Nasser

By Yoav Di-Capua On Monday evening, September 28, 1970, Egyptian radio and television abruptly began to broadcast recitations of the Quran. It was a familiar sign that something of great significance had gone horribly wrong. Egyptians had heard it before – when they lost the June 1967 war and again, eighteen months earlier, when a […]
Why Study the Ugliest Moments of American History? Reflections on Teaching Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States

History professors often look for ways to use the past to inform present debates. With long-past events, that sometimes requires some acrobatic leaps over centuries or millennia, but in my own courses on violence in American history, the connections are often pretty obvious. Every day, a stream of new or ongoing violent events invite historical […]
The War in Afghanistan is Nineteen Years Old: What Can it Teach us about Violence in American History?

From the Editors: This article is accompanied by a comment from Jeremi Suri, the Mack Brown Distinguished Chair for Leadership in Global Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. Such comments are a new feature for Not Even Past designed to provide different ways to engage with important new work. This week marks the […]
This is Democracy – Young JFK: Lessons for Democracy Today

Guest: Laurence D. Belfer Professor of International Affairs at the John F. Kennedy School of Government and Professor of History, Harvard University This episode discusses how President JFK’s legacy influences our politics today. Zachary sets the scene with his poem, “The Ghost of JFK”. Fredrik Logevall is the Laurence D. Belfer Professor of International Affairs […]