Congratulations to Professor Deborah E. Lipstadt, Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish History and Holocaust Studies, for receiving the George P. Cuttino Award for Distinguished Mentoring. The award is named in honor of the late George Peddy Cuttino, a member of Emory’s History Department from 1952 to 1984. Read more about Lipstadt’s distinguished record as a mentor and scholar here: “Cuttino Award honors historian Deborah Lipstadt for mentoring excellence.”
Deborah E. Lipstadt, the Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish History and Holocaust Studies and Associated Faculty in the History Department, recently authored an article in The Atlantic. Lipstadt discusses increasing violence against Jews in the United States, including at the Chabad synagogue in Poway, California, and the escalation of anti-antisemitism in public discourse. She is, most recently, the author of Antisemitism: Here and Now (Schocken, 2019). Read an excerpt from her piece in The Atlantic below, as well as the full article: “Anti-Semitism Is Thriving in America: I assumed that, after the Holocaust, the world recognized where anti-Semitic rhetoric can lead. I was wrong.”
“In the wake of the Poway attack, law-enforcement officers, government officials, and the media kept stressing that the gunman had acted alone. They may have been trying to reassure the public, and in the narrowest technical terms, they may have been correct.
“But this assailant was no lone wolf. He is part of a nexus of haters. The shooters in Charleston, Pittsburgh, Christchurch, and now Poway all relied on similar language and memes. The Christchurch and Poway shooters both posted manifestos prior to their rampages. They referred their social-media followers to some of the same websites and offered similar justifications for their actions.”
Dr. Carol Anderson, Charles Howard Candler Professor and Chair of African American Studies, recently participated in a roundtable on the history of voter suppression at the Library Company of Philadelphia. Anderson is Associated Faculty in the History Department. Stacey Abrams, who narrowly lost the 2018 gubernatorial race in Georgia and who attributes the outcome to voter suppression, also participated in the conversation. Anderson is, most recently, the author of One Person, No Vote: How Voter Suppression Is Destroying Our Democracy (Bloomsbury, 2018). Read The New York Times‘ article about the gathering here: “For Stacey Abrams, a Date With History — or at Least the People Who Write It.”
Dr. Ellie R. Schainker has received major external support for her current research. The Fulbright Program will support Schainker’s fieldwork in Lithuania and Israel over the next two summers through a Global Scholar Award. In addition, the Jewish Museum & Tolerance Center in Moscow awarded Schainker a fellowship for research in the summer of 2019. Schainker is the Arthur Blank Family Foundation Associate Professor of Modern European Jewish History.
Dr. Astrid M. Eckert, Interim Director of Undergraduate Studies and Associate Professor of History, recently co-edited a special issue of the journal Central European History. The March 2019 edition is entitled “New Narratives for the History of the Federal Republic.” Eckert co-authored the introduction, “Why Do We Need New Narratives for the History of the Federal Republic?,” with Frank Biess of UC San Diego. Read their introduction along with the other articles here.
Dr. Carol Anderson recently published an opinion piece, “Our Democracy Is Being Stolen. Guess Who the Thieves Are,” in The New York Times. Anderson is Associated Faculty in the History Department and Charles Howard Candler Professor and Chair of African American Studies. Her piece addresses claims and realities of voter suppression and election fraud with a focus on the recent midterm election in North Carolina’s Ninth Congressional District. Anderson is, most recently, the author of White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Nation’s Divide (Bloomsbury, 2017). Read an excerpt below along with the full piece here.
“The real theft of American democracy happens through election fraud and voter suppression. And Republicans are the thieves.
“What happened in North Carolina during the 2018 midterms was a textbook case of election fraud. That’s when a candidate’s campaign sets out to manipulate vote tallies to steal an election.”
Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Law Mary L. Dudziak recently published an article in The Washington Post on how the Korean War shaped the balance of power between the executive and legislative branches of the United States government. Dudziak, who is affiliated faculty in the History Department, charts how Harry S. Truman’s 1950 decision to authorize military action in the Korean peninsula without congressional authorization established a precedent that U.S. presidents have invoked since. Read an excerpt of Dudziak’s piece below and the full article, “The toxic legacy of the Korean War,” here:
“The Korean War precedent converged with and informed another practice. After Korea, authorizations for the use of military force became the primary way for Congress to exercise its constitutional power. This method has been around since 1798, when President John Adams sought authority to use the Navy to protect American ships during an undeclared naval war with France.
Authorizations replaced war declarations for even large-scale wars like the one in Vietnam. In 2001, Congress passed an Authorization for Use of Military Force approving armed conflict “against those nations, organizations, or persons” who had “planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001,” and those who had harbored them. Like the Korean War precedent, this had unexpected aftereffects. It was later interpreted to apply to groups that did not even exist at the time it was passed. Through this process, presidential war power has become a one-way ratchet. By failing to step in, Congress has acquiesced in the loss of its own power.”
This spring Jimmy Carter Professor of History and Department Chair Joseph Crespino is teaching a 385 course titled “Right-Wing America.” HowStuffWorks contributing writer John Donovan recently featured Crespino’s course in the article “Bridging the Chasm: Emory Class Delves Into America’s Right-wing History.” HowStuffWorks editorial board describes the website as a “source for unbiased, reliable, easy-to-understand answers and explanations of how the world actually works.” Read the full article here and check out Donovan’s observations from the first day of the spring course below.
“‘Donald Trump really defied what we thought we knew about American politics,’ Crespino tells his class that first day. ‘Trump’s election not only kind of upended what we thought were these iron laws of American politics’ — mainly, that candidates have to run toward the center to get elected — ‘but it also makes the American past look a lot different, you know? Things that we used to take for granted as kind of hiccups along the way all of a sudden look more important. And they look more ominous. And we begin to see that they weren’t just hiccups, but they’re kind of a recurring pattern.’
That pattern is what interests scholars. It’s what Crespino hopes his students will grasp, too; that the ideas and beliefs that drive right-wing America today didn’t begin with Trump. And they won’t disappear when he does, either.”
NPR’s Michel Martin, host of “All Things Considered,” recently interviewed Dr. Deborah E. Lipstadt about the resurgence of public antisemitism in the contemporary United States. Lipstadt is, most recently, the author of Antisemitism: Here And Now (Schocken, 2019). At Emory she holds positions as Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish History and Holocaust Studies and as associated faculty in the History Department. Read the full transcript of the interview here.
Congratulations to Dr. Ruby Lal, Professor of South Asian Studies and affiliated faculty in the History Department. Lal’s recent monograph, Empress: The Astonishing Reign of Nur Jahan (W. W. Norton & Company, 2018), has been named a finalist in the History category for the 2018 L.A. Times Book Prize. Read more about Lal’s book here.