Category Archives: Political Culture

Trump Orders a Politicized Rewriting of History

Posted on August 12, 2025 by briansandberg

President Trump has ordered a politicized rewriting of history at the national museums of the Smithsonian Institution. Trump’s order initiates a new offensive in the ongoing War on History, which represents one front in a broader set of Culture Wars. … Continue reading →

Posted in Academic Freedom, Education Policy, Higher Education, Humanities Education, Museums and Historical Memory, Political Activism and Protest Culture, Political History of the United States, United States History and Society | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Reframing Treaties Published

Posted on August 4, 2025 by briansandberg

Reframing Treaties in the Late Medieval and Early Modern West, edited by Isabella Lazzarini, Luciano Piffanelli, and Diego Pirillo (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2025) has been published. I contributed an essay on “Peacemaking in the Context of Religious Violence: The … Continue reading →

Posted in Civil Conflict, Current Research, Early Modern Europe, Early Modern France, European History, European Wars of Religion, French History, French Wars of Religion, History of the Western World, international relations, Italian History, Mediterranean World, Political Culture, Reformation History, Religious Politics, Religious Violence, Renaissance Art and History, Strategy and International Politics, Warfare in the Early Modern World | Leave a comment

George Orwell’s ‘1984’ and Modern America

Posted on July 28, 2025 by briansandberg

Charlie English has published an essay in The New York Times on the role that George Orwell’s 1984 played in the Cold War, drawing comparisons to the book being banned in the United States in the twenty-first century. English is … Continue reading →

Posted in Academic Freedom, Academic Publishing, Authoritarianism, Civil Rights Issues, Education Policy, Empires and Imperialism, European History, European Studies, High School History Teaching, History in the Media, History of the Book, Human Rights, Humanities Education, Information Management, Intellectual History, international relations, Political Culture, Political History of the United States, Political Theory, Public History, The Past Alive: Teaching History, United States History and Society, World History | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Trump Officials Remove Books from Libraries

Posted on April 14, 2025 by briansandberg

The Trump administration continues its war on knowledge by removing books from the U.S. Naval Academy’s Nimitz Library. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ordered staff to remove 381 books from the Nimitz Library. The books removed include novels by Maya … Continue reading →

Posted in Academic Freedom, Civil Rights Issues, Civil-Military Relations, Education Policy, Higher Education, History of Race and Racism, Human Rights, Humanities Education, Information Management, Legal history, Museums and Historical Memory, Political Culture, Political History of the United States, Public History, United States History and Society, Women and Gender History | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Many International Students’ Visas Revoked in Illinois

Posted on April 14, 2025 by briansandberg

International students at state universities in Illinois and across the nation are being improperly and unlawfully targeted by the Trump administration for visa revocation. Last week, the Trump administration revoked the visas of five international students at Northern Illinois University, … Continue reading →

Posted in Academic Freedom, Authoritarianism, Civil Rights Issues, Education Policy, Globalization, Higher Education, Human Rights, Illinois History and Society, Legal history, Political Culture, Political History of the United States, United States Foreign Policy, United States History and Society | Leave a comment

Wilson Center is Dismantled by Musk and Trump

Posted on April 4, 2025 by briansandberg

Elon Musk and his so-called DOGE team are attacking another federal institution, this time it is the Wilson Center in Washington, D.C., that is being illegally dismantled. The Wilson Center explains its mission on its website: “The Wilson Center occupies … Continue reading →

Posted in Academic Freedom, Civil Rights Issues, Globalization, Human Rights, Peacemaking Processes, Political Culture, Political History of the United States, Political Theory, Public History, State Development Theory, Strategy and International Politics, United States Foreign Policy, United States History and Society, War, Culture, and Society, World History | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

On the Technocratic and Fascist Ideology of Elon Musk

Posted on April 4, 2025 by briansandberg

Elon Musk may exhibit highly erratic and volatile behavior, but he espouses a coherent Technocratic and Fascist ideology that was articulated in the 1930s. Jill Lepore, Professor of History and Law (Harvard University), traces the history of Elon Musk’s grandfather, … Continue reading →

Posted in Authoritarianism, Civil Rights Issues, Cultural History, Higher Education, Historiography and Social Theory, History in the Media, History of Race and Racism, History of the Western World, History of Violence, Human Rights, Humanities Education, Information Management, Information Revolutions, Intellectual History, Italian History, Museums and Historical Memory, Political Culture, Political History of the United States, Political Theory, United States History and Society, World History | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

On Trump’s War on History

Posted on March 31, 2025 by briansandberg

President Trump has declared war on History. David W. Blight, Professor of History (Yale University), has written an op-ed published in The New York Times, responding to the Trump administration’s attack on the Smithsonian Institution. He writes that “On Thursday … Continue reading →

Posted in Academic Freedom, Education Policy, Higher Education, Historiography and Social Theory, History of Race and Racism, Human Rights, Humanities Education, Museums and Historical Memory, Political Culture, Political History of the United States, United States History and Society | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Institute of Museum and Library Services is Dismantled

Posted on March 31, 2025 by briansandberg

The Trump administration and its so-called DOGE team is now dismantling the entire the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) as part of its ongoing attack on research and higher education in the United States. NPR reports that “The … Continue reading →

Posted in Academic Freedom, Digital Humanities, Higher Education, Human Rights, Humanities Education, Information Management, Museums and Historical Memory, Political Culture, Political History of the United States, United States History and Society | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

University Presidents Act to Protect Students’ Rights

Posted on March 31, 2025 by briansandberg

A group of over 570 university and college presidents have condemned the Trump administration’s violations of students’ constitutional rights. The higher education leaders who are members of the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration are acting to protect international … Continue reading →

Posted in Academic Freedom, Education Policy, Graduate Work in History, Higher Education, Human Rights, Humanities Education, Political Activism and Protest Culture, Political Culture, Political History of the United States, United States History and Society | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment