The Truth in Stories

By Marina Warner February 5, 2018 Historians' Watch, Histories of the Present 0 comments

Marina Warner on the power of fables in a post-truth era of President Trump and fake news

Democracy and Disaster: Pakistan in Bangladesh (1970) and Trump in Puerto Rico (2017)

By Naomi Hossain December 6, 2017 Historians' Watch 0 comments

Naomi Hossain compares President Trump’s handling of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico in 2017 to the Pakistani government’s response to the 1970 Bhola Cyclone in Bangladesh, to examine the implications of disaster for legitimacy, imperial power and democracy.

100 Days after the Women’s March: More Reflections

By Hannah Elias April 30, 2017 Histories of the Present 0 comments

Protesters from the US, UK, Canada and Ireland reflect on the Women’s March of 21 January 2017.

Executive Order: Trump playing the ‘nation’ card

By Michelle Carmody March 21, 2017 Historians' Watch 0 comments

Exclusion has, in fact, been central to the configuration of political power in the US and in other white settler states.

Autocracy in America won’t come with jackboots

By Stephen Heathorn February 3, 2017 Historians' Watch, Histories of the Present 0 comments

Stephen Heathorn explores what the rise of the far right, authoritarianism and fascism looks like in the 21st century, as opposed to the 1930s.

Unsettling Echoes: Joseph Goebbels (1933), Sean Spicer (2017), Steve Bannon (2017)

By Jane Caplan January 30, 2017 Historians' Watch, Histories of the Present 31 comments

An outspoken free press is one of the great obstacles to demagogues, who prefer simplistic propaganda to open public debate.