Modern American History
@modamhist.bsky.social
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News and insights from the journal Modern American History, devoted to all aspects of American history since the 1890s.
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modamhist.bsky.social
Just dropped: issue 8.2! Linked below.
Men from the Clallam Bay Honor Camp fighting a forest fire. “Honor Camp Fighting Forest Fire,” Agenda 6, no. 3
(Jan. 1, 1961). American Prison Newspapers, 1800s-present: Voices from the Inside via Reveal Digital, JSTOR.
modamhist.bsky.social
Congratulations to the honorable mention for our third Annual Brooke L. Blower and Sarah T. Phillips Essay Prize winner: Jan Michael at @tgsatnu.bsky.social for "The Boundaries of Power: How Posse Comitatus Sought to Dismantle the U.S. State."

Look for the article in a future issue of MAH!
PhD Candidate Jan Michael
modamhist.bsky.social
Keep an eye out for the full article in a future issue of MAH!
modamhist.bsky.social
We're excited to announce the winner of the third annual Brooke L. Blower and Sarah T. Phillips Essay Prize: @syrussolojin.bsky.social at @nyu.edu with “‘Are You My Kimchi Mother?’ Race, Women, and the U.S. Military’s Study Abroad Training Program in the Early Cold War.”
Syrus Solo Jin
modamhist.bsky.social
Our last research article from 8.2: @henrymjtonks.bsky.social looks at Lowell, MA, as an example of how deindustrialization & urban decay in the 1970s forced policymakers to focus on public-private partnerships as mechanisms of economic regeneration

Read here: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Snowstorm, Lowell, Massachusetts documentary photographs, 1980s, public domain.
modamhist.bsky.social
Molly M. Henderson, who is a VAP in Gender & Women's Studies @uwmadison.bsky.social, explores how Mobil Oil used its investments in children & families to bolstered its reputation and prevent alternate visions of economic redistribution.

Read here: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
David Falconer/ U.S. National Archives
modamhist.bsky.social
8.2 also includes "Unity and Struggle: The Twilight of Maoism in the United States" by Kazushi Minami.

Linked here: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Carmelita Hinton’s radical youth delegation in Yan’an, Shaanxi Province, undated, 196-1-466, Shaanxi Provincial Archive.
modamhist.bsky.social
Another exciting new piece of research from 8.2: "A Tale of Two Superports: Oil, Empire, and Anti-Colonial Environmentalism in Puerto Rico and Palau" by Dante LaRiccia.

Read the full article here: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Sambolín’s print captured the entangled ecological and human threats of the superport, as well as the colonial valences of the project. Credit: Nelson Sambolín, Nelson Sambolín (Salinas, Puerto Rico, 1944), “Superpuerto, colonialismo, pillaje, veneno,” 1972, Taller Baja, serigrafia, Donación SKB, Colección Museo de Historia, Anthropología y Arte, Universidad de Puerto Rico, Recinto de Rio Piedras.
modamhist.bsky.social
The latest issue includes several exciting research articles.

Our cover article is "The Specter of Waste: Incarcerated Bodies, “Healthy” Labor, and the Production of Recreational Forests" by Anaïs Lefèvre

Read here: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
An incarcerated worker puts the finishing touches on a sign that reads “National Forest Campground Steamboat Falls.” The work of incarcerated men allowed forests to become recreational forests, even when they stayed inside penitentiaries. “Prisoners making campground signs,” 1945–1965, Department of Corrections, McNeil Island Corrections Center Photograph Collection, 1855–2010, Digital Archives,
modamhist.bsky.social
An exciting Soapbox from 8.2

Historians Amanda Cobb-Greetham and Scott Manning Stevens interview curators Kathleen Ash-Milby (@portlandartmuseum.bsky.social), Jordan Poorman Cocker (Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art), and Patricia Marroquin Norby (@metmuseum.org) on the “Indigenous turn”
 Installation photo, American Sunrise: Indigenous Art at Crystal Bridges, November 9, 2024-March 23, 2025. From left to right: Kelly Church, Sustaining Traditions: Basket of Resilience; Jody Naranjo, Finding Yourself; Jeri Redcorn, “Sheyahtse” Warrior; Jane Osti, A Sacred Fire; Jane Osti, The Abundance; Virgil Ortiz, Pueblo Revolt of 1680/2180,Susan Folwell, Attack of the 50 ft. Collector; Les Namingha, Geometric Interruption. Photograph by Jared Sorrells, Courtesy of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.
modamhist.bsky.social
Just dropped: issue 8.2! Linked below.
Men from the Clallam Bay Honor Camp fighting a forest fire. “Honor Camp Fighting Forest Fire,” Agenda 6, no. 3
(Jan. 1, 1961). American Prison Newspapers, 1800s-present: Voices from the Inside via Reveal Digital, JSTOR.
modamhist.bsky.social
New on First View!

Alex Jacobs at @vanderbilt.edu explores the crisis in American conservatism. He seeks to explain how, after 60 years of successes, right-wing political triumph has come at the cost of any capacity for effective, stabilizing governance.

Read the full piece below.
The Crisis of American Conservatism | Modern American History | Cambridge Core
The Crisis of American Conservatism
www.cambridge.org
modamhist.bsky.social
On First View for 8.2

Lorrin Thomas from @ruhistorydept.bsky.social examines the Supreme Court's first decision on affirmative action: Regents of the University of California v. Bakke in 1978. She argues that we can't understand Bakke without including Latino participants.

Read more below:
Abajo con Bakke: Latinos’ Leading Role in the Fight for Affirmative Action in the 1970s | Modern American History | Cambridge Core
Abajo con Bakke: Latinos’ Leading Role in the Fight for Affirmative Action in the 1970s
www.cambridge.org
modamhist.bsky.social
Up on First View!

"The Specter of Waste: Incarcerated Bodies, “Healthy” Labor, and the Production of Recreational Forests" by Anaïs Lefèvre. The piece examines how, after WWII, as they faced prison riots and rising concerns about juvenile delinquency, many states set up penal forestry camps.
An incarcerated worker puts the finishing touches on a sign that reads “National Forest Campground Steamboat Falls.” The work of incarcerated men allowed forests to become recreational forests, even when they stayed inside penitentiaries. “Prisoners making campground signs,” 1945–1965, Department of Corrections, McNeil Island Corrections Center Photograph Collection, 1855–2010, Digital Archives, https://digitalarchives.wa.gov/Record/View/E6367837C8742B57DD51AEBD89D40C73.
modamhist.bsky.social
*New on First View*

The Honorable Mention Essay from the 2024 Brooke L. Blower and Sarah T. Phillips Prize written by Yale PhD candidate Dante LaRiccia. The article examines how Puerto Rican and Palauan activists developed novel environmental critiques and strategies to oppose them.

Link below:
The anti-superport campaign urged Palauans to vote ‘Yes’ to approve the federated Micronesian constitution in 1978. Credit: Trust Territory Photo Archives, Pacific Collection, University of Hawai‘i-Mānoa Library.
modamhist.bsky.social
New on First View: Unity and Struggle: The Twilight of Maoism in the United States by Kazushi Minami, which follows the fragmentation of U.S. Maoism in the 1970s and the relationship between Mao’s China and its devout followers in the heartland of capitalism.

Link below!
Poster of the Mao Tsetung Memorial Meetings.
Reposted by Modern American History
modamhist.bsky.social
Ten more days until submissions are due!
modamhist.bsky.social
We are excited to announce the third annual Brooke L. Blower and Sarah T. Phillips Essay Prize Competition. Ph.D. candidates and early-career instructors are welcome to submit! Our deadline is June 15.
modamhist.bsky.social
Don't forget to submit something for our third annual essay prize competition!
modamhist.bsky.social
We are excited to announce the third annual Brooke L. Blower and Sarah T. Phillips Essay Prize Competition. Ph.D. candidates and early-career instructors are welcome to submit! Our deadline is June 15.
modamhist.bsky.social
*New on First View!*

The first article from 8.2 is “Put Your Money Where the Kids Are”: Mobil Oil, Social Responsibility, and Cultures of Privatization in the 1970s by George Washington University PhD candidate Molly Henderson.

Read the article here:

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
“Put Your Money Where the Kids Are”: Mobil Oil, Social Responsibility, and Cultures of Privatization in the 1970s | Modern American History | Cambridge Core
“Put Your Money Where the Kids Are”: Mobil Oil, Social Responsibility, and Cultures of Privatization in the 1970s
www.cambridge.org
modamhist.bsky.social
Read the 2024 Brooke L. Blower and Sarah T. Phillips prize winning essay from John Miles Brach, titled "Union Exemption: Nonprofit Work and the Boundaries of the Commercial Economy, 1951–1976."

Early career scholars, see below for details on how to submit your own piece for consideration for 2025!