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LAPD building dedicated to William H. Parker.

The World Darryl Gates Made: Race, Policing, and the Birth of SWAT

The very features that made the LAPD appear more professional also expanded its reach and capacity for violence.
by Aaron Stagoff-Belfort via The Metropole on May 7, 2025
Streetlamps and red trail lights glow in a dark city street.

A Nation of Cop Cities

The push to build large police training facilities follows on a long history of armories as both symbols and manifestations of state power.
by Matthew Guariglia via Inquest on September 26, 2024
U.S. soldiers providing sniper coverage for a meeting in Kandahar, January 2013

The High Cost of American Heavy-Handedness 

Great-power competition demands persuasion, not coercion.
by Douglas London via Foreign Affairs on December 20, 2022
Noam Chomsky

“Every Time We Build Up Our Military Budget, We’re Attacking Ourselves”

Noam Chomsky discusses the hypocrisies of US empire and why if we really wanted to build a decent society, we’d immediately slash the massive military budget.
by David Barsamian, Noam Chomsky via Jacobin on June 17, 2022
A woman is surrounded by her children as she sits amid a pile of debris in the processing area towards Abbey Gate, as they wait to leave Afghanistan, Wednesday, August 25, 2021.

What We Miss When We Say a War Has “Ended”

Bringing to light the kinship among American wars—and, by extension, their true significance—requires situating them in a single historical framework.
by Andrew J. Bacevich via The Nation on January 25, 2022
A picture of armed militias

What the Term “Gun Culture” Misses About White Supremacy

The rise of tactical gun culture among civilians reveals a new front in the U.S. battle against nativist authoritarianism.
by Chad Kautzer via Boston Review on December 17, 2021
illustration of boy playing Cold War video game

First-Person Shooter Ideology

The cultural contradictions of Call of Duty.
by Daniel Bessner via The Drift on February 2, 2021

Enough Toxic Militarism

Decades of militarization in U.S. foreign policy have fueled violence at every level of American society.
by Nikhil Pal Singh via Quincy Institute for Responsible State Craft on December 4, 2019

What Was the Confederate Flag Doing in Cuba, Vietnam, and Iraq?

The Confederate flag’s military tenure continued long after the Civil War ended.
by Greg Grandin via The Nation on July 7, 2015

The War to Start All Wars

How the U.S. invasion of Panama ushered in the post-Cold War era of military unilateralism and preemptive war.
by Greg Grandin via Common Dreams on December 22, 2014

The Central American Child Refugee Crisis: Made in U.S.A.

By supporting repressive governments, the U.S. has fueled the violence that has caused tens of thousands of kids to flee north.
by Alexander Main via Dissent on July 30, 2014
John McCain stands in a crowd shaking hands in a Ukrainian city.

How Decades of Folly Led to War in Ukraine

For decades, US hostility towards Russia and continued NATO encroachment ever further into Eastern Europe have laid the groundwork for the current crisis.
by Michael A. Reynolds via Compact on August 15, 2025
World Trade Center towers burning on 9/11.

The Righteous Community: Legacies of the War on Terror

A new book traces how "the wet dream of an ageing militarist has become a fundamental force driving American foreign policy."
by Jackson Lears via London Review of Books on July 24, 2025
Declaration of Independence marked up with red marker.

Here Are the Declaration of Independence’s Grievances Against King George III. Many Apply to Trump.

It’s uncanny.
by Tim Murphy, David Corn via Mother Jones on July 3, 2025

Why America Got a Warfare State, Not a Welfare State

How FDR invented national security, and why Democrats need to move on from it.
by Samuel Moyn via The New Republic on June 26, 2025
Protestors confronting Army military police.

When the Military Comes to American Soil

Domestic deployments have generally been quite restrained. Can they still be?
by Joshua Braver via The Atlantic on June 17, 2025
Militarized National Guard confronts peaceful protesters in Los Angeles, 2025.

What History Tells Us to Expect From Trump’s Escalation in Los Angeles Protests

Since the 1960s, studies have shown that heavy-handed policing and militarized responses tend to make protests more volatile — not less.
by Jamiles Lartey via The Marshall Project on June 9, 2025
Arthur Morgan from video game Red Dead Redemption 2 sporting a gun and cowboy hat.

Cult of the Cowboy: Inside the Toxic Adoration of an All-American Obsession

Video games, violence and the enduring allure of the vigilante hero.
by Rachel Wagner via Literary Hub on February 26, 2025
Poofs of smoke in the sky.

An “Iron Dome for America”: A History Repeating Itself

How America’s search for total security keeps making the world more dangerous.
by Athena Drakou via The Climate Historian on February 3, 2025
Painting from 1784 of Romans doing a straight-armed salute.

The Revisionist History of the Nazi Salute

Elon Musk’s defenders were quick to claim that his hand motion was actually an ancient “Roman salute” — but that gesture never existed.
by Sarah E. Bond, Stephanie Wong via Hyperallergic on January 22, 2025
Brawny arm tattooed with Capitol building and fighter jets.

The Return of American Exuberance

Trump's foreign policy is not as unprecedented as it seems.
by Adam Rowe via Compact on January 20, 2025
partner

Knight Club

Were the Knights of the Golden Circle responsible for Lincoln’s assassination? No one knows, but far-right secret societies always draw power from speculation.
by Devin Thomas O’Shea via HNN on January 14, 2025
President Jimmy Carter seated in the Oval Office of the White House, 1980.

How Jimmy Carter Became a Cold War Hawk

Jimmy Carter is associated with an idealistic “human rights agenda.” In reality, he was paving the way for Ronald Reagan’s aggressive anti-communism.
by Seth Ackerman, Aaron Donaghy via Jacobin on December 29, 2024
The American flag and the South Korean flag.

Eighty Years of Martial Law

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol’s declaration of martial law is of little import compared to the American occupation of the country.
by Jason Morgan via The American Conservative on December 24, 2024
Ronald Reagan and Paul Nitze.

A Cold Warrior for Our Time

James Graham Wilson makes a compelling case that the under-celebrated example of Paul Nitze is both instructive and worthy of our emulation.
by Max J. Prowant via Law & Liberty on December 9, 2024
Barack Obama and Chinese president Xi Jinxing looking away from each other.

The Bipartisan Origins of the New Cold War

Starting with Obama, American presidents embraced the idea of arresting China’s rise, opening the door to Trump’s trade wars and hawkishness.
by Michael Brenes, Van Jackson via Jacobin on November 25, 2024
Protestors after Nixon's Election protesting the end to war.

US Labor and the Gaza War: Historical Perspective

Are we doomed to repetition? It’s something I worry about.
by Tim Barker via Origins of Our Time on November 15, 2024
Haitian gang members carrying assault rifles, standing in the center of a stylized rifle sight.

Haiti’s Agents Of Fear

Haitians are caught between the grip of violent gangs and the messy legacies of foreign intervention.
by Matthew J. Smith via Noema on October 29, 2024

Call of Duty: Pentagon Ops

Inside the weird synergies that launched the videogaming industry—and made the Pentagon fantasies in Call of Duty its stock in trade.
by Jesse Robertson via The Nation on October 24, 2024
Screenshot of soldiers and an explosion.

Noam Chomsky on How America Sanitizes the Horror of Its Wars

On the origins of America's hegemonic foreign policy.
by Noam Chomsky via Literary Hub on October 16, 2024
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