This is the final post in a three-part series about socialism at McGill in the 1930s. Raffaella Cerenzia 1930s McGill was a small, tight-knit place. Only 3,000 or so students roamed the university’s campus. They were taught by a short roster of professors; the Department of Economics and Political Science numbered just six in the early thirties. In this intimate… Read more »
This is the second post in a three-part series about socialism at McGill in the 1930s. Raffaella Cerenzia As the 1930s unfolded, the soaring unemployment and general miseries of the Great Depression breathed new life into the Canadian left. Socialism began to take root in federal politics, a process exemplified by the founding of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) in… Read more »
This is the first post in a three-part series about socialism at McGill in the 1930s. Raffaella Cerenzia Tick tock, tick tock. “Time to wake up!” In January 1933, deep in the midst of the Great Depression, a new student publication announced its arrival on McGill University’s campus. The paper was the production of McGill’s Labour Club, to which all… Read more »
By Sean Graham This week I talk with Mary Frances Phillips, author of Black Panther Woman: The Political and Spiritual Life of Ericka Huggins. We talk about the process of writing a historical biography of a living person, tracking down new archival sources, and how Ericka Huggins ended up in prison. We also chat about COINTELPRO plots and how Ericka ended… Read more »
Musically the thing about Brian Wilson is that it’s not all about Pet Sounds and Smile. A lot of Beach Boys tracks are equally impressive. Ballads such The Warmth Of The Sun and In My Room are a template for vocal harmonies achieved by groups such as Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young and The Eagles. David Crosby and Jerry Garcia were Beach Boys defenders even when the cool kids thought they were unhip. Neil Young once shared a house with Dennis Wilson. Songs like I Get Around (Keith Richards’ personal favourite), Good Vibrations and Sail On Sailor rock like mad. Often overlooked albums like Smiley Smile (sort of an unplugged version of Smile), Friends, Sunflower, Surf’s Up, Holland, The Beach Boys Love You and Carl And The Passions – So Tough contain many gems.
By Sean Graham This week I talk with Paul Kahan, author of Philadelphia: A Narrative History. We talk about the city’s origins, its connection to the American Revolution, and how the city’s history is distinct from the national story. We also chat about community, Philadelphia’s political history, and the local culture. Historical Headline of the Week Nancy Steinbach, “Philadelphia: A… Read more »
By Mark Humphries In the last few months, there has been a growing debate about how historians should respond to AI. And that’s a good thing. I’ve argued that we need to engage with the technology or risk becoming irrelevant. Recent pieces in Active History by Mack Penner and Edward Dunsworth make the case for why we should approach AI… Read more »
Edward Dunsworth Two approaches dominate discussion about how professors should handle generative “artificial intelligence” in the classroom: give up or give in. Give up. Faced with a powerful new technology custom-cut for cheating, many professors are throwing up their hands in despair. This was the dominant mood of last month’s widely shared New York Magazine article. “Everyone is cheating their… Read more »
by Jess Wilton Threads of gender dysphoria unite the yellowing pages of adolescent diaries with the smudged print of typewritten letters in the Erica Rutherford fonds at the Prince Edward Island Public Archives. A trans artist who settled on Prince Edward Island (PEI), Rutherford passed away in 2008. She left behind numerous artworks that have been on display at the Venice Biennale as… Read more »
Jody Mason In her incisive discussion of Elon Musk’s recent gutting of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Jill Campbell-Miller correctly assesses the move as motivated by MAGA-movement isolationism. She further notes that Musk’s actions are complicated by the fact that, for many decades, the aid paradigm has also been subject to substantive critique from those who, unlike… Read more »
