History

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Saudi archeologist Muhammad al-Maghthawi has published a photograph of an inscription in the vicinity of Medina that seems to be the first to mention the Prophet’s third wife, `A`isha. It seems to date from the first century of the Muslim era (A. H.), and is probably from the late […]

Assyrians

When Christians First Met Muslims (Emir-Stein Center Talk)

Emir-Stein Center

Michael Penn | Emir-Stein Center | Video Clip and Transcript | – If history matters, then getting right the history of the first encounters of the world’s two largest religions—Christianity and Islam—really matters. In this fascinating video, Prof. Michael Penn, the Teresa Hihn Moore Professor of Religious Studies at Stanford University, sheds light on the […]

Climate Change

Failing Breitbart Comes for Juan Cole on Climate History and it Won’t Go Well

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – I understand that the far, far rightwing reused toilet paper that is Breitbart ran a hit piece on me today for daring question the record of Florida’s Saint DeSantis on doing nothing about carbon dioxide emissions that are sinking his state. Breitbart’s offices are in Los Angeles, which is itself […]

Archaeology

Thousands of Years of World’s Heritage Endangered in Syria, Cradle of Civilization

The Conversation

By Lubna Omar | – I used to be a Near Eastern archaeologist working in Syria. Nowadays, I am stuck in academic purgatory, observing from a great distance as the country burns, unable to help protect its history or its present. Syria sits within what’s known as the cradle of civilization. It’s part of the […]

Donald Trump

1917: The Racist, Right Wing Age of Delirium that Trump Resurrected

Tomdispatch

By Adam Hochschild | – (Tomdispatch.com) – Along rivers prone to overflowing, people sometimes talk of preparing for a 100-year flood — a dangerous surge of muddy, debris-filled water so overwhelming it appears only once a century. In our political world, we are now seeing a 100-year flood of toxic debris. The sludge washing ashore […]

Colonialism

Putting the American in Somali-American: Why does Ilhan Omar put a Scare into the US Power Elite?

Juan Cole

Reprint edition. By Juan Cole | – Trump has attempted to depict Rep. Ilhan Omar’s reformism as an expression of hatred for the US. It is not. It is a recognition of the dark underbelly of this country’s history, its entanglement in colonialism and slavery and class oppression. She makes this critique from a unique […]

Colonialism

Israel Systematically Hiding Documents Proving Expulsion, Oppression of Palestinians

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Hagar Shezaf at the Israeli newspaper of record, Haaretz [“The Land”], reveals that a secretive Israeli agency has been systematically going through the country’s archives, including local repositories, and removing and classifying documents having to do with repressive and embarrassing Israeli actions toward Palestinians and Palestinian-Israelis. One such disappeared document […]

Bill of Rights

Your Fourth of July and My Fourth of July (in the Age of Trump)

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor | (Informed Comment) | – – Revised for the the Age of Trump: Your Fourth of July is tanks in the streets. My Fourth of July is James Madison’s warning, “A standing military force, with an overgrown Executive will not long be safe companions to liberty.” Your Fourth of July is unbathed refugee […]

Feminism

Cole in Time Magazine for the Fourth of July on Lydia Maria Child and Islam

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Time Magazine does an annual feature on unsung moments in American history for their 4th of July edition. This year they asked me to submit one of the 15 vignettes. Influenced by the work of Jeffrey Einboden on Lydia Maria Child (1802-1880), I suggested as my unsung moment the 1855 […]