A thread of the books I enjoyed this year, starting with "Revolution in Development" by @llchristyll. Her book helped me understand "economic sovereignty" as a category of agency, which reexamines the history of development & the Global South in 20th c. 1/
ucpress.edu/book/978052029… Christopher Capozzola's book "Bound By War" is excellent on the transactional exchange between labor and rights in the history of the U.S. and Philippines--how the colonized "accepted" imperialism. My review for @jacobin appeared in August. 2/
jacobinmag.com/2021/08/philip…

The Minneapolis Police Department's record of racism and police brutality has a long history. In 1945, Minneapolis mayor Hubert Humphrey tried to reform the MPD through "education." Here's a pamphlet sent to the entire MPD in 1946 encouraging police to "discuss" race. (thread) 1/ Humphrey takes office in 1945 looking to be a civil rights reformer, believing that Minneapolis could serve as a local case study for national anti-racist reform. In 1948, HH would become a leading figure on civil rights, denouncing Jim Crow at the Dem. national convention. 2/

So, I’m writing a book on Hubert Humphrey and LBJ. Like others, I read this piece by James Traub over the weekend. I re-read it; and re-read it; and then read the comments on Twitter. Here’s my thoughts: 1/
theatlantic.com/politics/archi… First problem: there’s no clear thesis--which invited confirmation bias. What stands for argument is a revival of the backlash thesis (one version) that historians have retired. Piece rests on generic history, revisiting old interpretations-- @JoshuaMZeitz tweeted about this. 2/