Ed Gitre
@edgitre.bsky.social
Father of 2 amazing boys, husband, historian, educator, school board member, digital scholar, director of https://americansoldierww2.org. Working on a book on the battle over Jim Crow in the US Army in WWII. Opinions my own.
Reposted by Ed Gitre
Exciting news (well we think so)! We are looking for new people to regularly contribute to our archive!
We accept applications from anyone based in the UK who has an interest in sending us their thoughts and opinions about life in the UK.
#Skystorians
massobs.org.uk/write-for-th...
We accept applications from anyone based in the UK who has an interest in sending us their thoughts and opinions about life in the UK.
#Skystorians
massobs.org.uk/write-for-th...
Write for the archive - Mass Observation Archive
Writing for Mass Observation You can apply to write for the archive here. Current Observers If you are one of our current Observers you may find our handbook for new Observers helpful. This has all th...
massobs.org.uk
September 15, 2026 at 8:30 AM
Exciting news (well we think so)! We are looking for new people to regularly contribute to our archive!
We accept applications from anyone based in the UK who has an interest in sending us their thoughts and opinions about life in the UK.
#Skystorians
massobs.org.uk/write-for-th...
We accept applications from anyone based in the UK who has an interest in sending us their thoughts and opinions about life in the UK.
#Skystorians
massobs.org.uk/write-for-th...
Reposted by Ed Gitre
Please enjoy this piece I wrote for @currentaffairs.bsky.social about the history of defending Black history, and the lessons it offers today:
www.currentaffairs.org/news/black-h...
www.currentaffairs.org/news/black-h...
How to Defend Black History
Since the era of Reconstruction, Black historians have always fought to defend the truth against white supremacist mythology. In the second Trump administration, we must again.
www.currentaffairs.org
August 31, 2026 at 2:00 AM
Please enjoy this piece I wrote for @currentaffairs.bsky.social about the history of defending Black history, and the lessons it offers today:
www.currentaffairs.org/news/black-h...
www.currentaffairs.org/news/black-h...
If you've not read the "Federal Relations Strategy Quarterly Report" prepared for the AHA by Thorn Run Partners you really ought to. I found it an illuminating if also bracing read. 🗃️
chronicle.brightspotcdn.com
September 8, 2026 at 5:23 PM
If you've not read the "Federal Relations Strategy Quarterly Report" prepared for the AHA by Thorn Run Partners you really ought to. I found it an illuminating if also bracing read. 🗃️
This is very true, though our history shows that White folks can go too far themselves. Violent White resistance to any form of integration in the 1940s backfired, ultimately, making it all but impossible for the federal gov't to continue supporting Jim Crow. White supremacists don't always win.
The end of Reconstruction and the rise of Jim Crow depended upon the exact type of elite consensus that non-white folks had gone too far in calling for equality, that we are living through.
It does not bode well for the future, even if the GOP is routed in the next couple of elections.
It does not bode well for the future, even if the GOP is routed in the next couple of elections.
I think part of the pundit crack-up has been that they missed the big call of their lifetimes about which was the bigger threat to America: wokeness or authoritarianism. And rather than admitting that, they are doubling down on wokeness, while ignoring an authoritarianism that does not threaten them
August 14, 2026 at 2:34 PM
This is very true, though our history shows that White folks can go too far themselves. Violent White resistance to any form of integration in the 1940s backfired, ultimately, making it all but impossible for the federal gov't to continue supporting Jim Crow. White supremacists don't always win.
I recently learned that FDR's administration also used tax incentives on high corporate taxes to achieve policy aims, using amortization to underwrite the staggering expansion of physical facilities needed to prepare for and wage WWII.
Who could have known that taxing the extremely rich would be an easy way to fund a massive expansion of the welfare states?
Who, I ask, who?
Who, I ask, who?
August 10, 2026 at 6:11 PM
I recently learned that FDR's administration also used tax incentives on high corporate taxes to achieve policy aims, using amortization to underwrite the staggering expansion of physical facilities needed to prepare for and wage WWII.
The accumulation of failures, I would add, is making a full-scale ground invasion all the more improbable. There was lots of chatter in MAGA circles about reviving a draft. Tellingly, not anymore.
🧵Can't get numb to this: in the Iran War, we have a total vacuum of leadership in the Pentagon and State Dept amid a strategic disaster of America's own making. Two pieces show how: first, Hegseth blaming Trump's bad info on near-empty missile stockpiles on a deputy. wapo.st/4hQVTF0 1/
Trump, Hegseth clashed at Camp David over Iran missile depletion concerns
At a Camp David summit this weekend, President Trump demanded answers from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over extreme munitions shortages.
wapo.st
August 7, 2026 at 2:42 AM
The accumulation of failures, I would add, is making a full-scale ground invasion all the more improbable. There was lots of chatter in MAGA circles about reviving a draft. Tellingly, not anymore.
True. Still WWII provides a counterpoint. The service vote in '42 was negligible, est. 0.5% of the eligible vote. MS Sen. Eastland rightly viewed the military absentee ballot plan in '44 a threat to white supremacy in the South. In the pres. election 2.8 million service votes were cast that year. 🗃️
I wrote this for HNN back in 2020 when Trump was trying to have absentee ballots including military votes thrown out b/c he thought he might win if they weren't counted. The US has a long history of disfranchising the military. TX disfranchised anyone who joined the military until the 1950s. 🗃️
July 22, 2026 at 4:43 PM
True. Still WWII provides a counterpoint. The service vote in '42 was negligible, est. 0.5% of the eligible vote. MS Sen. Eastland rightly viewed the military absentee ballot plan in '44 a threat to white supremacy in the South. In the pres. election 2.8 million service votes were cast that year. 🗃️
Reposted by Ed Gitre
www.cambridge.org/core/books/c... So our Cambridge History of War and Society is out and available! My co-editor Jennifer Keene and I are so appreciative of all our authors—see list in the image. We’re very proud of this volume and it’s because of all the incredible scholars who contributed.
July 17, 2026 at 1:51 PM
www.cambridge.org/core/books/c... So our Cambridge History of War and Society is out and available! My co-editor Jennifer Keene and I are so appreciative of all our authors—see list in the image. We’re very proud of this volume and it’s because of all the incredible scholars who contributed.
Congratulations 🎊 @zooniverse.bsky.social on reachng this monumental milestone!
I got so close to getting the screenshot 😂 @zooniverse.bsky.social but we’ve officially reached:
1 BILLION CLASSIFICATIONS!!!!!
1 BILLION CLASSIFICATIONS!!!!!
June 29, 2026 at 7:23 PM
Congratulations 🎊 @zooniverse.bsky.social on reachng this monumental milestone!
Despite my feelings about the @nytimes.com, this is refreshing perspective on the animalistic impulses juicing America's techno-military imperialism. Thank you @scottsandage.bsky.social for spreading the word. Jackson is again in fine form.
“Americans have been obsessed with the pursuit of vitality for centuries, often characterizing it as the expression of animal spirits, a current of energy or life force that is morally neutral,” says Jackson Lears, in a typed Q&A with Times Opinion.
Opinion | This Is What’s Behind Trump’s Relentlessness
“Animal spirits” and American presidents.
nyti.ms
May 2, 2026 at 11:55 PM
Despite my feelings about the @nytimes.com, this is refreshing perspective on the animalistic impulses juicing America's techno-military imperialism. Thank you @scottsandage.bsky.social for spreading the word. Jackson is again in fine form.
"LEDO, ASSAI, INDIA-1st It Robert F. Higgins of Newton Highland, Texas, voting officer for the QM battalion (Mob) delivering federal ballots to men of that battalion, while S/Sgt Dennis Smith of Jacksonville, Florida casts his vote. (U.S. Signal Corps Photo from Bureau of Public Relations) 11-10-44"
April 30, 2026 at 8:49 PM
"LEDO, ASSAI, INDIA-1st It Robert F. Higgins of Newton Highland, Texas, voting officer for the QM battalion (Mob) delivering federal ballots to men of that battalion, while S/Sgt Dennis Smith of Jacksonville, Florida casts his vote. (U.S. Signal Corps Photo from Bureau of Public Relations) 11-10-44"
Reposted by Ed Gitre
See the new issue of History of Social Science, just published! Half the articles are free, including @brad.bolman.com’s account of Bruno Latour’s blocked appointment at the Institute for Advanced Study and Chas Camic’s short bio of Veblen’s Theory of the Leisure Class muse.jhu.edu/issue/56614
Project MUSE - History of Social Science-Volume 2, Number 1, Winter 2026
muse.jhu.edu
April 17, 2026 at 1:27 AM
See the new issue of History of Social Science, just published! Half the articles are free, including @brad.bolman.com’s account of Bruno Latour’s blocked appointment at the Institute for Advanced Study and Chas Camic’s short bio of Veblen’s Theory of the Leisure Class muse.jhu.edu/issue/56614
Listen to this episode. I am biased, but judge for yourself.
Every historian has one: the project that didn’t pan out.
In this episode of #HistoryinFocus, historians dive into their experiences of abandoned histories and what they imagine could be gained by bringing these things into the light.
Listen to the episode here:
In this episode of #HistoryinFocus, historians dive into their experiences of abandoned histories and what they imagine could be gained by bringing these things into the light.
Listen to the episode here:
Abandoned Histories
Danna Agmon, Carmen Gitre, Sue Peabody, Christy Pichichero, David Sartorius, and Bianca Premo dive into their experiences of abandoned histories and what they imagine could be gained by bringing these...
www.historians.org
April 17, 2026 at 4:28 PM
Listen to this episode. I am biased, but judge for yourself.
I'm so pleased our article on combat stress in WWII is now out, using data from americansoldierww2.org.
One key finding: 62% of surveyed combat veterans in the Pacific Theater exhibited enough psychological distress that they would have been disqualified from induction.
doi.org/10.1177/2156...
One key finding: 62% of surveyed combat veterans in the Pacific Theater exhibited enough psychological distress that they would have been disqualified from induction.
doi.org/10.1177/2156...
April 14, 2026 at 1:19 PM
I'm so pleased our article on combat stress in WWII is now out, using data from americansoldierww2.org.
One key finding: 62% of surveyed combat veterans in the Pacific Theater exhibited enough psychological distress that they would have been disqualified from induction.
doi.org/10.1177/2156...
One key finding: 62% of surveyed combat veterans in the Pacific Theater exhibited enough psychological distress that they would have been disqualified from induction.
doi.org/10.1177/2156...
Does World War II -- the "lessons," the institutions, the commitments, the sacrifices, the people who served, endured and died--matter anymore?
April 7, 2026 at 4:52 PM
Does World War II -- the "lessons," the institutions, the commitments, the sacrifices, the people who served, endured and died--matter anymore?
Reposted by Ed Gitre
This guy steals all Nixon’s ideas. His threats are straight out of the Nixon’s “Madman Theory.” It did not work with Vietnam. It will not work with Iran. It’s like none of the lessons from the past 60 years of American war are ever learned.
April 7, 2026 at 3:14 PM
This guy steals all Nixon’s ideas. His threats are straight out of the Nixon’s “Madman Theory.” It did not work with Vietnam. It will not work with Iran. It’s like none of the lessons from the past 60 years of American war are ever learned.
And so it goes
This is how you end up in a quagmire. Constant band aids and “just one more small escalation” that never ends. The fact is that they have never provided a coherent explanation for why we started this war and now they are trapped while the one ally we went to war with…
The Pentagon is preparing for weeks of ground operations in Iran, U.S. officials said.
It would fall short of a full-scale invasion and could involve raids by a mixture of Special Operations forces and conventional infantry troops, said the officials.
It would fall short of a full-scale invasion and could involve raids by a mixture of Special Operations forces and conventional infantry troops, said the officials.
March 29, 2026 at 4:25 PM
And so it goes
Reposted by Ed Gitre
Another great pair of papers from @abbyswhitlock.bsky.social and @edgitre.bsky.social at #SMH2026, on Army Talks and GI Roundtables, and segregation and desegregation in the SWW respectively.
March 28, 2026 at 7:31 PM
Another great pair of papers from @abbyswhitlock.bsky.social and @edgitre.bsky.social at #SMH2026, on Army Talks and GI Roundtables, and segregation and desegregation in the SWW respectively.
Reposted by Ed Gitre
Happy St. Patrick's Day, New York.
March 17, 2026 at 3:23 PM
Happy St. Patrick's Day, New York.
Astute summation from @vermontgmg.bsky.social.
"Instead, we have a government that has been repeatedly surprised by the most basic and foreseeable consequences of its own actions."
I keep thinking of Eisenhower as well, and of Marshall.
"Instead, we have a government that has been repeatedly surprised by the most basic and foreseeable consequences of its own actions."
I keep thinking of Eisenhower as well, and of Marshall.
Donald Trump is surprised at how poorly the Iran War is going — but the news media is covering all of this uncertainty and sham-handedness as if it’s all part and parcel of a normal conflict. Every article needs to start leading with: Trump is lost at sea.
www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/trump-surp...
www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/trump-surp...
Trump Surprised To Find He's At War in Iran
Once his not-even-half-baked plan failed to materialize in Iran, it’s clear that there’s no Plan B.
www.doomsdayscenario.co
March 13, 2026 at 8:06 PM
Astute summation from @vermontgmg.bsky.social.
"Instead, we have a government that has been repeatedly surprised by the most basic and foreseeable consequences of its own actions."
I keep thinking of Eisenhower as well, and of Marshall.
"Instead, we have a government that has been repeatedly surprised by the most basic and foreseeable consequences of its own actions."
I keep thinking of Eisenhower as well, and of Marshall.
The US will pay the price. Some families have paid the ultimate price already.
Latest in @theatlantic.com . Much like Putin in 2022, Trump did not seem to realize that the enemy has a say in how a war turns out. The US seems to have started this war thinking Iran would not react effectively. I hope it does not pay the price. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
Why Trump Didn’t Plan for the Strait of Hormuz
In wartime, the enemy always gets a vote.
www.theatlantic.com
March 13, 2026 at 7:55 PM
The US will pay the price. Some families have paid the ultimate price already.
Reporting from two weeks ago said that only about half of these expeditionary units were sufficiently prepared to forward deploy.
March 13, 2026 at 7:44 PM
Reporting from two weeks ago said that only about half of these expeditionary units were sufficiently prepared to forward deploy.
Indeed a lesson hardly if ever learned. Certain WWII British officials urged the carpet bombing of German population centers because, they opined, it would break civilian morale. They asserted this after the German blitz had failed to break the morale of ... you got it... the British populace.
Gen. Grynkewich: "What I've observed over the course of studying air power in history is that any time you attack a civilian population, you usually end up finding that it just hardens their resolve."
March 12, 2026 at 6:09 PM
Indeed a lesson hardly if ever learned. Certain WWII British officials urged the carpet bombing of German population centers because, they opined, it would break civilian morale. They asserted this after the German blitz had failed to break the morale of ... you got it... the British populace.
One of the NEH grants I know well, a Library of Virginia WWII digitization project. Why was it flagged DEI? "Digitizing and making discoverable the WWII separation notices can provide accessibility to historical records, promoting inclusivity and diverse perspectives in humanities research." 😠
March 11, 2026 at 12:15 PM
One of the NEH grants I know well, a Library of Virginia WWII digitization project. Why was it flagged DEI? "Digitizing and making discoverable the WWII separation notices can provide accessibility to historical records, promoting inclusivity and diverse perspectives in humanities research." 😠