Melani McAlister
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melanimca.bsky.social
Melani McAlister
@melanimca.bsky.social
New here. Cultural historian of US-Middle East and US-Africa relations. President of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations. Yoga. Animals. Science Fiction.
Pinned
My new book, Promises, then the Storm: Notes on Memory, Protest, and the Israel-Gaza War (London: MACK books) is now available at an online megastore near you. I'd love to see more local bookstores carry it, so please consider asking yours!
Reposted by Melani McAlister
“if you cared about US foreign policy, and especially if you would like to see ordinary people staking more a claim on changing that policy, then culture was the place to start.” SHAFR President @melanimca.bsky.social in Learning the Scholar’s Craft @h-diplo.bsky.social
issforum.org/essays/PDF/E...
issforum.org
September 16, 2025 at 5:58 PM
I'm attending No Kings's event, “NO KINGS Silver Spring / Wheaton” - sign up now to join me! www.mobilize.us/nokings/even...
NO KINGS Silver Spring / Wheaton · No Kings
**In America, we don’t put up with would-be kings.** NO KINGS is a national day of action and mass mobilization in response to increasing authoritarian excesses and corruption from Trump and his allie...
www.mobilize.us
June 10, 2025 at 7:43 PM
Reposted by Melani McAlister
"But this is a blurry invasion from within, an autoimmune disorder of the state, an army of Manchurian candidates, and a zombie horror movie...."
Some Rob You with a Six-Gun/ Some With a Fountain Pen: On Civil War By Other Means
Imagine if we were at war with a foreign power that bombed most of the federal buildings in Washington, destroying the records and functions of those departments and killing millions of federal worker...
www.meditationsinanemergency.com
May 8, 2025 at 2:57 PM
For more on the firing of the members of the Historical Advisory Commitee....
A few thoughts about the decision by the trump administration to fire the state department’s Historical Advisory Commitee, and what it means for democracy. blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/20...
blogs.lse.ac.uk
May 8, 2025 at 3:04 PM
The White House terminated the entire membership of the State Department's Historical Advisory Committee, which advises the folks who produce For Rel of the US (FRUS) volumes. This is illegal, and another broadside against diplomacy and nonpartisan governance.
May 8, 2025 at 3:03 PM
4th Circuit Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III on the threat to the Constitution (and sanity) evidenced by the USG refusal to bring back K. A. Garcia. The use of the federal government to attack political enemies is already happening; rendition is apparently on the menu.
April 18, 2025 at 3:22 PM
Why Government Matters, DAY 91
US FDA suspends food safety quality checks after staff cuts reut.rs/42C4h1Z
April 18, 2025 at 2:50 PM
Reposted by Melani McAlister
Congrats to @shafrhistorians.bsky.social and SHAFR adjacent recipients of Guggenheims this year, including former SHAFR President Kristin Hoganson and @quinnslobodian.com. www.gf.org/stories/anno...
Announcing the 2025 Guggenheim Fellows — Guggenheim Fellowships: Supporting Artists, Scholars, & Scientists
Since 1925, the Guggenheim Foundation has given Fellowships to exceptional artists, writers, scholars, and scientists, empowering them to pursue meaningful work under the freest possible conditions.
www.gf.org
April 15, 2025 at 3:39 PM
On today's episode of "Better Way Late than Never," we have Harvard standing up for the right to be a university.
April 14, 2025 at 6:31 PM
Reposted by Melani McAlister
With his permission, I'm sharing Dean Treanor's response to Ed Martin's letter:
March 6, 2025 at 8:17 PM
Zoom event coming soon on the Evolution and Future of US views of Israel, focusing on a discussion of Amy Kaplan's Our American Israel, soon to be released in paper. March 6, 12:30 pm. RSVP on the link: imes.elliott.gwu.edu/events/chang...
February 20, 2025 at 5:05 PM
Reposted by Melani McAlister
For Americans over 50, if you ever wondered what it was like living through "shock therapy" in Eastern Europe in the 1990s, this is it.
February 20, 2025 at 10:34 AM
Reposted by Melani McAlister
A BIG new episode this week, as @melanimca.bsky.social joins the pod to discuss the US and the Middle East.

Listen now: open.spotify.com/episode/7ofm... #usa #middleeast #gaza #israel #hamas #ceasefire
What is America's Relationship to the Middle East?
America: A History · Episode
open.spotify.com
January 28, 2025 at 9:21 AM
A few days ago, I got to talk to about Promises, Then the Storm, plus US-ME relations more generally, with the super-neat Liam Heffernan for the podcast America: A History. The show comes out in Jan. Of course, already some things have changed: e.g. governments overthrown & new bombing campaigns.
December 13, 2024 at 3:42 PM
My new book, Promises, then the Storm: Notes on Memory, Protest, and the Israel-Gaza War (London: MACK books) is now available at an online megastore near you. I'd love to see more local bookstores carry it, so please consider asking yours!
December 12, 2024 at 6:19 PM
Reposted by Melani McAlister
The Biden/Harris Administration’s enthusiastic embrace of these war criminals and support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza is, aside from the invasion of Iraq, the most shameful foreign policy act in my lifetime. Just unrelieved cynicism, hypocrisy, and illegality.
Today, the White House welcomed Yoav Gallant, charged by the ICC with the war crimes of starvation as a method of warfare and intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population, as well as the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts. What a disgrace.
December 11, 2024 at 9:52 AM