This Week in People’s History, Jul 16–22, 2025

Two men standing at ground zero after the first nuclear bomb test
Deadly Fallout Heralds the Nuclear Age (1945), Bob Marley’s Breakthrough (1975), Hitler’s Publishing Debut (1925), Struggle Pays (2000), The Origin of Ignorance (1925), The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same (1665)

200,000 Years of Human–Neanderthal Interbreeding

For centuries, we’ve imagined Neanderthals as distant cousins. But modern humans and Neanderthals didn’t just cross paths; they repeatedly interbred, shared genes, and even merged populations over nearly 250,000 years.

Interview: Jean-Luc Mélenchon & Tariq Ali

The liberals say it’s every man for himself and the fascists say it’s everyone against the Arabs. They have their worldviews, and we, the left, must offer another way of seeing the world. That’s what we’re trying to do.

Surge in U.S. Concern About Immigration Has Abated

Record-high 79% consider immigration good for the country and support down for border wall and mass deportation.

Israeli Settlers Beat American to Death in West Bank

"If President Trump will not even put America first when Israel murders American citizens, then this is truly an Israel First administration," said one U.S. group.

What We Know About Interstellar Comet 3I/Atlas

An interstellar traveler has been discovered passing through our solar system.

Israeli Forces Deploy Deeper Into Occupied West Bank

"They are dealing with the West Bank as if the war is right here."

The Quiet Violence of Peace Deals

Trump’s Congo-Rwanda deal is hailed as diplomatic triumph. But behind the photo ops lies a familiar exchange: African resources for Western power.

Doubt on White House’s Claims About Deportees

The document from El Salvador seems to undermine a position that lawyers for the Justice Department and top Trump officials have taken time and again in front of a judge in Washington.

Clarence Thomas Ready to Attack Voting Rights Act

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has been imploring his colleagues for decades to gut a crucial part of the iconic Voting Rights Act that prohibits practices denying Blacks, Hispanics and other racial minorities an equal right to vote.
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Culture

poetry

Marat / Sade Medley

Judy Collins
In honor of Bastille Day, a medley of tunes from Peter Brooks' production of Peter Weiss's play, Marat / Sade. Sung by Judy Collins.

music

Living Life With a Purpose: Tim Sheard’s Solidarity Songs

Kurt Stand Portside
We live in an era in which, from the White House on down, meanness has become normalized, become normalized. Music can provide an antidote, reminding us of who we can be, as anyone listening to Tim Sheard’s Solidarity Songs will discover.

books

The Writer As Editor in “Toni at Random”

Gianni Washington Chicago Review of Books
"This book is not about Toni Morrison, Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-winning author," writes reviewer Washington, "but about Toni Morrison, boundary-pushing senior editor at Random House."

Labor

labor

America’s Brutal Capitalist Class Tamed Its Labor Movement

Maya Adereth Jacobin
Across Europe, trade unions have a long history of making political demands for universal health care and benefits. The unique brutality of the US capitalist class bred a labor movement that has often limited itself to being a private insurance provi

labor

The Dismantling of American Health Care

Adam Gaffney, David U. Himmelstein and Staffie Woolhander The New York Review of Books
We must resist Trump’s war on medical access and knowledge today, even as we prepare to rebuild something better tomorrow.

labor

Fight ICE. Build the Union.

Natascha Elena Uhlmann and Sarah Lazare Workday Magazine
How Labor is mobilizing to defend workers from federal raids.

Friday nite video

video

Apocalypse in the Tropics | Documentary

Apocalypse in the Tropics investigates the increasingly powerful grip that evangelical Christian leaders hold over politics in Brazil, possibly holding a mirror up to the future of the rest of the world.

video

'The House I Live In' | Paul Robeson

These lyrics were written by Abel Meeropol (who later adopted the children of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg) under the pen name Lewis Allen (1943); the music was composed by Earl Robinson. This 1947 cover by Paul Robeson includes all the original verses.