UC Press Blog

By Eline van Ommen, author of Nicaragua Must Survive: Sandinista Revolutionary Diplomacy in the Global Cold WarWhen I submitted my dissertation in 2019, my supervisor gave me the mug that had been on her desk for years. Printed on it were the red and black silhouettes of people waving rifles, fl

By Mark Levine, author of We’ll Play Till We Die and Heavy Metal IslamThe video, posted anonymously on Facebook, had only 300 views when I first saw it. The singer wasn’t named, and in fact wasn’t even in the video — the camera stayed steady on the crowd. The words supplied their own visuals: “A

From metal and hip hop, to emo in Baghdad, mahraganat in Egypt, techno in Beirut, listen to the revolutionary music of the Middle East with this playlist curated by author Mark LeVine.

Looking for inspiration in the fight for social change? Author Bryonn Bain shares a playlist of artists and hip-hop heroes who fought for change and who inspired his own activism.

By Ross Cole, author of The Folk: Music, Modernity, and the Political ImaginationIf you’ve ever watched Werner Herzog’s brilliant but harrowing film Grizzly Man, you might recall the closing song––‘Coyotes’ performed by Don Edwards. It emerges just after Herzog’s parting comment that footage

By Joshua Frens-String, author Hungry for Revolution: The Politics of Food and the Making of Modern ChileFew sounds are more closely associated with social disquiet in contemporary Chile than the rhythmic, collective banging of empty saucepans. I remember first hearing the metallic beat of t

By Corinna Zeltsman, author of Ink under the Fingernails: Printing Politics in Nineteenth-Century MexicoBehind histories of press freedom and liberal state formation in nineteenth-century Mexico lies an unexplored dimension – the printing shops and diverse laboring communities that powered print

How did the red flag become the symbol of the global labor movement?As historian Niklas Frykman argues, its origins trace back to mutinies at sea and maritime communities that were founded on a radical egalitarian spirit and an insistence on participatory democracy.In this virtual conversati