Robin Lindley

Robin Lindley is a Seattle-based writer and attorney. He is features editor for the History News Network (hnn.us), and his work also has appeared in Writer’s Chronicle, Crosscut, Documentary, NW Lawyer, Real Change, Huffington Post, Bill Moyers.com, Salon.com, and more. He has a special interest in the history of human rights and medicine. He can be reached by email: robinlindley@gmail.com.

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• 
  Jun 5, 2020
  

  Love, Loss, and Leadership in a Time of Mass Death— An Interview with Erik Larson

  by Robin Lindley

  "Churchill also had an ability to express empathy, which was an important element in a time of war. It was not unusual to see him openly weeping at the scene of a bombing, something I can’t imagine our current president doing on any occasion, ever."

  

• 
  May 17, 2020
  

  Interview: Historian and Professor Nancy K. Bristow on the Forgotten Police Shooting of Black Students at Jackson State College

  by Robin Lindley

  "Fifty years is too long for these crimes to continue to happen, and to go unpunished by our justice system."

  

• 
  Apr 11, 2020
  

  A Conversation with Medical Historian Frank M. Snowden from Rome on COVID-19, the Situation in Italy, and the History of Epidemics

  by Robin Lindley

  Professor Frank Snowden’s sweeping chronicle of infectious disease epidemics over the past 700 years offers vivid descriptive accounts of diseases from bubonic plague, smallpox, and tuberculosis to malaria, polio, HIV/AIDS, SARS, Ebola, and more, and also details the transformation and evolution of societies ravaged by epidemics. 

  

• 
  Mar 27, 2020
  

  The Ruthless Litigant in Chief: James Zirin Paints a Portrait of Trump Through 3,500 Lawsuits

  by Robin Lindley

  American presidents before Donald Trump had some record of public achievement in politics, government or the military before they were elected. Donald Trump brought his astounding history of involvement in thousands of lawsuits to the nation’s highest office.

  

• 
  Mar 20, 2020
  

  An Interview with Mary V. Thompson on the Lives of the Enslaved Residents of Mount Vernon

  by Robin Lindley

  Mary V. Thompson brings to life a complicated history of enslaved people and their legendary owner.

  

• 
  Mar 4, 2020
  

  Interview: Acclaimed History Professor Gordon Chang on "Ghosts of Gold Mountain"

  by Robin Lindley

  Acclaimed expert in Chinese American history Professor Gordon H. Chang explores the forgotten yet momentous story of Chinese workers who built the transcontinental railroad.

  

• Dec 20, 2019
  

  Investigating Technology and the Remaking of America

  by Robin Lindley

  In her lively and extensively researched book The Code: Silicon Valley and the Remaking of America (Penguin Press, 2019), acclaimed History Professor Margaret O’Mara chronicles the story of the Valley from the wartime era of Vannevar Bush to Steve Jobs and Bill Gates to more recent innovators, such as Mark Zuckerberg, as she tackles the origins of emerging questions today about dark side of the technology. 

  

• Dec 20, 2019
  

  The Overlooked Aftermath of the Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster

  by Robin Lindley

  A Conversation with Acclaimed History Professor Kate Brown on Her Groundbreaking Book Manual for Survival: A Chernobyl Guide to the Future

  

• Dec 20, 2019
  

  Historian Ian Reifowitz on How the Race-Baiting Invective of Rush Limbaugh on the Obama Presidency Led to Trump

  by Robin Lindley

  Reifowitz's latest book traces the election of Donald Trump and the recent rise in white supremacist activity to the incendiary language of racism that the right-wing relies on to win politically.

  

• Sep 18, 2019
  

  Exploring the Curious Sources of Medieval Law: An Interview with Acclaimed Historian Robin Chapman Stacey

  by Robin Lindley

  An Interview with Acclaimed Historian Robin Chapman Stacey on Law and the Imagination in Medieval Wales and More

  

• Sep 18, 2019
  

  Historian Ian Reifowitz on How the Race-Baiting Invective of Rush Limbaugh on the Obama Presidency Led to Trump

  by Robin Lindley

  Reifowitz's latest book traces the election of Donald Trump and the recent rise in white supremacist activity to the incendiary language of racism that the right-wing relies on to win politically.

  

• Sep 18, 2019
  

  The Overlooked Story of “the Greater United States”: Historian Daniel Immerwahr Shares His Unique Perspective on American Empire

  by Robin Lindley

  From the Guano Islands to America’s widespread empire now, Professor Immerwahr shares neglected stories from the past showing how inhabitants of America’s possessions have been relegated "to the shadows," and, at various times, have been "shot, shelled, starved, interned, dispossessed, tortured, and experimented on."

  

• Sep 18, 2019
  

  Carolyn Forché: Bearing Witness to the Wounds of History

  by Robin Lindley

  A Conversation with Renowned Poet and Human Rights Activist Carolyn Forché on Her New Memoir, Mass Trauma, History, and the Plight of Refugees Today.

  

• Sep 18, 2019
  

  A History of Huntington Disease and Beyond

  by Robin Lindley

  A Conversation with Pioneering Neurogeneticist Dr. Thomas Bird

  

• Apr 15, 2019
  

  Trump’s War on Civil Rights and Beyond: A Conversation with Acclaimed Political Analyst and Civil Rights Historian Juan Williams

  by Robin Lindley

  Click here to read this interview.

  

• Apr 15, 2019
  

  The Refugee Camps of Twentieth-Century Britain—Historian Jordanna Bailkin Discusses Her Groundbreaking New Book "Unsettled"

  by Robin Lindley

  Click here to read this interview.

  

• Nov 2, 2018
  

  The Sudden Death of a Democracy: Historian Benjamin Carter Hett on the Fall of the Weimar Republic

  by Robin Lindley

  Click here to read this interview.
  

• Oct 5, 2018
  

  A Distinguished History Professor Retires—Then Goes to Art School:

  by Robin Lindley

  A Conversation with historian Nell Painter on her life in history and her “encore career” in art. Click here to read this interview.

  

• Sep 12, 2018
  

  On War and Remembrance: An Interview with Jay Winter

  by Robin Lindley

  Click here to read the interview.
  

• Aug 5, 2018
  

  Ferdinand Marcos, the FBI, and the Deaths of Two Union Activists in Seattle

  by Robin Lindley

  Click here to read this interview with Seattle attorney Michael Withey on the investigation into the assassinations of Silme Domingo and Gene Viernes, Jr. and the long quest for justice.