Our guest today is scholar of the military, labor, and American imperialism, Justin F. Jackson. Now a Lecturer and Visiting Scholar in the Department of History at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Justin was a tenured Associate Professor of History at Bard College at Simon’s Rock when the institution sadly closed in June 2025. He began his career as an Assistant Professor/Faculty Fellow in Global History with New York University’s John W. Draper Interdisciplinary Master’s Program in Humanities and Social Thought. A native of beautiful Jefferson, Maine, Justin received his BA from Hampshire College, an MA in History from UMASS Amherst, and his PhD from Columbia University.

Justin’s first book, The Work of Empire: War, Occupation, and the Making of American Colonialism in Cuba and the Philippines, was published by UNC Press. His articles have appeared in The Journal of American History, Labor: Studies in Working Class History of the Americas, and the Journal of Historical Sociology. Justin has been a visiting scholar at Harvard University's Weatherhead Initiative in Global History, the Center for Advanced Study at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and the Third World Studies Center at the University of the Philippines–Diliman, Quezon City. Justin’s current book project is titled Occupying America: War, Politics, and Military Government’s Rise and Fall in the United States and a Globalizing World.

Join us for a fun, uplifting chat with Justin Jackson; we'll talk about being an identical twin, Boston, watching Gettysburg as a kid, Big Papi, military labor, the Dead Kennedys, and more. He's experienced firsthand the trend of small college closures, but his positivity and passion for history are unwavering. You'll enjoy this one.

Rec.: 10/22/2026