Tej Nagaraja
@tejnagaraja
historian — Cornell U. professor — book author, “Troop Movements” (2026)
August 2 is the 102nd birth-anniversary of the writer James Baldwin. Baldwin figures in my new book, TROOP MOVEMENTS — as a wartime worker in motion — and as an influence on my analysis. My book traces how ‘Greatest Generation’ WW2 workers came of age — in their paths toward “Sixties” politics…
Happy to get my first copy of TROOP MOVEMENTS from Penn Press. It looks great. It’s out in September. Pre-order it! I'll be on book tour, from Sep 2026 into 2027 — stay tuned… If you may be interested in doing a book review, podcast, interview, or book event — be in touch!
My book TROOP MOVEMENTS is out in September. You can pre-order it anywhere! I'll be on book tour from 2026 thru 2027. A couple events... *Sep 24 in NYC — Tej Nagaraja w/ Ruth Milkman + Adrian De León *Oct 1 in Baltimore — Tej Nagaraja w/ Stuart Schrader More to come — stay tuned — be in touch!
RIP Chino Garcia — NYC legend From gangs + Real Great Society organizing — to Nuyorican culture + Charas/El Bohio activism — to mentoring next generations of working-class struggles. (I feel fortunate to have met him & seen him in action, over a couple decades.) Let's keep on studying...
Checkout Penn Press's Fall catalog — with a bunch of exciting books, coming soon. My book — TROOP MOVEMENTS — is frontlisted as a Featured Title. It comes out this September. You can pre-order it, on any site. Be in touch with me — if you want to review, interview, podcast, event, etc.!
Thanks for this discussion! Valaida Snow is a fascinating figure. She's less well-known, than her contemporaries like Hazel Scott or Lena Horne. In my research, I'm amazed coming across this generation of Americas-based artists who traveled the world, even beyond Europe to Asia and Africa...
Walking around NYC, from Brooklyn to the Village to Harlem — I see glimpses of people and events that I write about. One thing I’m excited about in my new book, TROOP MOVEMENTS (Sep 2026) — is to tell a new story of Ruby Dee & Ossie Davis, from 1940s to 1960s to 2000s, from NYC to Africa and back…
It's my pleasure to work with Center for Political Education — on workshops for labor-union members & organizers. As I write about the political & intellectual history of labor and working-class movements — it's cool to bridge that, across past & present. And to connect with friends, old and new.
Who will be at SHAFR this week? On Saturday — we'll be talking about WW2 — and, about movements. Use discount code SHAFR26 to get 40% off on Penn Press books — by Nagaraja & Levy & Parrott and more!: www.pennpress.org/conferences/...
Every year around Pride, people mark 1960s events — which unleashed a new era of gender and sexual politics. In my book TROOP MOVEMENTS — I highlight 1940s origins of 1960s cross-issue movements. WW2 war-work encounters, and anti-fascist visions, set the stage… www.pennpress.org/978151282990...
{ June 1943 — Chicago Defender — Charley Cherokee's "Grapevine" column } 'Juneteenth celebrations are bigger than ever... Doxey Wilkerson is leaving OPA and Howard, to do surveys for the Communists... Boys overseas will take Freddi Washington or Lena Horne, over visiting bishops...'
This week is the American Political History Conference (APHC) — in Washington D.C. This Friday, June 5 at 10:45am — checkout our dynamic session on "The Political Legacies of the 1940s".
It’s pub week — for Steven Thrasher’s “The Overseer Class”. More than anything, our times demand we sharpen a class analysis. Having traced a Viral Underclass — now, @thrasherxy.bsky.social analyzes an Overseer Class. I just got mine... BUY THE BOOK TODAY! Thanks for your wisdom + work, Steven. 🙌
It's pub day for Steven Thrasher's book "The Overseer Class”. More than anything, our times demand class analysis. Having analyzed a Viral Underclass — now @thrasherxy.bsky.social traces an Overseer Class. If you neglected to preorder — ORDER THE BOOK TODAY! Thanks for your wisdom + work, Steven.
“The Wrong Man” (1957) — is ‘the closest Hitchcock ever came to making an art film’, according to Jonathan Rosenbaum. It’s a classic of on-location Queens cinema — influential on later criminal-punishment procedurals — and a key influence for how Scorsese shot ‘Taxi Driver’ two decades later…
In WW2, the USA said: Don't talk about it. Now I say, let's talk about TROOP MOVEMENTS — my book out this Sep. Checkout blurbs from Robin DG Kelley, Will Jones, etc—and PRE-ORDER it! www.amazon.com/Troop-Moveme... Contact me with any ideas? — RE: events, teaching it, podcasts, book-reviews… Thx!
It’s my pleasure to be visiting UC Santa Barbara, this week — talking about my 2026 book, and my ongoing research — and meeting with awesome people across disciplines at UCSB.
Who will be at the OAH historians conference in Philly? Hope to cross paths! On Friday at 10:30am — we have some dynamic scholars talking about labor and empire…
My book TROOP MOVEMENTS is coming soon. Check it out? It’s about political struggles over fascism & war, the imperial & the carceral, class & race & global freedom. www.pennpress.org/978151282990... If you might want to assign it, or review it, or preorder it — please stay tuned, or get in touch!
What politics shaped the US police/state? What does that mean for US today? 🚨📕 — “Blue Power” by Schrader Stuart has a singular approach and voice — truly vital for US to grapple with our recent history and current situation…