fresh picks: con men, anti-Indian policing, and more

Here's what I'm reading this week:

Hardeep Dhillon's new article in the Journal of American History shows how "anti-immigrant violence was a constitutive component of legal violence" in the American west showcasing striking research in British, Indian, and U.S. archives. You can follow Hardeep on Bluesky @migrantherstory.bsky.social.

James West's new article in the Journal of African American History on "The Race Racket: Black Rights, Confidence Men, and the Lives and Crimes of Z. W. Mitchell." Demonstrating how shifting media environments altered possibilities for exploitation, West tracks a Jim Crow-era Black fraudster running a fake civil rights organization across the United States and into Canada. You can follow James on Bluesky at @ejwestuk.bsky.social‬.

Brianna Nofil's "AMA about immigration detention, deportation, and how the U.S. has policed its borders" at /AskHistorians on Reddit. You can follow Brianna on Bluesky @briannanofil.bsky.social.

Anthony Grasso and Anthony Gregory tangle over liberalism in portrayals of carceral statebuilding and policy discourse as they review each other's books in Perspectives on Politics. I liked how their reviews and responses reveal some of the routine frustrations of interdisciplinary reading. Check out Grasso's book Dual Justice at UChicago Press and Gregory's book New Deal Law and Order at Harvard University Press.

bonus: this video on the origins of The Keystone Cops (h/t Adam Rose).

If you have recommendations or would like to share your new work, please email carceralhistory@gmail.com. -Melanie