Norman Pollack was an American historian. He was an emeritus professor of History at Michigan State University, where he taught for most of his career. After his retirement, Pollack was a prolific essayist whose writing was informed by his scholarship in the fields of populism and social theory, but were often focused on a structural analysis of capitalism and fascism. His books included, The Populist Mind, The Populist Response to Industrial America, The Just Polity: Populism, Law, and Human Welfare, and The Humane Economy: Populism, Capitalism, and Democracy, Capitalism, Hegemony and Violence in the Age of Drones.
Pollack had a long history of engaging in civil rights and anti-war activities over the decades, that began when, at 15 years of age, he campaigned for Henry Wallace and his Progressive Party in 1948. Later, he campaigned for Adlai Stevenson in the 1950s, and in the 1960s he supported Martin Luther King. Pollack was an important intellectual voice during the late 60s, and contributed to the theoretical grounding of the New Left through his writings on American populism. After receiving his doctorate in American Civilization from Harvard University, he taught at Yale and Wayne State University before going to Michigan State where he taught from 1968 until his retirement in 1998. After his retirement from teaching, Pollack wrote essays on contemporary political matters. He would often frame these issues within the perspective of his own scholarship, which included the history of civil disobedience, socio-political alienation, and the sociology of fascism. Most of these essays, published between 2012–2017, originally appeared in CounterPunch. These later writings also displayed his activist and radical spirit, as he searched out and documented the various characteristics of what he believed was America’s descent into a new form of a neoliberal fascist state. At the time of his death in 2017, Pollack was preparing a book for publication titled Capitalism, Hegemony and Violence in the Age of Drones,and was scheduled for posthumous release.
Death
After a long battle with cancer, Pollack died on June 11, 2017 at his home in Michigan, aged 84. He is survived by his wife Nancy, son Peter, daughter-in-law Sallie, and grandchildren Maxwell, Laura and Zachary.
Political and other views
Pollack had spoken of his pride in his Jewish heritage, which materialized, in part, by "recognizing that Jewish people were in the forefront of radicalism and the arts." He was, nevertheless, critical of the society of present-day Israel, the occupation of Palestine, and what he termed the "Nazification" of the country. With regards to Zionism, the historian argued that although " has proven to be a colonialist-imperialist ideology, that was not always the case". Pollack believed his own country of the United States was fascist: "Fascism is not a dirty word, it is 21st century America. Since we live it, we should own it." He was critical of the Bush administration's program of extraordinary rendition, and said that it had "turned much of the world against America, and has created the basis for the rise of militant groups and the desire for retribution."
