Happy Labor Day weekend! There’s power in a union, & solidarity in my 292nd #ScholarSunday thread of public scholarly writing & work, podcast episodes, new & forthcoming books from the past week. Add more below, please share widely, & enjoy, all!
Articles:
Starting with a pair of tributes to the late Gloria Steinem: Marya E. Gates for RogerEbert.com on how Steinem was both visible & powerful; & Saturday Evening Post film critic Bill Newcott sharing a recorded conversation with Steinem about Audrey Hepburn’s character in Breakfast at Tiffany’s.
The tributes also continued this week to another lost legend, Dolly Parton: Rachel Hall-Clifford for Science Politics on how Parton can inform work in public health & model how to be a diamond in a rhinestone world; Matt Zoller Seitz for RogerEbert.com on how Parton’s life & legacy helped him appreciate his mother; & Jody DiPerna for the Pittsburgh Review of Books on why Dolly Parton of Appalachia is in the pop pantheon.
Speaking of PRoB, they also shared a pair of excellent pieces on another artist we lost this week, Wendell Berry: Jedediah Britton-Purdy on how Berry modeled the writing & perspective of a patriotic dissenter; & Michael Simms on Berry’s deep commitment to teaching people about the environment through his work & life. This week was also PRoB’s first anniversary, & they shared a series of reflections, starting with the great Michael Bérubé on the magazine & other needful things.
We’re also approaching a much more solemn anniversary, the 25th of September 11, 2001, & for National Geographic Garrett M. Graff shared an excerpt from his forthcoming work on what we get wrong about how 9/11 began (through the lens of the first 17 minutes). While for her Imperfect Union newsletter, Lindsay M. Chervinsky wrote about how a moment in the aftermath of the attacks should be connected to an important American legacy of religious freedom.
It’s also the 10th anniversary of Colin Kaepernick’s pre-game protest, & Howard Bryant reflected on that occasion in The Guardian (h/t Mark Anthony Neal).
& for the nation’s ongoing 250th anniversary, Brendan Gillis wrote for the AHA’s Perspectives on student voices & responses in both the US & Germany.
Turning to other articles, I want to start with an excellent recent one I missed, Diane Roberts in Oxford American reflecting on the meanings of home through her childhood one (h/t Jack El-Hai).
For their Dallas Observer column, Michael Phillips, Hadi Jawad, & Rick Halperin argued that a plan to demolish the city’s City Hall would erase important civil rights histories.
On a parallel but broader note, for the Philadelphia Tribune Marc Morial argued that African American Studies is the foundation of democratic movement & can’t be erased.
While for the AAIHS’s Black Perspectives, Mickell Carter interviewed John Frederick Bell about his recent article on late 19C Black women & the power of learning.
I’m enjoying the Civil War Monitor’s “Odd Civil War Photos” series, & this week they dropped the 4th such collection.
For the Chicago Reader, Grey Lucas traced the fraught history of a site that was once the steel mill South Works & is now the quantum computing megadevelopment.
Two History Workshop articles to share this week: Martin Shaw on what we can learn from 1960s mass politics & direct action campaigns; & Sascha Auerbach with a companion piece to his recent article on late-stage slavery & the colonial state in the British Crown Colonies.
While the folks at NiCHE Canada dropped five pieces this week: Sara Pilon on the natural beauty but bygone buffalo of Saskatchewan; Nancy J. Turner on climbing Mount Revelstoke with an indigenous elder; Zuzanna Sliwinska on histories of the Seine for their series on rivers as heritage; Vanessa Christman for the same series on California’s Kern River & what heritage cannot see; & L. Sasha Gora with a companion to her recent article on cod, commodities, & communities.
As the Dad of a pre-law college student, I was excited to see Laddie Miller Trithara’s Clio & the Contemporary guide for History majors in their first year of law school.
A bunch of important open-access academic publications this week, including four for Gender & History: Lauren Brown on domestic militarization & contested femininities during the 1953 Kenyan Emergency; Micaela Pattison on youth revolt, feminism, & a “new sexual morality” in the Spanish Second Republic; Moira Armstrong on the politics of Miss Wheelchair America, 1972-1977; & Christine R. Johnson on masculine honor & the conquest of Venezuela.
Available open-access for a limited time is Clara Dawson’s Victorian Studies article (linked in that accompanying piece) on avian movements in 19C natural history & poetry.
Fully open-access as always is the new issue of Jennifer Guiliano & Roopika Risam’s Reviews in Digital Humanities, this one focused on Asian & Asian Diaspora topics & guest edited by Doa Sarmad Khan.
& thanks to Anna Kornbluh for sharing an open-access PDF of her important 2023 Textual Practice article on the need for public scholarly changes to literary criticism.
Four columns from Saturday Evening Post colleagues to share this week: Jill Robbins on the historical evolution of forks & flatware, from scandalous to indispensable; Jen Rose Smith on how block parties are making a comeback & modeling the power of getting together; Tanya Roth with her latest Women’s Work column, on women firefighters from the early 20C’s Hallie Morse Daggett up to our moment; & the latest From the Archive installment, a stirring 1901 defense of higher education.
Speaking of higher ed, I’m very proud of my latest Considering History column for the Post, a first day of classes argument for the genuine goals of education (with assists from a handful of iconic early 20C reformers). While this week on my AmericanStudies blog, I shared my annual series of Fall Semester Previews! & for a very related perspective, check out Wesleyan University President Michael S. Roth’s New York Times op ed (that’s a gift link) on the real point of college.
Current Events:
Turning to current events articles, here’s another gift link to a New York Times op ed, this one from David French on Dolly Parton’s legacies in Tennessee & the world.
For NOTUS Perspectives, Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson argued that the real embodiment of our right-wing politics isn’t Mar-a-Lago face but the cinched waist.
Thanks to Kidada E. Williams for sharing an important recent piece I missed, Mark V. Barrow Jr. in The Conversation on the racial history behind “Alligator Alcatraz.”
For The American Prospect, Gillian Brockell traced the horrific stories of the individuals on one of the largest third-country removal flights thus far.
On a parallel note, Heba Gowayed wrote for The Guardian on how Trump is spending billions to deport people of color & doubling cash aid for white “refugees.”
For a broader context for these horrors, Andrea Pitzer argued for her newsletter that from detention camps to data centers, powerful people want unlimited authority.
Speaking of data centers, for the Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000 newsletter Emily M. Bender & Decca Muldowney highlighted six problems with talking about the “ethical” use of AI.
Over at the History News Network (now hosted by Bunk), Jordan Sand traced the many ways in which AI is an anti-primary source machine.
While Heidi Schlumpf wrote for Commonweal on how Leo’s anti-AI Encyclical reveals that Catholic Social Teaching is having a moment.
For a parallel threat to education, for his Minnesota Star Tribune column (that’s a gift link) David M. Perry talked with Dominique Baker about right-wing attacks on teachers & intellectual freedom.
For an example of the casualties of such attacks, here’s Quinn Daedal for her blog with a requiem for her Textile Makerspace at Stanford University.
& for an inspiring alternative to funding cuts, check out Will Beaman for Money on the Left about how the Seattle Loop offers a prototype for democratic public finance.
Gonna end with three important Liberal Currents articles: Silvaria Lysandra Zemaitis on lessons from the Civil Rights Movement for the world that Woke 2.0 seeks to build; Guillaume A.W. Attia on how what happened after 1989 led to our current crisis of democracy; & Matt Gabriele & Shaily Patel on how the Right’s assault on Religion & Humanities programs is an attack on our ability to understand the world.
Podcasts:
Starting with cultural conversations as usual, including the latest episode of the Cold War Cinema podcast, featuring Silas Nathan on Mikhail Kalatozov’s 1964 film I Am Cuba.
The new episode of Emily J. Edwards’ Silver Screen Sleuths podcast features Mindy Carlson on The Great Muppet Caper.
Episode 121 of Chris Andersen’s Your Favorite Bad Movie podcast features Dove Whether host AP on Valerian & the City of a Thousand Planets.
& for their latest TV is Good podcast episode, Alan Sepinwall & Kathryn VanArendonk interviewed Ben Kronengold & Rebecca Shaw, creators of the FX sitcom Adults.
Turning to American historical subjects, for the new episode of his Presidencies of the United States podcast Jerry Landry was joined by Joe Pascone of the Turning Tides podcast to discuss Puerto Rico’s histories.
Episode 450 of Liz Covart’s Ben Franklin’s World podcast features Delaware Tribe of Indians Cultural Education Director Jeremy Johnson on the tribe & the American Revolution.
For a culminating episode of his Stephen Foster at 200 podcast, Jason Lee Guthrie shared his own research into Foster & popular music copyright in early America.
For his That Said podcast, Michael Zeldin interviewed Lois Romano about her new book An Inconvenient Widow: The Torment, Trial, & Triumph of Mary Todd Lincoln.
Two new episodes of Alycia Asai’s Civics & Coffee podcast this week: an interview with David Conrad Pérez about his new book on the Triangle factory fire; & Alycia’s regular Saturday episode, focused on the legends & realities of Wild Bill Hickok.
The latest episode of Jacke Wilson’s History of Literature podcast features Theodore Martin on his book American Literature’s War on Crime: Novels & the Hidden History of Mass Incarceration.
Turning to more global histories, for the new episode of his American Medieval podcast Matt Gabriele was joined by Tiny Matters co-hosts Sam Jones & Deboki Chakravarti to discuss a new scientific study of the Turin Shroud.
Episode 4 of Witches—Truth, Trials, & Terrors features demonology expert Jan Michelsen on how the concept of the “witch” was invented.
Over at Cassidy Cash’s That Shakespeare Life podcast, Missy Dunaway joined to discuss her project illustrating all the birds mentioned in the plays.
For episode 111 of her Drafting the Past podcast, Kate Carpenter interviewed Lauren Working about how she uses objects to tell new histories.
For the latest episode of his Shipwrecks & Sea Dogs podcast, Rich Napolitano traced the 1927 tragedy of the Italian ocean liner Principessa Mafalda.
While over at Holley Snaith’s Say It With History podcast, Jenny Chan joined to talk about Japan’s WWII Unit 731 & the cover-up of wartime atrocities.
& for his America: The Story of the USA podcast, Liam Heffernan was joined by Thomas G. Weiss to discuss the birth & evolution of the UN.
Two new episodes of the Black Studies Podcast to share this week: John Drabinski’s conversation with Régine Jean-Charles of Northeastern University; & Ashley Newby’s interview with Yvonne Chireau of Swarthmore College.
Turning to current events conversations, Axelbank Reports History & Today featured Thomas Mullaney on his new book How We Disappear: A Personal History of Information.
For Democracy Now!, Institute of the Black World 21st Century President Ron Daniels joined to discuss the legacies of the 1963 March on Washington & the 1972 Gary Convention.
While for their The Oath & the Office podcast, John Fugelsang & Corey Brettschneider were joined by former U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade to discuss Trump’s Mafia presidency.
Two Liberal Currents conversations to share this week: the latest episode of Caitlin M. Green & Trent R. Nelson’s Half the Answer, featuring Katie Gaddini on the women of MAGA; & a new episode of Samantha Hancox-Li’s Neon Liberalism, featuring the Secretary of Defense Rock on how the extremes of Taylor Sheridan’s Lioness help explain MAGA foreign policy.
For her latest American Conversation, Heather Cox Richardson interviewed Kim Rogers, founder of the State & Local Election Alliance. While Heather’s 250 to 250 project featured a number of new shorts this week, including Aymann Ismail on North Dakota’s historic mosque, Lina Khan on the Transcontinental Railroad, Thavolia Glymph on the Emancipation Proclamation, & more!
Books:
I have to start with a book from earlier in the summer that I missed, Robert Suits’ The Hobo: A History of America’s First Climate Migrants, from Princeton University Press.
Out this week from Duke University Press is Emily Lim Rogers’ Sick Work: Exhaustion, Labor, & Invisible Illness. & also check out Julia Métraux’s Mother Jones interview with Rogers about the book.
Also published this week by the University of Virginia Press is Kenneth J. Banks’ A Sea of Possibilities: The Revolutionary Atlantic World of Captain Thomas Allen.
While out this week from Macmillan is Daniel Dockery’s I Am the Night: The Ultimate Unauthorized History of Batman: The Animated Series.
Two books out this coming Tuesday (9/8) to highlight: Jennifer de Mooy’s Water, Carbon, Time: Exploring Peatlands in a Warming World from the University of Minnesota Press; & Will Tullett’s Sniff: A History of Smells from Yale University Press.
Three books forthcoming the following Tuesday (9/15) & available for pre-order: Taj Ali’s Come What May, We’re Here to Stay: The Story of South Asian Resistance in Britain from Manchester University Press; Sara McDougall’s Justine for Jehanne: The Tale of a Medieval Survivor from Princeton; & Nikolas Bowie & Daphna Renan’s Supremacy: How Rule by the Court Replaced Government by the People from W.W. Norton (& also check out Daniel Immerwahr’s New Yorker review).
For more on upcoming September releases, check out Drafting the Past’s Kate Carpenter & Megan Kate Nelson on books they’re looking forward to.
Forthcoming on October 6 from the University of New Mexico Press is Ray E. Boomhower’s Wallace Terry: A Reporter’s Journey from Selma to Saigon to Bloods.
While out October 20 from Harvard Education Press is Barrett J. Taylor & Brendan Cantwell’s The Postliberal University: Governance, Leadership, & Partisanship in Higher Education.
For his Can We Still Govern? newsletter, Don Moynihan interviewed Annie Lowrey about her new book, The Time Tax: How the Government Wastes Our Time & How to Fix It.
While for the Pittsburgh Review of Books, Aakanksha Agarwal interviewed R.F. Kuang about her intimate new novel Taipei Story.
For the latest USIH book review, James Walvin wrote about David Singerman’s Unrefined: How Capitalism Reinvented Sugar.
For Genre, Lee Konstantinou reviewed Ben Mangrum’s The Comedy of Computation; or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying & Love Obsolescence.
& thanks to Alexander Chee for sharing a gift link to Dwight Garner’s ecstatic review of Marlon James’ new novel The Disappearers.
Made By History:
Five excellent new pieces for the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Made By History to share this week: Marcia Chatelain on the Black women of the March on Washington; Daniel K. Williams on the challenges that progressive Christian Democrats face winning over evangelicals; Margaret G. Matheson on how a new Hegseth commission risks reinforcing the gendered conceptions that have long subordinated military spouses; Addison M. Jensen on why history offers hope for the future of an independent military newspaper; & Gautham Rao on John Roberts’ incomplete but revealing tribute to William Howard Taft.
Newsletters and Blog Posts:
Gonna conclude with a bunch of great newsletters & blog posts as usual, including a stunning post from John Paul Brammer on mirrors, magic, & how your reflection is not you.
For her Love Notes newsletter, Jenn M. Jackson shared her 21st Love Note, on what we can do in our literacy & comprehension crisis.
Over at his Democracy Americana newsletter, Thomas Zimmer argued that Trump’s grievance-fueled idea of power aligns him with the Right’s ideologues.
While for his latest Campaign Trails newsletter, Kevin M. Kruse made the case for pushing GOP candidates to denounce the extremist Elon Musk.
Heather Cox Richardson’s August 30th Letter from an American was especially excellent, linking the story of Washington & the cherry tree to today’s politics.
While for her newsletter, Sherrilyn Ifill wrote about the removal of a State Department painting & the ongoing authoritarian deracialization.
Over at her America & the Lost Cause newsletter, Karen L. Cox traced the slow drip of Confederate monument removals.
Three new posts for Kevin M. Levin’s Civil War Memory newsletter to share this week: this one on how the National Park Service doesn’t support Trump’s arch; this one on Richmond’s new monument landscape; & this one contrasting Trump’s war in Iran with Lincoln’s perspective on the Civil War.
For her Well, Actually… newsletter, Ashley Best shared part two of her overview of American immigration law, & followed it up with a bonus post on myths & realities of Ellis Island.
I continue to have mixed feelings about the In Pursuit USA project (Amity Shales writing on Coolidge is a case in point), but I think the First Lady posts are excellent, including Jennifer Taylor on Florence Kling Harding & project editor Colleen Shogan on Grace Coolidge.
The latest installment of Sarah E. Bond’s Pasts Imperfect newsletter features Stephanie McCarter on the art of translation & her new book on Catullus.
For his monthly Shipwrecks & Sea Dogs newsletter, Rich Napolitano wrote about the historic loss of the 1715 Spanish Treasure Fleet.
For Osprey Publishing’s blog, Pier Paolo Battistelli shared an excerpt from his new book Florence 1944: The Allied Advance in Central Italy.
For her 21st Dispatch from the Writing Life, Theresa Kaminski shared her struggles with a single paragraph in her project on Jane Grant.
While for his Tenure Track newsletter, Etienne Toussaint wrote about our call to produce original work.
Gonna end with a series of great cultural studies posts as ever, including Howard Burton for Exploring Art History on combing the wall for frescoes.
For his Walking Distance newsletter, Riley Womack wrote about games, heroes, & Robert Coover’s novel The Universal Baseball Association.
For her Solzy at the Movies blog, Danielle Solzman reviewed the post-Lincoln assassination miniseries Manhunt.
For Bright Wall/Dark Room’s ongoing Summer Blockbusters issue, Bryan Miller traced his evolving relationship to Superman II.
While Outlaw Vern reviewed one of this summer’s most-anticipated & fun films, Coyote vs. Acme.
For her latest Review Roulette newsletter, Vaughn Joy wrote about Ronald Reagan, reception, & the legendary Dolly Parton (& friends) in 9 to 5.
& for his Academic Bubble newsletter, Dion Georgiou used Bakhtin’s ideas about time & space to conceptualize 1949’s Passport to Pimlico& post-war British film.
If you can’t get enough public scholarly goodness, check out Dion’s 67th installment of his Stop, Look, & Listen compilation.
While over at his The Way of Improvement Leads Home blog, John Fea offered his 818th Sunday Night Odds & Ends compilation.
Finally, for the start of this new semester, a couple of great resources: Anthony Letizia’s Remixing History: A Pop Culture in the Classroom Digital Archive; & a phenomenal project digitizing Sears & Montgomery Ward catalogs & wishbooks between 1930 & 2017.
PS. I’m sure I missed plenty as ever, so please share more writing, podcasts, new & forthcoming books below. Thanks, happy reading, listening, & learning, & may Labor Day be a time of rest, rejuvenation, & solidarity, all!
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