Down in Music City for my older son’s college Family Weekend, but y’all knew I’d still find a way to share my 294th #ScholarSunday thread of public scholarly writing, podcast episodes, new & forthcoming books from the past week. Add more below, please share widely, & enjoy, y’all!
First, for those folks not on Bluesky, I wanted to mention here that last Sunday my complementary thread tagging folks featured in #ScholarSunday got my account suspended for a time. I reflected on that experience in this Bluesky thread, which I think you can check out whether you have an account there or not.
It doesn’t seem like I’m going to be able to do that tagging thread any more, which means that I’m even more fully reliant on folks finding, reading, & sharing these threads. One very straightforward way for everyone to do that is to subscribe to them, which is free & also a great way to support this website my wife built for us!
Whether you’re able to do that or not, I’m going to need as much support & solidarity as folks are willing to give to help these threads keep getting out there, connecting to featured folks, finding audiences of all types, doing what I hope they can do. I appreciate every bit of it, & all of y’all.
Articles:
Starting this week with a trio of Pittsburgh Review of Books essays on the late, great Annie Dillard: Jody DiPerna with an overarching tribute; Vikram Zutshi on lessons from one of Pittsburgh’s own; & Jen Ashburn on Dillard’s attention to both consciousness & the physical world.
I haven’t shared ESPN stories often in this space, but Dan Wetzel’s column in response to Bo French’s hateful bigotry directed at University of Texas students is one of the week’s best pieces.
& another is the wonderful, iconic Dave Barry’s tribute to his sportswriter wife Michelle (& righteous rant about her termination).
Over at the AHA’s Perspectives, Becca Aponte shared the second of a two-part series on Africa, women, & the global history of capitalism.
While for Public Books, Hucen Sleiman wrote a bracing & moving tribute to the uninhabitable wartime front that South Lebanon has become.
Two new entries this week in the Urban History Association’s Metropole’s Graduate Student Blogging Contest: Vanessa Christman on the rain god in Monrovia & Mérida; & Maria Rose Francis on women, youth, & a media revolution in Milwaukee.
Also two excellent new pieces for The History Workshop: University of Exeter Archivist James Downs on the materials in Helen Lackner’s collection about her work in solidarity with Middle Eastern revolutions; & Hillary Belzer with a radical object analysis of Tuskegee Belle Cosmetics.
In addition to the Dillard tributes above, two more Pittsburgh Review of Books essays to share: Carnegie Mellon undergrad Cindy Gao’s wonderful, artistic final project for an Intro to Asian American Studies course; & Olena Boryshpolets on why Umberto Eco’s Six Walks in the Fictional Woods is one of the most important books of our time.
& four pieces for NiCHE Canada to share this week: Scott Berthelette reminding us that before “Lake America,” there was “Lake Frontenac”; & the three parts of Alan MacEachern & Joshua MacFadyen’s series on Prince Edward Island’s 1970s turn to energy self-sufficiency & the 1976 events in which it culminated.
While for AAIHS Black Perspectives, Mickell Carter interviewed Keidrick Roy about his Global Black Thought article on Anna Julia Cooper’s concrete universalism.
Speaking of academic articles, check out this abstract for Helen J. Knowles-Gardner’s open-access article on the Selma 29 who courageously risked conviction & far worse in 1955.
& thanks to Adam Chapman for sharing a vital new scholarly resource, the digitized Register of British Slave-Traders.
Three columns from Saturday Evening Post colleagues to share this week: Donald Liebenson on a new collection of three decades’ of conversations with the Beach Boys; Barbara Noe Kennedy on the woman & life behind the “Unsinkable Molly Brown”; & Jen Rose Smith on Massachusetts’ extensive, wonderful Whale Trail.
I’m very proud of my own new Saturday Evening Post Considering History column, a Constitution Day tribute to the even more radical & inspiring Revolutionary state constitutions.
The Pittsburgh Review of Books shared five great Constitution Day essays: Brian Soucek on treating the Constitution as a work of literature; Emma Brush on abolitionism & the legacy of Constitutional choice; Sanford V. Levinson on “e pluribus unum” & whether we are or should be one united people; Samantha N. Pinto on how Phillis Wheatley’s letters exemplify how Revolutionary women can be seen as ghostwriters of the Constitution; & Richard H. Weisberg with an argument for appreciating the role of the sacred in the Constitution.
Heather Cox Richardson’s Constitution Day Letters from an American newsletter was also a particularly eloquent & moving tribute.
& I really enjoyed Nikolas Bowie & Daphna Renan’s Boston Globe essay (that’s a gift link), adapted from their new book, on how the Constitution belongs to We the People, not nine Justices.
Current Events:
Continuing with current events articles, a number of bracing & vital pieces to share this week, starting with Amanda Moore’s crucial Mother Jones reporting on Somali Americans imprisoned at Gitmo.
Speaking of vital independent reporters, for her Handbasket newsletter Marisa Kabas traced a spate of recent revelations that highlight the GOP’s Nazi problem.
For contexts for such extremism, check out Michael Phillips, Hadi Jawad, & Rick Halperin for their Dallas Observer column on the Texas histories behind Greg Abbott’s rewarding violence.
For Book Riot, librarian extraordinaire Kelly Jensen shared a report (compiled by her & a handful of colleagues) on five years of escalating attacks on the freedom to read.
In a similar vein, thanks to SAGE GRAY (Walter D. Greason) for sharing Scholars at Risk’s 2026 report on academic freedom, “Free to Think.”
& for an excellent response to another attack on higher ed, I loved this UC Irvine resource sharing their pedagogical approaches to GenAI in the Humanities Core.
Finally, four articles from Liberal Currents to share this week: Adam Gurri’s latest Editor’s Note, on why media consolidation is more dangerous than media fragmentation; A.D. Blair on America’s moral rot in the age of Trumpism & how we can reverse it; Kevin J. Elliott’s Reconstruction Papers chapter on one such approach, reconstructing the Senate; & Zeb Larson with a fascinating suggestion for a new Federal Writers Project.
Podcasts:
Starting with pop culture conversations as usual, including the latest for Dan Lefebre’s Based on a True Story podcast, talking Top Gun with former Air Force Captain Michael Makatura.
For his America: The Story of the USA podcast, Liam Heffernan was joined by Psycho expert Stephen Rebello to discuss the film’s histories & why it remains so scary.
For the latest Silver Screen Sleuths episode, Emily J. Edwards talked with Jackie McMahon about Robert Altman’s Gosford Park.
Ross Lennon’s History on Film podcast kicked off its third season with Daniel Dockery on his new book about Batman: The Animated Series.
While for their latest TV is Good episode, Alan Sepinwall & Kathryn VanArendonk linked the new season of Slow Horses to Alias.
Turning to more historical subjects, episode 451 of Liz Covart’s Ben Franklin’s World podcast features T.H. Breen on David Henley’s court-martial & the American Revolution on trial.
For her Civics & Coffee podcast, Alycia Asai interviewed Jim Rasenberger about his new book on the friendship between John Adams & Thomas Jefferson. & Alycia’s latest Saturday episode is a deep-dive into one of the subjects I’ve thought about the most, the Chinese Exclusion Act.
For another episode of America: The Story of the USA, Liam Heffernan talked with Adam Burns about the multifaceted story of William Howard Taft.
For the latest episode of his Shipwrecks & Sea Dogs podcast, Rich Napolitano was joined by his brother, Ralph E. Napolitano, to talk about the 1952 wreck & Coast Guard rescue of two tankers off Cape Cod.
While for the latest episode of her Say It With History podcast, Holley Snaith interviewed Pam Gadd about bluegrass, the Grand Ole Opry, & the sound of the city in which I’m finalizing this thread, Nashville.
Turning to more global subjects, for the latest episode of Matt Gabriele’s American Medieval podcast Stephen Yeager joins to discuss medieval dungeon crawling.
Episode 5 of the Witches—Truth, Trials, & Terrors podcast has dropped, & features Marion Gibson on her new book Witchland & who you call if you’ve been bewitched.
Episode 113 of Kate Carpenter’s Drafting the Past podcast features Tai S. Edwards & Charlee Huffman on their co-authored new project Shokhi: A Kanza Relative, A Monument, & Rematriation.
While for the New Books Network’s LGBTQ+ Studies podcast, Niall Herron interviewed Tom Hulme about his book Belfastmen: An Intimate History of Life Before Gay Liberation.
The latest episode of Jacke Wilson’s History of Literature podcast features Hadley Suter about their new biography of Stendhal, as well as Jacke’s literary tribute to Dolly Parton.
Three new episodes of the Black Studies Podcast to share this week: Ashley Newby in conversation with Shana L. Redmond of Columbia University; John Drabinski’s talk with Yveline Alexis from Oberlin College; & Ashley’s interview with Earl Brooks of UMBC.
Turning to current events conversations, Democracy Forward’s Skye Perryman joined John Fugelsang & Corey Brettschneider’s The Oath & the Office podcast to talk about the Supreme Court’s surprising & important decision on the mail-in voting case.
While Greg Sargent joined Samantha Hancox-Li’s Neon Liberalism podcast to talk about why the midterms will be a referendum on MAGA>
Books:
Three important new book publications this week, including Taj Ali’s Come What May, We’re Here to Stay: The Story of South Asian Resistance in Britain from Manchester University Press.
Also out this week from Princeton University Press is Sara McDougall’s Justice for Jehanne: The Tale of a Medieval Survivor.
While out now from W.W. Norton is Nikolas Bowie & Daphna Renan’s aforementioned Supremacy: How Rule By the Court Replaced Government By the People.
Out tomorrow (Monday 9/21) from the University of Chicago Press is Bryant Simon’s For Customers Only: Public Bathrooms & the Making of American Inequality.
& four books forthcoming on Tuesday (9/22): Kelly Lytle Hernández’s Racist by Design: Two Centuries of U.S. Immigration Control from W.W. Norton; Richard Kurin’s History by a Hair: Thomas Jefferson, Sally Hemings, & Solving a 200-Year-Old Mystery from Penguin Random House; Marion Gibson’s aforementioned Witchland: A Deadly Moral Panic in Seventeenth-Century Britain from Simon & Schuster; & Sara B. Pritchard’s Transforming Night: The History & Science of Light Pollution from the University of Washington Press. & thanks to Sara for sharing this accompanying LitHub piece of hers!
Forthcoming in November & now available for pre-order from NYU Press is Anya Jabour’s important Matters of Sex: Katharine Bement Davis & America’s First Sexual Revolution.
Thanks to the folks at the Legal History Blog for sharing an excerpt from Gautham Rao’s new book White Power: Policing American Slavery.
The Pittsburgh Review of Books likewise shared a fascinating excerpt this week: Pauletta Hansel from her book Understory: A Women’s History of Appalachia. & also check out Michael R. Allen’s PRoB review of Andrew Santa Lucia, Daniel Jonas Roche, & Lane Rick’s new book Antifascist Architecture.
For NICHE Canada, Mary Baxter interviewed Thomas G. Andrews about his new book The Great Horse Flu: A Forgotten Contagion & the Fate of Reconstruction America.
While over at her History in the Margins blog, Pamela D. Toler interviewed Mary Lisa Gavenas about her book Selling Opportunity: The Story of Mary Kay.
For Public Books, Patricia Lawrence interviewed Felecia Russell about her book Amplifying Black Undocumented Student Voices in Higher Education. & also for Public Books, Nora Shaalan reviewed Rachel Cusk’s new novel Life of M.
& for the latest USIH book review, Naida García Crespo wrote about Michael Staudenmaier’s White, Black, Brown: Becoming Puerto Rican in Chicago.
Made By History:
Three important new pieces for the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Made By History this week: Niveditha Senthilvel on the colonial policing roots of today’s data politics; Christine Adams on what French Revolution gender histories remind us about the significance of “culture wars”; & John Kenneth White on how Trump might admire Teddy Roosevelt but isn’t following TR’s lead.
Newsletters and Blog Posts:
Gonna end with a bunch of great newsletters & blog posts as usual, including Christopher Newfield’s 56th blog Liner Note, on how the AI industry is dumping its knowledge crisis on humanity.
For his Ehlers on Everything blog, Mark Ehlers wrote about the dilemma all us football fans face in light of new CTE studies.
Two new posts for Kevin M. Levin’s Civil War Memory to share this week: an examination of the realities of Trump’s impacts on the Smithsonian to this site; & an update on the release of & responses to his new biography of Robert Gould Shaw.
Also two new posts for Ashley Best’s Well, Actually… newsletter this week: the fourth part of her very basic history of immigration laws, this time focused on the explosion of visas; & an analysis of what Mamdani & Teddy Roosevelt have in common.
While for her Imperfect Union newsletter, Lindsay M. Chervinsky highlighted the four factors George Washington used to grant pardons & how they offer a template for reform today.
Over at Sarah E. Bond’s Pasts Imperfect newsletter, Jeremy Simmons talked about his new book on ancient Indian Ocean trade networks.
While for his Gaming the Past blog, Jeremiah McCall wrote about the value of complex gameplay in the classroom & beyond.
& over at his The Tenure Track newsletter, Etienne Toussaint wrote about safety, legitimacy, Audre Lorde’s poetry, & the words he wouldn’t say.
I’ll conclude with great cultural studies pieces as ever, including Matthew Teutsch for his Interminable Rambling Medium column on mapping William Gardner Smith’s The Stone Face.
For Bright Wall/Dark Room’s ongoing issue on Midlife Crisis, Frank Falisi wrote about the fascinating comedy The ‘Burbs.
As part of his Summer of 96 retrospective series, Outlaw Vern shared a very timely review of The Island of Dr. Moreau.
For NICHE Canada, Bethany Henderson offered an examination of sirens, mermaids, & the male imagination from Homer to Nolan’s Odyssey.
While for Sententiae Antiquae, Joe Goodkin penned a bard’s review of Nolan’s film.
As always, I can’t share Odyssey pieces without shouting-out Vaughn Joy’s awesome Review Roulette take on the film. & for her latest Review Roulette, here’s Vaughn’s feminist approach to Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.
Can’t get enough public scholarship? Check out the nice 69th installment of Dion Georgiou’s Stop, Look, & Listen compilation newsletter!
PS. I’m sure Dion & I missed plenty as ever, so please share more public scholarly writing, podcasts, new & forthcoming books below. & remember that now more than ever, I need your help getting these threads & all this great work out there. Thanks, & happy reading, listening, & learning, y’all!
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