Amidst this fraught, contested, deeply American holiday weekend, we need more than ever all the public scholarly goodness in my 297th #ScholarSunday thread. Add more writing & work, podcasts & conversations, new & forthcoming books below, please share widely, & enjoy, all!
First, a quick note about this holiday: I learned from students in my adult learning class that current New Hampshire state law requires cities/towns to call it Columbus Day. Well, I’m in Massachusetts, but also & in any damn case: here in Casa de AmericanStudier it’s Indigenous Peoples’ Day & always will be.
Articles:
Starting with articles for the sites from which I always draw multiple great pieces for my threads, including a pair of new entries in the Urban History Association Metropole’s Graduate Student Blogging Contest: Deborah Wolfson on memories & landscapes of the historical battles lost in New York City; & Sara Naghibizadeh on Victor Gruen & urban renewal in Knoxville.
Also two important new essays for The History Workshop this week: Andy Drummond on colonial capitalism & the forgotten of the Indian Ocean’s St Paul island; & Paul van Trigt on how we can & must rethink human rights through cognitive disability.
Three excellent articles for the Pittsburgh Review of Books to share in this section: Andrew Lanham tracing how literary culture has renewed the Constitution; John MacNeill Miller on the golden age magazine Weird Tales & the dilemma of defining weird fiction; & Molly Guptill Manning on Ray Trautman & the innovative WWII Armed Services Editions.
& likewise a trio of thoughtful pieces for NiCHE Canada this week: Vivian Lamoureux on photojournalist Rosemary Gilliat Eaton & the preservation of environmental heritage in Nova Scotia; Nicole Miller introducing her new edited series Dwelling in Place; & Harrison Croft introducing another new series, on “uncharismatic” species in environmental history.
Turning to other great essays from the week, here’s Alexander Lee for Aeon on how 16th-century Venice created the world’s first Jewish ghetto.
Raffaele Sindoni wrote for Public Books on the history of Southern California’s Orange County & whether the river can debate the suburb.
Here’s Derrick P. Alridge for AAIHS’s Black Perspectives on how 20th century Black teachers used style as pedagogy.
Vital op ed in The Guardian from Morgan Ofori on why teaching schoolchildren about Britain’s role in the transatlantic slave trade can’t remain optional. & on a distinct but related note, here’s that paper’s obituary for the groundbreaking historian of Africa John Iliffe.
Fascinating JSTOR Daily post from Livia Gershon on how a government campaign transformed pad thai from a simple noodle dish into a symbol of Thailand’s national identity.
Jacob Bruggeman wrote for the OAH’s Process on Abbie Hoffman, the Yippies, & the revolutionary politics of phone phreaking.
Thanks to Longreads for sharing David Alm’s beautiful essay on Southwest Virginia’s 90th annual Old Fiddler’s Convention.
& for so many bracing & beautiful essays, check out the Fall 2026 issue of Hammer & Hope, featuring Lisa Armstrong on the fascist occupation of Memphis, a conversation between Namwali Serpell & Marlon James, & much more.
A trio of columns from Saturday Evening Post colleagues to share this week: Jill Robbins on how the early 20C Harvey Girls were not just an image, but an adventurous community; Greg Tasker on the humble Selma home where a couple sheltered an icon & altered America; & film reviewer Bill Newcott on a visit to the quintessentially American community of Cooperstown.
Speaking of baseball histories, I’m really proud of my latest Saturday Evening Post Considering History column, on three 1926 championships & how baseball reflects the worst & best of America.
Current Events:
Turning to current events articles, here’s Andrea González-Ramírez for The Cut (that’s a gift link) on how the “Cornell Seven” case highlights why colleges still (intentionally) fail to address sexual violence.
Important work from Anna Kornbluh for Art in America on the Bicentennial & how defunding the arts has wrought our state of civic disintegration.
Josh Lambert & Dan Sinykin wrote for Jewish Currents on what PEN America got wrong about antisemitism in publishing.
For UC Berkeley News, Jason Pohl interviewed Brian Christian about his newly published research into the destructive effects of even minimal AI use on our ability to persist at hard things.
& on that note, for his Blood in the Machine newsletter Brian Merchant highlighted how California has passed the strongest AI labor laws to date.
Heather Cox Richardson’s Letters from an American newsletter is always a must-read, but I especially enjoyed her October 3rd installment on the Power to the People music festival in DC.
& four Liberal Currents articles with which I’ll conclude this section: Silvaria Lysandra Zemaitis on why trans people must concede nothing in the fight for rights & existence; Joseph Stieb on how Sarah Longwell’s new book is grounded in a false history of the GOP; Adam Rust’s chapter from The Reconstruction Papers, on the return of Constitutional politics; & editor Adam Gurri’s latest column, on the approaching next great test of American democracy.
Podcasts:
Starting with pop cultural conversations as usual, including the Peculiar Book Club Podcast’s Davey Berris & Darren Cross on the groundbreaking Requiem for a Dream.
For his History on Film podcast, Ross Lennon interviewed Vincent Haddad about his new book Next Time on Dragon Ball.
Over at the Pop Culture Basement podcast, Mike Jamison was joined by Henry Bernstein to discuss HELP! & the Beatles on film.
& for their TV is Good podcast, Alan Sepinwall & Kathryn VanArendonk discussed the new East of Eden adaptation & the classic Lonesome Dove one.
Turning to more American historical subjects, episode 452 of Liz Covart’s Ben Franklin’s World podcast features Timothy Compeau, Bonnie Huskins, & Kacy Tillman discussing how everyday Loyalists experienced the Revolution.
For his Axelbank Reports History & Today, Evan interviewed Sharon & Christopher Leahy about their new book Presidentess: The Life of First Lady Julia Gardner Tyler.
Over at the Stephen Foster at 200 podcast, Jason Lee Guthrie talked with Cody Ebright-Jones about the Kentucky summer musical The Stephen Foster Story.
For episode 116 of her Drafting the Past podcast, Kate Carpenter interviewed Thomas Andrews about his new book The Great Horse Flu, the revision process, & more.
& two new episodes of Alycia Asai’s Civics & Coffee podcast this week: a conversation with David Walbert about his new book Stealing Elections, American Style; & the usual Saturday episode, this week a Spooky Season special focused on Alfred Packer, the “Colorado Cannibal.”
Turning to more global subjects, for the latest American Medieval podcast episode Matt Gabriele traveled to NYC’s The Cloisters to talk with Julia Perratore & Joanne Pillsbury about the new exhibition Creatures of Myth & Imagination.
Over at his Shipwrecks & Sea Dogs podcast, Rich Napolitano traced the tragic 1941 story of the HMAS Sydney, Australia’s worst naval disaster.
The Norton Library Podcast has kicked off a new series on Wuthering Heights with a conversation with editor Deborah Lutz.
While for Public Books’ Novel Dialogue podcast, Meg Reid & Will Evans joined Mesha Maren to discuss indie presses & the literary ecosystem.
& a trio of new episodes of the Black Studies Podcast to share this week: John Drabinski talking with Charrise Barron of Harvard University’s Music Department; John’s conversation with Logan Shanks of Berkeley’s Department of African American & Diaspora Studies; & John with Natanya Duncan of Queens College’s Africana Studies Department.
Concluding this section with current events conversations, including two for Lauren Lassabe Shepherd’s American Campus podcast: Nicole Bedera on what colleges don’t do about sexual assault; & Phillip Levine on the secret story of tuition discounting.
Over at their The Oath & the Office podcast, John Fugelsang & Corey Brettschneider interviewed Rep. Ted Lieu about why the midterms matter so much.
For the Center for Ballot Freedom’s This Old Democracy podcast, Micah Sifry talked with Spencer Overton about what democracy reformers need to be doing now.
While for Liberal Currents’ Neon Liberalism podcast, Samantha Hancox-Li talked with Mike Sacks about how we have to approach Supreme Court reform.
& for the Posting Through It podcast, Greg Sargent joined to discuss our current system of taxpayer-funded white nationalism.
I have to end this section with a particularly timely two-part conversation for James Crossland’s History’s Devils podcast, featuring Jayne Friend on the rise & fall of televangelist Jim Bakker.
Books:
Two important scholarly books published this week, including Sarah Marsh’s Novel Constitutions & the Making of Race: A Literary & Legal History of Slavery in the Anglophone Atlantic, 1688-1818, from Oxford Academic.
& also out this week (& available open-access from Liverpool University Press) is David Cooper’s Reading Place Writing: Geography, Form, Immersion, 2010-2020.
Forthcoming on Tuesday (10/13) from Rutgers University Press is Helene Meyers’ English Majors at Work: Career & Life Pathways.
For MPR News, Jon Collins talked with Brian Goldstone about his important recent book There is No Place For Us: Working & Homeless in America.
Over at LitHub, Emily St. James & Lauren Theisen shared an excerpt from their new book Every Time a Bell Rings: The Legacy of It’s a Wonderful Life, America’s Most Beloved Holiday Film. & LitHub also featured two reading lists this week: Keri Leigh Merritt with five essential books on women in the early Civil Rights Movement; & James Folta on what to read after you see the Bayeux Tapestry.
For Public Books, Nathan Motulsky reviewed two distinct but interconnected books: Robin Myers’ new translation of Gabriela Cabezón Cámara’s We Are Green & Trembling; & Greg Grandin’s America, América: A New History of the New World.
For the latest USIH book review, Lauren Lassabe Shepherd wrote about Sarah Lindemann’s A Radical Anthropologist: The Trials & Triumphs of Kathleen Gough.
While for the Pittsburgh Review of Books, Jeffrey Condran reviewed Adriana E. Ramirez’s memoir The Violence: My Family’s Colombian War. & also for PRoB, Fred Shaw shareds testimonies from editors, writers, & readers about the city’s Autumn House Press.
Newsletters and Blog Posts:
One of the week’s best pieces was Dilek Sayedahmed on the economics of sexual violence, misogyny, & the costs women absorb.
In a similar vein, Felicia Kornbluh wrote for her History Teaches… newsletter on the Cornell case & why we shouldn’t dare to be surprised.
Over at OpenCulture, Colin Marshall highlighted how Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels imagined machines writing books & producing knowledge 300 years before GenAI.
For her Strange & Wondrous newsletter, Surekha Davies wrote about resisting AI, teaching with her book HUMANS: A Monstrous History, & other spooky season reads.
While for his Campaign Trails newsletter, Kevin M. Kruse highlighted Trump’s questionable Operation: Albatross midterm strategy.
& over at her Well, Actually… newsletter, Ashley Best broke down some of our myths about political parties, past & present.
A trio of posts for Kevin M. Levin’s Civil War Memory newsletter to share: a tribute to the newly opened African American Civil War Museum in DC; his most recent book group conversation, a history of Reconstruction through five books; & the announcement of a new series, Historians Off the Cuff with the Tattooed Historian, John Heckman.
For his The Birth of a Capital blog, Neil Flanagan sarcastically thanked Herbert Hoover for giving the National Park Service so much control over DC.
While for her America & the Lost Cause newsletter, Karen L. Cox used the story of mid-20C physician & civil rights activist William Montague Cobb to discuss the “Confederate Disease.”
Two interconnected new posts from Bram Hubbell for his Liberating Narratives blog: this one on what paintings reveal about Portugal’s role in the First Global Economy; & this one on using maps to teach the causes of that economy.
Speaking of historic maps, for his Looking Through the Past newsletter George Dillard highlighted an 1873 map of Sinai.
Over at his Genius Locus blog, SAGE GRAY (Walter D. Greason) offered a historical analysis of human freedom through themes of language & the sacred.
While for the latest Verbum Libere newsletter, they discussed disease, occupation, & neutrality on the WWI Eastern Front.
For his The Tenure Track newsletter, Etienne Toussaint wrote about identity, certification, & Zora Neale Hurston’s gatepost.
Over at his Avian Americana newsletter, Chris Cantwell highlighted the places we bird & the histories behind them.
While for her 22nd Dispatch from the Writing Life, Theresa Kaminski discussed the revision process for a chapter in her Jane Grant biography.
Gonna conclude with great cultural studies pieces as always, starting with the conclusion of Howard Burton’s Exploring Art History series on three hidden treasures.
Over at the Movies Silently blog, they reviewed the fascinating pre-WWI 1911 silent film The Military Air-Scout.
For Public Books, Viviana Freyer reviewed a new film adaptation of a very challenging book to adapt, Camus’s The Stranger.
Two film essays for the Pittsburgh Review of Books this week: Sean Murphy on how Travis Bickle is the representative American, whether we like it or not; & Brian Lambert on why despite flopping at the box office, Digger won’t be forgotten long.
As I’ve said before, Outlaw Vern is at his best when he reviews films that really hit in our moment, & he did that this week with the rape-revenge horror thriller M.F.A.
& for a very different Spooky Season piece, check out Vaughn Joy’s latest Review Roulette, a hilarious revisit of Hocus Pocus!
PS. I’m sure I missed plenty as ever, so please add more writing, podcasts, new & forthcoming books below. Thanks, happy reading, listening, & learning, &–that’s right, right-wing snowflakes in the New Hampshire state legislature, read it & weep—happy Indigenous Peoples’ Day weekend, all.
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