#ScholarSunday Thread 302 (11/15/26)

Here it is, my 302^nd #ScholarSunday thread of great public scholarly writing & work, podcast episodes, new & forthcoming books from the past week. Add more below, please share as widely as possible, & enjoy, all!

First, a note that this past week on my AmericanStudier blog I celebrated its 16^th anniversary, leading up to a weekend post expressing my sincere thanks to just a handful of the folks whose engagement with the social media threads where I share the posts encourages me greatly in this continued work!

Articles:

Starting this week with a special piece, my friend Floyd Cheung’s modern epic poem “The Kamaliad,” published in Cultural Daily & shared with me by Floyd himself (remember you can always share contributions for the threads, by email or by tagging #ScholarSunday on Bluesky)!

Speaking of online publications, check out the newly launched Buffet magazine, which does require a subscription but is a great way to support independent journalism & writers.

For New York Almanack, Hoosac Valley Historical Society President Nelson Gillespie shared a guest post on New Yorkers at the Revolutionary War Battle of Bennington.

For Age of Revolutions, Rosemarie Zagarri wrote about George Washington’s self-crafted image as a classical republican in both war & peace.

While for the Journal of the Early Republic Panorama, Michael L. Nicholls traced some of the fascinating primary sources that he used for his recent JER article on a Utah law used to expel Black residents.

Over at Contingent magazine, Chance Bonar addressed the frequent student question about why one might pursue a career in religious studies.

Public Books shared a roundtable discussion on the 100^th anniversary of Gramsci’s imprisonment, featuring David Kalman, Nikhil Pal Singh, Robyn Marasco, Alberto Toscano, Sara Salem, & Sharad Chari.

& for his Higher Education Postcard WonkHE column, Hugh Jones wrote about a 1904 lecture on the University of London & the teaching of history.

The Urban History Association Metropole has kicked off its new “Selling the City” series with a pair of articles: Hannah Borenstein on the long history of selling Addis Ababa; & Meenakshi Nair on how a souvenir postcard reframes the city of Delhi.

Also a pair of excellent pieces for The History Workshop this week: Baris Cayli Messina on historical contexts for France’s ongoing student protests; & Arturo Zoffmann Rodriguez on the rise & fall of the Spanish Anarchists between 1868 & 1937.

Three Pittsburgh Review of Books essays to share in this section: Riona Duncan on lessons from the virtual work in the viral app game Dressmaker; Kylie Cheung on their debut novel that questions superhero tropes & their role in our stories; & Jessica Limardo on a new exhibit that commemorates ten years of the city’s Panamerica urban art project & debates over graffiti.

& four new pieces for NiCHE Canada this week: two for the ongoing “Mutual Interests” series on collaboration, including Kristin Reeves & Yue Liang on survivor voices & the unfinished disaster of the 1954 Yangtze flood; & Tierney Powell & Wenxin Zhao on their project “A Shipping Manifest” & the logistics of higher education; Sandra Faulkner for the Dwelling in Place series on poetry & place at Falling Water; & Maya Hall-Hinds tracing the histories & effects of the NORAD bunker at North Bay, Ontario.

A pair of open-access academic publications to share this week, including Morgan Le Corre Juratic, Markus Wagner, & Daniel Bischof in Political Science Research & Methods on support for undemocratic responses to protests in Germany.

While Elisabeth Kimmerle wrote for Gender & History on gender, sexuality, & migration in 1960s West Germany.

& check out a fascinating new open-access scholarly resource, Bryan Edward Stone’s Galveston Movement Immigrant Project.

Ahead of my next Saturday Evening Post Considering History column (which drops Wednesday), four columns from Post colleagues to share this week: Jill Robbins with 8 common words & phrases that come from the profession of milling; Donald Liebenson with the fascinating story of how Blake Harris got Larry David’s to participate in the writing of his new biography; Amy S. Eckert with a 100^th anniversary tribute to Route 66; & Caroline Eubanks with a history of the offshore party mecca that was Miami’s Stiltsville.

Current Events:

Following up last week’s many post-election pieces, check out Tom Zoellner in the Pittsburgh Review of Books with a dispatch from our purple country.

For reflections on another important recent election, here are Kia Lilly Caldwell & Gladys Mitchell-Walthour for AAIHS Black Perspectives on Black women’s political power & the future of democracy in Brazil.

For a vital voice in the ongoing battle for that future of democracy, check out Aaron Rupar’s Public Notice interview with the great Tim Snyder.

While for her newsletter, Sarah Kendzior made the case that an important step in that battle will be moving away from current Democratic Congressional leadership.

Turning to other current events writing, vital reporting from Aaron Gordon & Polly Mosendz in Bloomberg (that’s a gift link) on a three-year analysis of who is really using sports betting sites & what it is costing them.

For Fast Company, Zeb Larson highlighted AI’s frustrating new business model: breaking the internet & then selling the fix.

While for his newsletter, Austin McCoy complemented & added a bibliography for his recent Truthout article on the ongoing fight against Big Tech’s AI takeover.

For his newsletter, Michael Phillips wrote about what Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa needs to do to fix the destruction Greg Abbott has wreaked on Texas higher ed.

& thanks to Michael for also sharing Kelly Dearmore’s Dallas Observer column on why removing Henry Wade’s name is just the start of needed changes at Dallas County juvenile center. 

I’ll conclude this section with a pair of excellent Liberal Currents articles: Holly Berkley Fletcher on why we have to expect the Evangelical vote to return in 2028; & Silvaria Lysandra Zemaitis on the crucial fight for trans liberation & equal recognition.

Podcasts:

Starting with pop culture conversations as usual, including the latest episode of Ross Lennon’s History on Film podcast, a conversation with Justin Rawlins about all things method acting.

For his Pop Culture Basement podcast’s ongoing What About Bill? series, Mike Jamison was joined by DC Dave to discuss the comedy classic What About Bob?

While for their TV is Good podcast, Alan Sepinwall & Kathryn VanArendonk connected The Fall & Rise of Reggie Dinkins to 30 Rock.

Turning to American history conversations, episode 456 of Liz Covart’s Ben Franklin’s World podcast features Dirk Alkemade & Matthijs Tieleman on how the Dutch Republic helped win the American Revolution.

For the latest episode of Lauren Turek’s The United States at 250 podcast, student host Beck Williams talked with Ronald Angelo Johnson about his new book on the parallel revolutions across the Atlantic World.

Two new episodes of Alycia Asai’s Civics & Coffee podcast this week: a conversation with Kit Sergeant about her new historical novel, a mysterious Revolutionary War female spy, & more; & Alycia’s usual Saturday episode, this week on the life & legacy of one of my favorite American authors, Helen Hunt Jackson (whose Ramona I teach in my Honors Lit Seminar on America in the Gilded Age).

For the latest episode of Axelbank Reports History & Today, Evan interviewed Walter Stahr about his new book William Howard Taft: A Great American Life.

While the latest episode of Rich Napolitano’s Shipwrecks & Sea Dogs podcast tells the story of the 1966 Great Lakes tragedy of the freighter Daniel J. Morrell.

Episode 24 of Roman Mars’ 99% Invisible series on 100 Objects focuses on the fascinating, frustrating story of Jimmy Carter’s White House solar panels.

Turning to more global topics, for a first birthday special episode of Matt Gabriele’s American Medieval podcast, he was joined by Claire Aubin to discuss weird medieval girls in fiction.

While for Cassidy Cash’s That Shakespeare Life podcast, Mark Wallis joined to talk about everyday clothing in Shakespeare’s London.

& for the latest episode of his History of Literature podcast, Jacke Wilson talked with Edith Hall about her new book Medea: A Life.

For episode 121 of her Drafting the Past podcast, Kate Carpenter talked with Jennifer A. Jordan about the craft of hands-on history research.

While for episode 784 of his Writer’s Bone podcast, Daniel Ford interviewed Mike Sielski about his new book Going the Distance: Stallone, Philly, & the Story of Rocky.

Three new conversations for the Black Studies Podcast this week: Ashley Newby with Kelly Baker Josephs of the University of Miami’s Department of English & Africana Studies Program; John Drabinski with Hannah J. Francis of URI’s Department of Africana Studies; & Ashley with Beronda Montgomery of Grinnell College’s Department of Biology.

& two new episodes of Lauren Lassabe Shepherd’s American Campus Podcast this week: with Jason Blakely on how social science infiltrated culture, politics, & power; & with Katherine E. Rohrer on college & the new Southern woman, 1830-1930.

Turning to current events conversations, the latest episode of the Scholar Strategy Network’s No Jargon podcast features Carrie LeVan on how neighborhoods shape civic life.

For their The Oath & the Office podcast, John Fugelsang & Corey Brettschneider debated what the new Congress should do about Trump.

 

A pair of new episodes of Liberal Currents podcasts to share this week: Andy Craig joining Samantha Hancox-Li’s Neon Liberalism to break down Trump’s epic electoral defeat; & the latest episode of Caitlin M. Green & Trent R. Nelson’s Half the Answer, featuring Michae Marshall & Cecil Cicirello on the myth of the reasonable Joe Rogan.

Finally, check out a podcast conversation about shaping the next Progressive Era with two badass women, Stacey Abrams & Heather Cox Richardson.

Books:

I have to start with three publications from last week that I missed: Judy Cox’s Lady Insurrectionists: Women, Reform, & Revolution in Victorian Britain, from Verso Books; Brian Fairbanks’ Life is a Cabaret: The Amazing Story of the Real Lives Who Inspired the Iconic Musical, from Da Capo; & Carlos Alonso Nugent’s Imagined Environments: The Making of the Borderlands, from the University of California Press.

Out this week from Macmillan is James Gleick’s The Telephone: A New History.

Also published this week is Harriet A. Washington’s Renaissance Men: Agents of Medical & Cultural Modernity from Little, Brown.

Likewise out this week is Julia Pineau’s Introducing the Medieval Snail from the University of Chicago Press.

& the week’s final new publication is Illia Ponomarenko’s The Land of Tears & Hope: The Ukrainian Story from Bloomsbury.

Two books out this Tuesday (11/17) & available for pre-order: Mary-Elizabeth B. Murphy’s Policing Passengers: Black Women & the Fight Against Bus Violence from UNC Press; & Susanne E. Hakenbeck’s Crossing the Danube: Life Along a Frontier at the End of the Roman Empire from Princeton University Press.

For the University of Washington Press blog, Thomas Michael Swensen talked about his new book The Great Land: An Indigenous History of Alaska.

For Ravenous (free sign-up required), Courtney E. Smith interviewed Kathleen Burk about her new book Wine: A Global History.

While for Public Books, John Plotz interviewed Benjamin Mangrum about his new book The Comedy of Computation. Also for PB, Molly MacVeagh reviewed Jan Dutkiewicz & Gabriel N. Rosenberg’s Feed the People!: Why Industrial Food is Good & How to Make It Even Better.

Four book pieces for the Pittsburgh Review of Books to share this week: an excerpt from Nicholas Humphrey’s Why is the World So Beautiful?: Our Minds in Search of Nature’s Rhymes; an excerpt from Nicholas Carnes & Noam Lupu’s Keeping Workers Off the Ballot: How Democracy Undermines Working-Class Representation; Steven Wingate’s interview with Leah DeForest about her debut novel; & Vikram Zutshi’s review of Laura Spinney’s Proto: How One Ancient Language Went Global.

For the latest USIH book review, Steven Noll wrote about Anna Krome Lukens’s Strong State, Weak Links: Eugenics & the Southern Politics of Welfare.

While for the latest Drafting the Past review, Anne E. Marshall wrote about new books on Ulysses S. Grant from James Lee McDonough & John Reeves.

& for her 130^th Maris Review, Maris Kreizman reviewed new books from Avigayl Sharp, Priyanka Mattoo, & more.

Made By History:

A trio of important new pieces for the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Made By History this week: Mary-Elizabeth B. Murphy on why it’s vital to honor Black WWII veterans; Lloyd D. Barba & Sergio M. González on ICE’s unprecedented assault on sanctuary cities; & Tiffany Jasmin González on how Gina Hinajosa’s win is both historic & explained by history.

Newsletters and Blog Posts:

Starting with more excellent election reflections, including Thomas Zimmer for his Democracy Americana newsletter on this remarkable moment in US history.

Felicia Kornbluh wrote for her History Teaches… newsletter on why this was the “Epstein Class” election.

While for his Campaign Trails newsletter, Kevin M. Kruse highlighted the particularly striking result from Mississippi.

For her Well, Actually… newsletter, Ashley Best argued the red & blue states have almost never been as simple as that.

& for her Feminist Giant newsletter, Mona Eltahawy reflected on why we might have post-Blue Wave blues.

Two new pieces for Kevin M. Levin’s Civil War Memory newsletter this week: on the contest over Civil War memory on the eve of Gettysburg’s 50^th anniversary; & a conversation with Freedom Over Fascism’s Stephanie G. Wilson about accountability & memory.

For his Ehlers on Everything blog, Mark Ehlers paid tribute to the legendary Buck O’Neil.

For his Liberating Narratives blog, Bram Hubbell wrote about teaching the centrality of agriculture to the First Global Economy.

While for his newsletter, Chris Kempshall continued a monthlong Armistice Day series with a piece on 1918 & the end of WWI.

For her Strange & Wondrous newsletter, Surekha Davies reflected on errand avoidance & writing while human.

Over at his Declarative Imperative Interrogative Exclamatory newsletter, Brett Vogelsinger shared thoughts on his own high school reading list.

While the latest Verbum Libere newsletter wonders why we spend & borrow at the holiday & makes the case for mindful gifting.

Two newsletters from Etienne Toussaint this week: the first in a new Freedom Papers series on awakening the self; & for The Tenure Track on integrity, inheritance, & Langston Hughes’ Racial Mountain.

Gonna end with cultural studies pieces as ever, including Howard Burton for his Exploring Art History newsletter on Italy, America, & mattering.

For her History in the Margins blog, Pamela D. Toler wrote about the multiple genres captured by the word “cartoon.”

For Bright Wall/Dark Room, Zosha Millman reviewed the new film The Samurai & the Prisoner.

& for her latest Review Roulette essay, Vaughn Joy offered delightfully unhinged takeaways from her rewatch of Disney’s Snow White.

PS. I’m sure I missed plenty as ever, so please share more writing, podcasts, new & forthcoming books below. Thanks, & happy reading, listening, & learning, all!