For your holiday weekend reading & reflection, here’s my 259th #ScholarSunday thread of great public scholarly writing, podcasts, new & forthcoming books from the past week. Add more below, share as widely as possible, & solidarity, all!
Articles:
Starting with some of my favorite writing from the week, including Colin Dickey’s fascinating Atlas Obscura essay on the rebirth of Centralia, Pennsylvania’s infamous burning town.
Terry Lickona wrote for Oxford American magazine on the ongoing story of Willie Nelson, Austin City Limits, & “The Live Music Capital of the World.”
Fun stuff from Norm Ellstrand (Nathan Ellstrand’s Dad!) for The Raincross Gazette on how an early 20th century postman’s discovery transformed California agriculture & made Hass the king of avocadoes.
Here’s Victor Luckerson for Smithsonian magazine (with photos by Rashod Taylor) on the striking story of Samuel Green, the formerly enslaved man turned Underground Railroad conductor who was imprisoned for owning a copy of Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
Two new pieces this week for the Urban History Association’s Metropole blog’s January collaboration with the Network in Canadian History & Environment, including Sam Grinsell on Grimsby’s dock tower & the entanglements of infrastructural relations.
While Carmen Gilmore wrote for the Metropole/NiCHE collaboration on how the Saskatoon Natural Grasslands can teach lessons about less & preservation.
Over at the Journal of the Early Republic’s Panorama, Melanie Rush wrote about her recent article on the New York Supreme Court in the Early Republic & why historians should read primary sources together.
Speaking of historians working together, the folks at the Council on Foreign Relations polled members of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations on the 10 best & 10 worst foreign policy decisions in US history, with fascinating results.
Four open-access academic articles to share this week, including Susannah Eckersley for Rethinking History on the value of the “undisciplined” in Critical Museum Studies.
Likewise open-access is Charlotte Ann Legg & Briony Neilson for The Journal of Pacific History on settler colonial dynamics in Australia’s New Caledonia.
Also open-access is Margaret Carlyle & Marcia D. Nichols for Gender & History on how Victorianists sought to go beyond the mysteries of the female reproductive interior.
Finally in this selection of open-access articles is Eleanor Newbigin & Sarah Tucker for Transactions of the Royal Historical Society on a pedagogical case study for teaching history inclusively.
Speaking of pedagogical reflections, I’m very glad that Contingent magazine was able to publish Oline Eaton’s two-part essay on contingent teaching in the early Covid semesters (which had been part of a collection that fell through).
Three columns from Saturday Evening Post colleagues to share this week, including Andrew Rihn on three lesser-known Jack London stories to help commemorate the author’s 150th birthday.
Nancy Rubin Stuart wrote for her Missing in History Post column on Maria Mitchell, the groundbreaking astronomer who became the first woman elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.
While Tanya Roth wrote for her Women’s Work Post column on the 50th anniversary of The Bionic Woman’s pilot & how the show redefined women on TV.
Speaking of The Bionic Woman, its anniversary was one of a couple that led to my weeklong blog series AmericanStudying 60s & 70s TV shows that start with “B”!
& I can’t mention the blog without also sharing my newest Guest Post, a very special & timely new comic from Walter D. Greason & Tim Fielder entitled Dearly Beloved.
Current Events:
That comic focuses on the horrific unfolding situation in Minnesota, which also was the subject of a number of vital current events public scholarly pieces from the week, including Samuel Freedman for Liberal Currents on the return of 1930s Nazis known as “the Silver Shirts.”
Important reporting from Candice Norwood for 19th News on how the murder of Renee Nicole Good reflects ICE’s increasing, largely untracked violence against women.
For his latest New York Times column (that’s a gift link), Jamelle Bouie argued that the Minnesota occupation in the only card an increasingly desperate Trump can play.
While for The American Prospect, David Dayen argued that the people-powered resistance movement in Minneapolis is a vital model for such resistance everywhere.
Turning to other current events, Madiba K. Dennie wrote for Balls and Strikes on the history of anti-trans bigotry that Supreme Court Justices like Amy Coney Barrett don’t want to talk about.
For TechPolicy.Press, Matthew Kirschenbaum argued that X’s AI bot Grok is an epistemic weapon & needs to be responded to as such.
For the debut of her Echoes in the Quad column for Inside Higher Ed, Dominique J. Baker explores the echoes of the McCarthy era in the stifling of academic freedom today.
Important essay from Jesse Washington for ESPN’s Andscape on the Pittsburgh Steelers’ former coach Mike Tomlin & the challenge of being a Black coach in America’s whitest metro area.
& for the Union of Concerned Scientists’ The Equation blog, Dylan Spaulding highlighted how January 14th marked an important milestone in the unfolding nuclear testing moratorium.
Podcasts:
I have to start this week’s podcasts section with an important recent one that I missed, Shipwrecks & Sea Dogs’ 100th episode on history’s deadliest shipwreck.
Turning to podcast episodes from the past week, here’s the latest for Kelly Therese Pollock’s Unsung History, featuring Marion Orr on Congressional Black Caucus founder Charles C. Diggs Jr.
For episode 83 of Kate Carpenter’s Drafting the Past, Renata Keller joined to talk about wrangling twenty different countries’ narratives & keeping space for herself in her new book on the Cuban Missile Crisis.
The new episode of the Presidencies of the United States podcast features David T. Beito on his new book on FDR’s life in politics.
Over at the New Books Network’s Literary Studies channel, host Alix Beeston interviewed Sarah Dowling about her book Here is a Figure: Grounding Literary Form.
For episode 67 of the Sheela Na Gig podcast, Pamela Toler joined to discuss her book on her personal Sheela, the WWII reporter & “Dragon from Chicago” Sigrid Schultz.
While for the 50th episode of Neils Eichhorn & Andrew Houck’s War of the Rebellion podcast, Sarah K.M. Rodriguez joined to discuss her book One National Family: Texas, Mexico, & the Making of the Modern United States, 1820-1867.
Over at Alycia Asai’s Civics & Coffee podcast, she continued her Gilded Age series with part 2 on the presidency of Rutherford B. Hayes.
The latest episode of the Cold War Conversations podcast focuses on why the US invaded the small Caribbean island of Grenada in 1983.
For the Engelsberg Ideas podcast, host Alastair Benn was joined by Leo Damrosch to discuss his new book Storyteller: The Life of Robert Louis Stevenson.
While the new episode of Ross Lennon’s History on Film podcast kicks off a “Class Notes” series with Josie Torres Barth on teaching Film & Media History.
& episode 42 of Sabrina Mittermeier & Torsten Kathke’s In Front of Ira podcast focuses on the Matthew Perry romantic comedy Fools Rush In.
Turning to current events conversations, at the What’s Next podcast host Mary E. Harris interviewed Jonathan M. Katz about Trump’s imperial designs on Greenland.
The latest episode of John Fugelsang & Corey Brettschneider’s The Oath & the Office focuses on Trump’s occupation of Minnesota & white-grievance politics.
On a similar note, over at their This Ain’t It podcast Melissa & Matthew Teutsch discussed ICE, fear, & the politics of terror.
For the latest episode of the Infinite Women podcast, Lisa Baer-Tsarfati joined to discuss linguistic gender bias in AI.
The folks at the End of Sport podcast have started a new series, Out of Left Field, which debuted with this episode on the machinery of state violence & the complicity of the “protect women’s sports” movement.
For her Freedom Over Fascism podcast, Stephanie G. Wilson interviewed Project 2112 founder Heather Cronk on how to reach 15 million ex-evangelicals.
While for the Whiplash podcast, co-hosts Maxwell Kuzma & Emma Cieslik discussed queer liberation theology in a time of state violence.
& speaking of Kuzma, he was interviewed for the first episode in the 18th season of The Francis Effect podcast on current events from a Catholic perspective.
Two conversations for the ongoing 250th anniversary of the U.S. to share this week, including Kevin M. Levin for his Civil War Memory talking with John Garrison Marks about planning for anniversary commemorations.
While Liz Covart of Ben Franklin’s World interviewed Institute for Thomas Paine Studies Director Nora Slonimsky on the anniversary of Paine’s Common Sense—which I also wrote about for my latest Saturday Evening Post Considering History column.
& I’ll end this section with two exciting new podcasts, including the first episode of the aforementioned NiCHE’s new Mountain Stories, Mountain Futures featuring Alexandra Cotofana on the mountains of Romania.
While the folks at Contingent magazine are now sharing audio versions of their essays in podcast form, starting with my wife Vaughn Joy reading her excellent article on Frankenstein.
Books:
I have to start the books section with another recent one that I missed, the December publication of Radical Jewish Politics: A Global Perspective, from editors Nathaniel Deutsch, Alma Rachel Heckman, & Tony Michels for Rutgers University Press.
Out this week from UNC Press is Kylie M. Smith’s long-awaited Jim Crow in the Asylum: Psychiatry & Civil Rights in the American South, which is also available open-access here thanks to the Emory Center for Digital Scholarship.
Also out this week from the University of Georgia Press is Alexander D. Hyres’s Protest & Pedagogy: Charlottesville’s Black Freedom Struggle & the Making of the American High School (a book of particular interest to this AmericanStudier who went to Charlottesville High!).
& finally, out from Bloomsbury this week is Celebrating Women in Legal History: Making & Shaping a Discipline from editors Lorren Eldridge, Emily Ireland, & Caroline Derry.
Forthcoming on January 27 from Harvard University Press is Mélanie Lamotte’s By Flesh & Toil: How Sex, Race, & Labor Shaped the Early French Empire.
Also forthcoming on January 27 from Harper Collins is Brooke N. Newman’s The Crown’s Silence: The Hidden History of the British Monarchy & Slavery in the Americas.
One more January 27 publication to highlight, Jamila Michener & Mallory E. SoRelle’s Uncivil Democracy: How Access to Justice Shapes Political Power from Princeton University Press.
While out on February 1 from UNC Press is the 2nd edition of Karen L. Cox’s magisterial No Common Ground: Confederate Monuments & the Ongoing Fight for Racial Justice.
For the latest USIH book review, Naida García-Crespo wrote about Marla A. Ramírez’s Banished Citizens: A History of the Mexican American Women Who Endured Repatriation.
While for The Reconstruction Era, Patrick Young reviewed Tim Galsworthy’s The Republic House Divided: Civil War Memory, Civil Rights, & the Transformation of the GOP.
& for her History in the Margins site, Pamela D. Toler reviewed Joanna Scutts’s Hotbed: Bohemian Greenwich Village & the Secret Club that Sparked Modern Feminism.
For the LA Review of Books, Almah LaVon interviewed Maria Pinto about her new book Fearless, Sleepless, Deathless: What Fungi Taught Me About Nourishment, Poison, Ecology, Hidden Histories, Zombies, & Black Survival.
Over at her Love Notes newsletter, Jenn M. Jackson shared that the paperback of her Black Women Taught Us: An Intimate History of Black Feminism is now available.
While on her website, Theresa Kaminski shared reflections on her 2025 reading lists, featuring posts on both fiction & nonfiction.
& thanks to Courtney Thorsson for sharing the fascinating new 42 Books/42 Years exhibit from Indiana University’s History of Black Writing project, featuring contributions from Derrick R. Spires & Kinohi Nishikawa among others.
Newsletters and Blog Posts:
Gonna end with a bunch of great newsletters & blog posts as usual, starting with John Warner for his The Biblioracle Recommends on Renee Good & the lies meant to demoralize.
For his latest Democracy Americana newsletter, Thomas Zimmer wrote about that murder & the violent, authoritarian essence of Trumpism.
While over at her newsletter, Sarah Kendzior wrote about life, death, & the rampage of ICE in our shining mausoleum on a hill.
& for her newsletter, Sherrilyn Ifill offered vital thoughts on some measures those of us not in Minnesota can all support & take this week.
Turning to other current events, for his French Reflections newsletter David A. Bell dissected the Dumb-roe Doctrine.
For her Charlotte’s Web Thoughts newsletter, Charlotte Clymer highlighted why Trump was very wrong to pick a fight with Jerome Powell.
Over at the News & Reviews newsletter, Bri Lee shared reflections on the Adelaide Writers Week boycott after Randa Abdel-Fattah was uninvited from presenting.
While for his new America: The Story of the USA newsletter, Liam Heffernan offered some predictions on what we can expect in 2026.
Turning to more historical subjects, for his Campaign Trails newsletter Kevin M. Kruse shared his latest Work in Progress material from his next book, this time on 1960s attempts to rewrite history.
The January installment of Sarah E. Bond’s Pasts Imperfect newsletter features a vital essay from Joseph A. Howley on the AI industry’s myth of inevitability.
For her History in the Margins site, Pamela D. Toler wrote about the prolific early 20C inventor Beulah Henry, AKA “Lady Edison.”
For his Matt’s Historical Ephemera newsletter, Matt Eaton highlighted the Second World War’s fraught beer shortage.
The January 14th installment of Heather Cox Richardson’s Lettes from an America was an especially poignant & pointed one, on the anniversary of the ratification of the Treaty of Paris that ended the Revolution.
For her Civics & Coffee newsletter, Alycia Asai wrote about what the 1876 Centennial Exposition can tell us about celebrating America’s birthday in interesting times.
Two new installments of Max Perry Mueller’s wonderful More America project to share this week, including his 1780s piece on Joseph & Molly Brant & his 1790s one on Judith Sargent Murray.
Also two excellent newsletters from Etienne Toussaint this week, including for Freedom Papers on the inner work of liberation & for The Tenure Track kicking off a series on building a writing pipeline that works.
For his The Big Quiet newsletter, my FSU colleague Steve Edwards offered a reflection on writers’ motives.
I’ll end with some wonderful cultural studies work as ever, including Dylan Davidson for Mid Theory Collective on Zohran Mamdani, Bob Dylan, & the collective tendencies of folk music.
I really enjoyed Gregory Ellwood’s The Playlist interview with Clint Bentley on his excellent new film Train Dreams.
For Bright Wall/Dark Room’s ongoing What Is to Be Done? Issue, Oscar Ortega Morales wrote about La Cocina & America’s green light.
While for her latest Review Roulette newsletter, Vaughn Joy offered a fun but very timely textual analysis of Dear God’s parable of the have-nots.
Finally, I’ll end with Eric Rauchway’s beautiful blog tribute to his late colleague Dan Howe.
PS. I’m sure I missed plenty as ever, so please share more writing, podcasts, new & forthcoming books below. Thanks, happy reading, listening, & learning, & once again with feeling, solidarity my friends!
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