Here it is, my 284th #ScholarSunday thread of great public scholarly writing & work, podcast episodes, new & forthcoming books from the past week. Add more below, share as widely as possible, & enjoy, all!
No Easter Egg hunt this week, but they’ll return soon so keep your eyes peeled for that terrifying anthropomorphic bunny & your chance to earn a shout-out for you & your work at the top of a future thread!
Articles:
Gotta kickoff with some of the many great World Cup-inspired articles this week, starting with my latest Saturday Evening Post Considering History column, on why we should see soccer as an equal national pastime alongside baseball.
But that doesn’t mean we don’t have a lot to learn from the rest of the world’s version of the sport, as exemplified by Aymann Ismail in Slate on what Erling Haaland can teach us.
While for the Pittsburgh Review of Books, Mark Yakich highlighted the global social worlds of soccer that the World Cup can’t quite feature.
& George Dillard wrote for his Looking Through the Past newsletter on an under-remembered 1923 match that featured the biggest crowd in the sport’s history.
Turning to other great writing from the week, two additional excellent columns from Saturday Evening Post colleagues to share this week, including Tanya Roth’s latest Women’s Work piece on the American women who have preserved our historic sites.
While Sena Ho wrote for the Post on how telling the story of America’s Chinatowns means focusing on both community & containment, pride & pain.
Speaking of Chinese American histories, Public Books is sharing all of the great essays from Modern American History’s series “The Historical Paths to and from Wong Kim Ark,” including: this Intro to the Forum; Beth Lew-Williams on the meaning of alienage for Wong Kim Ark; Hardeep Dhillon on the struggle for the ballot box & the making of Wong; Heather Ruth Lee on Chinese merchants, the Scott Act, & legal knowledge in an era of exclusion; Anna Pegler-Gordon on documenting birthright citizenship under Chinese Exclusion; & Maddelena Marinari on two families, birthright citizenship, & family reunification for Chinese migrants in 1925.
I also have to add a couple of the places where I’ve written & talked about contexts for these histories: my first-ever Saturday Evening Post Considering History column (from January 2018!), on how immigration laws have been designed to destroy American families; & the Eighth Inning of my podcast’s first season, The Celestials’ Last Game, which focused on the young Chinese Americans who fought & won late 19C legal battles over birthright citizenship.
Philip Chivily wrote a beautiful essay for America magazine on Black Catholic life & communities before the Civil War. & I wrote about one of those communities, a congregation in Baltimore founded by Haitian refugee women, in this blog post, part of my weeklong series on American Saints.
Two excellent pieces for LitHub to share this week: Jo Scott-Coe on Kathy Leissner Whitman, the Texas Tower sniper’s first victim, & stories that go missing in the wake of tragedy; & Afsheen Farhadi on how growing up Guyanese-American in the shadow of Jonestown inspired his debut novel.
Two standalone gems for NiCHE Canada to share this week, including Jessica Linzel on the 1827 Michigan spectacle & early Niagara Falls tourism; & Gillian Der on fire truck nationalism & how to stay a hero when you lose to a fire.
& NiCHE Canada also featured a trio of pieces this week in their Canadian Heritage River series: John W. Bessai on heritage, jurisdiction, & the Ottawa River; Annabel Cowan on static boundaries, a flowing river, & rethinking heritage on the St. Lawrence; & George Moncaster with a complementary, broader transnational consideration of whether & how we can see rivers as heritage.
Three excellent pieces for the History Workshop to share this week as well: Iago Mora uncovering the history of Spain’s first trans organization; Haohao Zhang on the 18th century story of Mary Toft & the radical birth control movement; & a conversation between Lorna French, Ellie Harrison, & Kevin Lu, facilitated by Kate Dossett & Simon Popple, on how universities & archives can better support wellbeing in the engaged research projects they facilitate.
For Clio & the Contemporary, Upton Sinclair biographer Lauren Coodley wrote about Sinclair, historic homes, & memory. & the folks at Clio are also sharing the syllabus & accompanying materials for David A. Justice’s fascinating course on America in the 2000s.
Speaking of 21st century education, thanks to the Royal Historical Society blog for sharing these complicated & crucial details on history & historians found in the UK’s 2026 National Student Survey.
While the Public Domain Review featured Arnoud S.Q. Visser’s article on Montaigne, Shakespeare, & parodies of pedantry on the Renaissance stage.
That’s one of a number of open-access academic articles this week, including two essays for Gender & History: Katharina Friege on Weimar Berlin’s modern women & generational identity after 1945; & Amanda Zhang on masculinity, prostitution, & the imaginary Northwest in Chinese travel writings between 1920 and 1949.
Also open-access is Andreas Kramer for The International Journal of the History of Sport on the Edition Olympia posters & the 1972 Munich Olympics.
Likewise open-access is Samuel R. Bagenstos in SSRN (& forthcoming in The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political & Social Science) on reconstructing the Civil Rights state after democratic backsliding.
& finally, I really appreciate Feminist Studies offering an open-access version of Brittney Cooper’s must-read new article on Black feminist waymaking under fascism.
Current Events:
Building on those last two articles, lots of important current events writing this week, including Austin Stewart for the Journal of the Early Republic Panorama on the new Removal: immigration, citizenship, & the reconstruction of settler nationhood in the modern US.
For the Advocate, Christopher Wiggins movingly interviewed Roswell Encina, the gay Filipino American civic leader, photographed surrounded by Patriot Front fascists on the DC Metro.
Lawfare continued its series on the military & elections with Natalie K. Orpett, Molly Roberts, & Loren Voss on whether the statutes that prohibit military involvement in elections will be enough.
Speaking of the fascist federal government, bracing & vital The Scholarly Kitchen conversation between Karin Wulf and AHA Executive Director Sarah Weicksel on how the proposed OMB guidance revision threatens all research.
On that note, thanks to the great folks at the Scholars Strategy Network for sharing my public comment in response to those proposed changes.
Einav Rabinovitch-Fox wrote for The Guardian on the history of the red/blue iconography & the role of colors in American politics.
Lots of thoughtful takes on the Graham Platner fiasco, but I’ll share a pair from two of our most important independent journalists: Marisa Kabas for her Handbasket on the months of minimized and even ignored red flags that preceded the rape accusations; & Julia Azari for her Good Politics/Bad Politics on how insurgency politics is still identity politics.
Speaking of great independent journalism, for her Journos on Journos series Marianne Dhenin interviewed the Scottish journalist Fionn Pooler. & then Pooler shared a guest post on Dhenin’s newsletter, arguing that a Marxist economic theory explains why the coffee industry is unequal.
Three excellent pieces for Liberal Currents to share this week, including: Alan Elrod on how the birthright citizenship debate reveals that MAGA thinks of children as resources; Nathan Goldwag on why it is today’s so-called conservatives who wish to trample on individuality in service of dreams of a remade society; & Silvaria Lysandra Zemaitis on how rebuilding the civil service will be necessary to becoming the party of good government once more.
& I’ll end this section with an important (& controversial, but I would argue in the best sense of provocative & necessary) new initiative to which I was proud to add my signature: US Scholars Speak, with scholars challenging the AHA’s Palestine exception.
Podcasts:
Gonna start with continued conversations for America’s 250th, including a very special episode of Liz Covart’s Ben Franklin’s World on the Declaration at 250, featuring Robert Parkinson, Steve Sarson, Anthea Hartig, & Virginia Scharff.
For the New Books Network’s New Books in French Studies podcast, Caleb Zakarin interviewed Gregory Claeys on his new Thomas Paine: Collected Writings & Paine at the semiquincentennial.
For his America: The Story of the USA podcast, Liam Heffernan was joined by Henry Wilkinson, Head of Education at London’s Benjamin Franklin House, to talk about that iconic Framer.
For the New Books Network’s Revolutionary American podcast, Carolyn Eastman interviewed Lauren Duval about her book The Home Front: Revolutionary Households, Military Occupation, & the Making of American Independence.
While for her Civics & Coffee podcast, Alycia Asai shared the second part of her Revolution & Memory conversation with Ethan Healey. & for her regular Saturday episode, Alycia interviewed Elizabeth DeWolfe about her new book, Alias Agnes: The Notorious Tale of a Gilded Age Spy.
& over at Holley Snaith’s Say It With History podcast, Derek Baxter joined to discuss his book The Forgotten World War: The American Revolution as a Global Conflict. & here’s a recent episode of the podcast I had missed, Mary Ellen Pethel on Minnie Pearl & the hidden history of Nashville.
For the latest episode of the Green & Red podcast, James Cheney joined to discuss the Little Falls (NY) Textile Strike of 1912-13.
Turning to cultural studies conversations, C. Derick Varn welcomed two of the co-hosts of the Cold War Cinema podcast, Jason Christian & Tony Ballas, to discuss history, propaganda, & left-wing film analysis.
For the latest episode of Dan LeFebvre’s Based on a True Story podcast (on which I’ll be appearing soon!), Joshua Donahue talked about the 1990 WWII film Memphis Belle.
For their Mainely History podcast, Ian Saxine & Tiffany Link welcomed Ashley Rattner to talk about The Testament of Ann Lee & American utopian movements.
For the new episode of her Silver Screen Sleuths podcast, Emily J. Edwards was joined by Katy Watson to talk about the BBC’s Sherlock.
While for episode 8 of their TV is Good podcast, Alan Sepinwall & Kathryn VonArendonk talked the new show Elle, Hannibal, & the prequel problem.
& for the latest episode of his History of Literature podcast, Jacke Wilson discussed the legendary screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky.
Turning to current events conversations, for his Blood in the Machine podcast Brian Merchant talked about the summer of Luddites in New York with organizer Amanda Hanna-McLeer.
The latest episode of Christina Gessler’s Academic Life podcast features Hope Harvey talking about her new book Doubled Up: Shared Households & the Precarious Lives of Families.
On the Amicus podcast, hosts Dahlia Lithwick & Mark Joseph Stern talked with Sam Bagenstos & Jed Shugerman about the Supreme Court’s very bad histories.
For Liberal Currents’ Neon Liberalism podcast, host Samantha Hancox-Li was joined by Allyson Shortle to talk about the enduring power of Christian Nationalism. & speaking of Liberal Currents, Adam Gurri joined Molly Jong-Fast’s podcast to talk about their new publication The Reconstruction Papers.
Over at the New Republic’s Daily Blast, Greg Sargent interviewed Sarah Posner about the administration’s new plans to ban pregnant women from coming to the US.
While for the Center for Ballot Freedom’s This Old Democracy podcast, host Micah Sifry talked with Jennifer McCoy about polarization, lessons from Hungary, & the case for proportional representation.
& for the latest installment of Heather Cox Richardson’s American Conversations, she was joined by Scott MacFarlane of the MeidasTouch Network. & Richardson also shared the new batch of videos for the 250 for 250 project, featuring contributions from Sherrilyn Ifill, Sarah Longwell, & many more.
Books:
Out this week from UNC Press is Isabela Seong Leong Quintana’s Urban Borderlands: Multiracial Histories & Gendered Borders in Los Angeles. & speaking of UNC Press, check out this new blog post from its publicist Sonya Bonczek on takeaways from the Association of University Presses annual meeting.
Also speaking of UNC Press, forthcoming in October & now available for pre-order is Rachel A. Shelden’s The Political Supreme Court: A Forgotten History.
For coverage of another important new book, check out this Philadelphia Inquirer interview with Bryant Simon (that’s a gift link) about his For Customers Only: Public Bathrooms & the Making of American Inequality.
Over at the Pittsburgh Review of Books, Tahirah Walker interviewed Dani Janae about her new poetry collection & poetry in 2026. & PRoB also shared an excerpt from another fascinating new release, Catherine D’Ignazio & Lauren F. Klein’s Data Feminism.
While H-Net’s H-Environment network shared an open-access roundtable on Meghan Crnic’s The Beath Cure: A History of Healing on Northeastern Shores, featuring pieces from Daniel Freund, Merlin Chowkwanyun, Naomi Adiv, & Melanie A. Kiechle.
& check out the latest USIH book review, Victoria Aquilone on Nancy J. Manring’s A World of Wounds: Rebuilding a Bipartisan Environmental Movement & Cultivating Authentic Hope.
Made By History:
Five great new posts for the Inquirer’s Made By History this week, including Boston Massacre expert Serena Zabin on how standing armies are once again eroding our freedoms.
In a similar vein, Noah Shusterman wrote for Made By History on how Thomas Paine reminds us that the use of troops against colonists was the real reason for the Declaration.
Here’s Gaetano V. Della Torre for MBH on how comparing Nixon to Trump reveals the death of the GOP’s moderate wing.
While Ethan Young wrote for MBH on how the 1936 Democratic National Convention turned Philadelphia into a Democratic bastion.
& ahead of the upcoming MLB All-Star Game in that city, Seth S. Tannenbaum wondered for MBH whether the new HBCU Swingman Classic game will resonate with Black fans.
Newsletters and Blog Posts:
Gonna end with some great newsletters & blog posts as ever, including Jenn M. Jackson for her Love Notes newsletter on whether Black women are allowed to be autistic.
Over at his newsletter, Michael Phillips continued his series on the battle over Confederate monuments & its aftermath in Dallas.
For her America & the Lost Cause newsletter, Karen L. Cox shared vital analyses of the Lost Cause legacy of Mitch McConnell.
Four excellent posts from Kevin M. Levin for his Civil War Memory newsletter to share this week: this post on what 250 years of history tell us about the iconic photo of a Black woman surrounded by masked Patriot Front fascists on the Metro; two posts on Trump’s war on the Smithsonian Museum of American History, including this one on the report’s lack of substance & this one on how the museum belongs to the people; & a post collating the series that Kevin has shared on his next book project, on enslaved laborers during the Army of Northern Virginia’s Gettysburg campaign.
Speaking of the Civil War, over at his Lincoln Conspirators blog Dave Taylor shared some fascinating revelations into the historical mystery of John Wilkes Booth’s photograph.
For the latest installment of the In Pursuit newsletter, H.W. Brands wrote about Chester Arthur & how accidental leaders can grow into their positions.
For his Genius Locus blog, SAGE GRAY (Walter D. Greason) shared his latest project, on the American Negro Academy & the origins of ASALH, 1881-1933.
While for her History in the Margins blog, Pamela D. Toler shared takeaways from a visit to the traveling exhibition Americans & the Holocaust.
Two interconnected newsletters from Verbum Libere to share this week: this one on the beginnings of Greek colonization; & this one tracing Greek colonies in the Mediterranean.
Gonna conclude with some excellent cultural studies pieces as usual, including Ada Özduran for her Mangal Media newsletter on confusion, culture shock, & teaching Uncle Tom’s Cabin in Ankara.
Howard Burton of Ideas Roadshow shared some reflections on one year of his Exploring Art History newsletter.
For the Money on the Left blog, Jonathan Haynes shared some fascinating takes on what the Olivia Rodrigo/Taylor Swift feud can tell us about citations.
For the Pittsburgh Review of Books, David Shumway used the second season of The Night Manager to consider what is lost when prestige TV is binged.
For Bright Wall/Dark Room’s Double Features series, Sarah Welch-Larson put two Michael Mann films, The Last of the Mohicans & The Insider, in conversation.
Vaughn Joy’s new Review Roulette newsletter will drop in a couple days, which gives you a chance to check out her wonderful series for Mel Brooks’ 100th if you haven’t already!
Over at his Academic Bubble newsletter, Dion Georgiou analyzed Ian Fleming’s complex Cold War James Bond short story “The Living Daylights.”
& if you can’t get enough public scholarly goodness, check out the 61st installment of Dion’s Stop, Look, & Listen newsletter.
PS. I’m sure both Dion & I missed plenty, so please share more writing, podcasts, new & forthcoming books below. Thanks, & happy reading, listening, & learning, all!
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