The new school year is almost upon us, but summer isn’t quite done, & neither are the summer #ScholarSunday threads! Here’s my 290th of public scholarly writing & work, podcast episodes, new & forthcoming books from the past week. Add more below, share widely, & enjoy, all!
Let’s add some late-summer fun with another Easter Egg hunt—head over to my Bluesky timeline to check out this week’s clue, & respond to that post with the answer to earn a shout-out for you & your work atop next week’s thread!
Articles:
Starting this week with a number of excellent Black Studies pieces, including Roshan Abraham in the latest issue of Hammer & Hope on June Jordan’s lost land reform novel (h/t SAGE GRAY).
For her Reading Notes site, Lisa Diedrich wrote about encountering James Baldwin’s The Evidence of Things Not Seen in Christina Sharpe’s Ordinary Notes.
Thanks to the folks at LitHub for sharing the legendary Ishmael Reed’s reflections on the 50th anniversary of his magisterial postmodern historical novel Flight to Canada.
For a historical example of such flights from enslavement, check out Destini Ambus for the Austin Free Press on when Mexico was a “North Star” to Texas slaves.
For a contemporary legacy of those histories, here’s Laura Martín Agudelo for Science on a new study linking slavery to the mortality gap between Black & white Americans.
& on a similar note, The Body’s Ace Robinson interviewed the awesome Oni Blackstock on why talking about race is required if we’re going to truly end HIV.
Turning to other great articles from the week, over at the Texas State Historical Association site Brandon Seale added a new piece on the history & legacy of the Lipan Apache tribe.
For his Pittsburgh City Paper column, David S. Rotenstein wrote about the beer caves that used to dot the city’s hillsides.
Over at the Erie Reader, Jonathan Burdick traced the tragic & telling story of Norman Morrison, the Quaker who self-immolated in front of the Pentagon in 1965.
For art as a form of resistance, check out sculptor Charlotte Richardson-Deppe & critic Abigail Dahlke for the Mid-Theory Collective on Death Rattles, an exhibit of “soft guns for a dying empire.”
While Kim Kelly wrote for Teen Vogue about how teens have been on the front lines of the labor movement for more than a century.
A pair of interesting Sports Studies articles to share this week, including Megan Armstong’s debut for Wide Left on what our love of football means for our understanding of mortality.
Here are Jen Ramos Eisen & Frankie de la Cretaz for Defector on the frustrations & hope offered by the new Women’s Pro Baseball League.
& speaking of sports studying, if you haven’t yet checked out Diamond in the Rough, season two of my Baseball, Bigotry, & the Battle for America podcast, please do & share your thoughts!
For the AHA’s Perspectives, Justine Truc shared the second part of her two-part series, this one on questions of historical authority & collective memory for a French educator in the US.
Two compelling History Workshop articles to share this week: Lauren Brown on colonial Kenya & the politics of visibility; while Marybeth Hamilton interviewed Rosa Campbell about her new book on 1970s radical feminism & the politics of orgasm.
Four excellent new articles for NiCHE Canada this week: Carmen Concilio on not losing sight of either trees or forests in analyzing Canada’s beauty & complexity; editor Jessica DeWitt interviewing filmmaker Devon Rumpel about the history of the Meewasin Valley Authority logo; John W. Bessai on Mill Creek, Treaty 6, & the environmental making of South Edmonton; & Dagomar Degroot introducing a bracing & vital new website, After2C, which will trace histories of the future after global warming.
& speaking of important new digital resources, check out Eugenic States: A Contextual Archive, curated by Gianna May Sanchez, Jacqueline D. Wernimont, & Alexandra Minna Stern.
Five open-access academic publications to share this week, including Maurice J. Casey for Gender & History on Ireland & the early Anglophone lesbian press, 1965-1980.
Also for Gender & History, here’s Sameera Chauhan on the “prostitute” & Britain’s fighting arm in 19th-century colonial Punjab.
For Peace & Change, Amy J. Rutenberg wrote about military peace activism in the wake of the Vietnam War.
While Justin Colson wrote for The London Journal on digital mapping & spatial technologies in historical research.
& likewise open-access is a full special issue of Social History of Medicine, focused on medicine, science, & imperialism & edited by Sam Goodman & Sarah Arens.
Finally, three articles from Saturday Evening Post colleagues to share this week: Barbara Noe Kennedy on the famous Victorian traveler Isabella Bird; Teresa Bitler with a look back at a century of commercial air flight; & Einav Rabinovitch-Fox’s latest Common Threads column, on how the heat wave of 1936 led to the emergence of shorts.
Current Events:
I have to start this section with a handful of the week’s many thoughtful responses to the Jason Arday tragedy: Koritha Mitchell for her blog on seeing Black scholars targeted & noticing what too many miss; Karen Attiah for her Golden Hour newsletter on the old machinery of anti-Black terror in the algorithmic age; Ibram X. Kendi arguing in The Emancipator that the media lynched Jason Arday; Anthea Butler for MSNOW on the race science hucksters who piled on to the Arday attacks; & thanks so much to Christina Sharpe for sharing a beautiful website created by Leila Lai & populated by Arday’s former students collecting all that was good about him.
For a broader perspective on the tragedy, here’s Jill Damatac in British Vogue on how racism pushed her out of her PhD program at Cambridge.
For parallel debates in the US, I really appreciated this Drift magazine essay from Tyler Austin Harper’s Bates University colleague Andrew Baker offering a different perspective on racism & academic labor.
& I’m similarly grateful for David Hollingshead in Defector offering a stirring defense of humanists & the Humanities.
For one of our moment’s many attacks on the Humanities, check out Annie Ma & Konstantin Toropin’s AP reporting (featuring the expertise of Matt Gabriele & others) on how military base schools are putting a new emphasis on “Western Civilization” & Christianity.
For another of those threads, see Marianne Dhenin’s new newsletter on how a new California law is leading to censorship in LA school districts.
A handful of vital pieces this week in response to one of our biggest anti-education trends, genAI programs: Emanuel Maiberg’s 404 Media reporting on a shipment of rare books that ended at an Amazon AI training facility; Dana Goldstein for the New York Times (that’s a gift link) on what students lose when they stop writing; Edward Dunsworth for Active History with notes from the field on teaching against AI; John Plotz in Public Books on how he learned to fear AI; & finally, an inspiring Boston Review piece featuring a conversation with Robinson Meyer, Nicholas Rabb, Astra Taylor, & Lily Hu on the local & collective movements modeling backlash to data centers.
For their latest Dallas Observer column, Michael Phillips, Rick Halperin, & Hadi Jawad used Trump’s bulldozing of its historic site to make the case for our better remembering the Porvenir massacre.
For the Scholars Strategy Network, Daniel E. Macallair, Carina Gallo, & Gabriel Singer highlighted the need to repurpose America’s surplus juvenile detention facilities.
For her Balls & Strikes column, Madiba K. Dennie traced how the Supreme Court kicked off America’s sports betting addiction crisis.
For The Guardian, Jesse Hassenger argued that Hayden Panettiere is the latest casualty of Hollywood’s failure to care for its child stars.
& for his Minnesota Star Tribune column (that’s a gift link), David M. Perry argued that recent electoral results reveal that our biggest & best ideas are coming from the left.
Gonna end this section with four excellent Liberal Currents pieces from the week: John Banks on how “civiizationist” thinking has moved from school shooter manifestos to the center of American foreign policy; Adam Gurri’s latest Editor’s Note, on how we can’t underestimate the human capacity for earnest cruelty; Alan Elrod on what the Natalie Harp scandal reveals about the MAGA Right’s contradictory desires; & Guillaume A. W. Attia on how liberal philosophy can help us make political rivals legible & human.
Podcasts:
Starting this section with two recent episodes of Jacke Wilson’s History of Literature podcast that I missed: episode 823, with James Shapiro on Abraham Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth, & Shakespeare in a divided America; & episode 824, featuring Mathelinda Nabugodi on Claire Clairmont, the stepsister whom Mary Shelley tried to erase from memory.
For her latest Silver Screen Sleuths episode, Emily J. Edwards was joined by author & publisher Danny Cherry Jr. to discuss The Glass Onion.
For their TV is Good podcast, Alan Sepinwall & Kathryn VanArendonk discussed comic book shows both new (Lanterns) & classic (The Middleman).
While for an end of summer special episode of his History on Film podcast, Ross Lennon talked with Christopher Requejo & Brandon “Fossil Chops” Worf about the history of drum & bugle corps.
Turning to more historical subjects, episode 449 of Liz Covart’s Ben Franklin’s World podcast features Linford Fisher & Lorén Spears on indigenous enslavement & the American Revolution.
The latest episode of Holley Snaith’s Say It With History podcast features Samantha Snyder on Elizabeth Willing Powel & women’s influence in early America.
Two new episodes of Alycia Asai’s Civics & Coffee podcast this week: a conversation with Nathaniel Popkin & Andrew Ferrett about their new book which visualizes American history through the lens of Philadelphia; & Alycia’s latest regular Saturday episode, which focuses on the 1881 Atlanta washerwomen strike.
The latest episode of Axelbank Reports History & Today features Matthew Algeo on his book New York’s Secret Subway: The Underground Genius of Alfred Beach & the Origins of Mass Transit.
For their American Prestige podcast, hosts Daniel Bessner & Derek Davison interviewed Lisandro Claudio about American austerity during its colonial rule of the Philippines.
Pamela D. Toler joined the Infinite Women podcast to talk about the groundbreaking early 20C reporter & war correspondent Sigrid Schultz.
For his Shipwrecks & Sea Dogs podcast, Rich Napolitano talked about the mysterious 1963 disappearance of the converted WWII tanker SS Marine Sulphur Queen.
Two new episodes of Liam Heffernan’s America: The Story of the USA podcast to share this week: a conversation with Bevan Sewell about the life & legacy of foreign policy titan John Foster Dulles; & an episode on the four American musicians who outwitted the KGB in 1985, featuring historian Vince Houghton & one of the musicians herself, Merryl Goldberg.
Turning to more global topics, episode 3 of the Witches—Truths, Trials, & Terrors podcast features host Jon Briggs talking with Robin Briggs & Alison Rowlands about the witches nobody talks about.
The latest episode of Matt Gabriele’s American Medieval podcast is a very special one, featuring his wife Rachel Gabriele on how Detroit’s policy & economics are similar to those of the Middle Ages.
For his History’s Devils podcast, James Crossland was joined by Mark Piesing to discuss the early 20C British inventor & “father of drones” Archibald Low.
While the latest episode of Scott Parkin’s Green & Red podcast features Bob Buzzanco on the anniversary of the 1953 US coup in Iran.
Episode 109 of Kate Carpenter’s rebranded Drafting the Past podcast features award-winning biographer Megan Marshall on why we need exemplary lives.
Three new episodes of the Black Studies Podcast this week: John Drabinski interviewing Oberlin’s Meredith Gadsby; Ashley Newby talking with Yale’s Jonathan Howard; & John’s conversation with Emory’s Alix Chapman.
For her American Campus Podcast, Lauren Lassabe Shepherd was joined by James Chandler to discuss classical liberals & Know-Nothings on higher ed.
While the latest live recoding of Matt Seybold’s American Vandal podcast is from Wayne University’s “Public Budgets, Public Good” workshop, & features Bruce Simon, Kelly Grotke, & many others.
Continuing with current events conversations, the latest episode of Samantha Hancox-Li’s Neon Liberalism podcast features Sonja Trauss on the moral case for dynamism.
Over at the It Could Happen Here podcast, Kim Kelly joined to discuss the dangers of silica dust in the workplace, from coal mines to coffee shops.
Gil Duran joined Brian Merchant’s Blood in the Machine podcast to help chart the rise of tech fascism.
While for their latest The Oath & the Office episode, John Fugelsang & Corey Brettschneider highlighted four stories that remind us that the Trump presidency is for sale.
Finally, lots of new installments of Heather Cox Richardson’s 250 to 250 short videos this week, including John Ebel on Mount St. Helens, Paula Peters on the 1833 Mashpee woodlot revolt, Stephen Ray Mitchell on the Mayo Clinic, & more!
Books:
A handful of important new books were published this week, including Bobby J. Smith II’s Black Farm Boys: The Untold Story of the New Farmers of America from UNC Press.
Also out this week is Emile Chabal’s The Age of Hobsbawm: The Life of a Revolutionary Historian from Harvard University Press.
Likewise newly published is Susan Farrell’s Vonnegut’s War: The Making of Slaughterhouse-Five from Bloomsbury.
Out now from Berghahn Books is Daniella McCahey & Maria Ximena Senatore’s edited collection Antarctic Materialities.
& also check out a new open-access edited collection, Yousuf Al-Bulushi, Geo Maher, & Damien M. Sojoyner’s Reading Black Reconstruction Today from University of California Press.
Forthcoming on September 8 from Yale University Press is Will Tullett’s fascinating Sniff: A History of Smells.
While forthcoming on September 29 from UNC Press is Kevin M. Levin’s much-anticipated A Glorious Fate: The Life & Legacy of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw.
Forthcoming on October 5 from Cambridge University Press is Emilie K.M. Murphy’s Listening to Early Modern Travel Writing: Sound, Bodies, & Purchas His Pilgrimes.
& forthcoming in December & now available for pre-order from Texas Tech University Press is Avis Ann Mullen & A. Kirsten Mullen’s A Born Teacher: The Making of a Black Community School in Texas (h/t Sandy Darity).
Two book reviews for Public Books to share this week: Paul Michael Johnson on Ana Garriga & Carmen Urbita’s Convent Wisdom: How Sixteenth-Century Nuns Could Save Your Twenty-First-Century Life; & Carolyn Fornoff on Esther Allen’s new translation of Antonio di Benedetto’s The Suicides.
While for the latest USIH book review, Priscila Dorella on Brian D. Behnken’s Brown & Blue: Mexican Americans, Law Enforcement, & Civil Rights in the Southwest, 1935-2025.
Made By History:
Two important new pieces for the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Made By History to share this week: Holly Harris on how the US once learned to pressure Iran with diplomacy, not war; & Maya Kornberg on how the post-Watergate midterm election provides a model for how a wave election can open the door to much-needed reforms.
Newsletters and Blog Posts:
Gonna end with a ton of great newsletters & blog posts as usual, starting with one of the week’s most fascinating pieces: Jeremy Markovich for his North Carolina Rabbit Hole on the limousine-driving playboy uncle who created “Big Tits Potato Chips.”
Turning to far more serious topics, Thomas Zimmer wrote for his Democracy Americana newsletter on MAHA’s ongoing assault on public health.
For Fight the Fire, Sam Bellamy highlighted the plans to strip a Black Pearl Harbor hero’s name from a new ship in favor of Trump’s.
While for his Can We Still Govern? newsletter, Don Moynihan argued that we should be building a post-Trump governance coalition now.
A pair of posts for Ashley Best’s Well, Actually… newsletter this week: this one on how we do in fact have plenty of space for refugees; & this one on whether Stranger Things was indeed “based on a true story” of secret government experiments.
Likewise two new posts for Karen L. Cox’s America & the Lost Cause newsletter this week: this one on why she writes about that central subject; & her latest dispatch from the Pop South, on Mammy’s Cupboard of Natchez.
Kevin M. Levin also shared two new pieces for his Civil War Memory newsletter this week: this one on the recent discovery of a slave auction site at Little Rock’s Old State House; & this one reflecting on writing about the Lost Cause & the future of his site.
Over at her Imperfect Union newsletter, Lindsay M. Chervinsky addressed complex & important questions of objectivity, bias, & the historical figures we write about.
For her History in the Margins blog, Pamela D. Toler highlighted Eliza Lucas Pinckney’s fraught, groundbreaking 18th century experiments with indigo.
Heather Cox Richardson’s Letters from an American newsletter is always a great read, but I particularly enjoyed her August 16th installment on lessons from the 1890s Yukon Gold Rush.
I have mixed feelings about the ongoing In Pursuit project (ie, corrupt Supreme Court Justice John Roberts writing about Taft), but I think the pieces on First Ladies are interesting & important: this week that included John M. Bridgeland on Helen Herron Taft & Rebecca Boggs Roberts on Edith Wilson.
For his Looking Through the Past newsletter, George Dillard wrote about how the 1950s crisis between the US & Iran still resonates today.
While for her In Her Mind’s Eye blog, Sharon Howard compiled a helpful map of the 16th century Elizabethan Court of Requests.
For his latest The Tenure Track newsletter, Etienne Toussaint shared valuable insight on how to build a sustainable scholarly career that doesn’t consume you.
While for his The Big Quiet newsletter, my FSU colleague Steve Edwards shared thoughtful advice on thinking small yet chasing something greater in our writing.
Over at his Exploring Art History newsletter, Howard Burton shared some of the joys & frustrations of trying to encounter Italian Renaissance masterpieces in person.
Gonna end with great cultural studies pieces as ever, including Maria Popova for her Marginalian on Dylan Thomas’ stirring reading of his masterpiece “Do not go gentle into that good night.”
For The Flytrap, Nicole Froio wrote about how the AI slop machine is stripping pop music of much of its potential for meaning.
For the AHA’s Perspectives, Abigail Jean Kahn & Michael Hines analyzed the complex ways Netflix’s new Little House on the Prairie is rebooting frontier myths.
The latest Verbum Libere newsletter is an analysis of the many ways that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has reshaped the film industry.
For Nighttide magazine, Emma Cole wrote about a pair of turn of the century cinematic depictions of the supernatural, The Devil’s Advocate & The Gift.
While for his Unemployed Negativity blog, Jason Read reviewed the new dinosaur horror flick The End of Oak Street.
A trio of excellent pieces on The Odyssey dropped this week, including Brendan Hodges as part of Bright Wall/Dark Room’s Summer Blockbusters issue.
For New Humanist magazine, Dorian Lynskey argued that the film is a frighteningly relevant portrayal of a civilization ripping itself apart.
While for Clio & the Contemporary, Matthew P. Thornburg likewise connected the contemporary US to Nolan’s film.
As usual, I can’t share Odyssey takes without re-upping Vaughn Joy’s phenomenal Review Roulette piece on the film. & this week on Review Roulette, Vaughn got Spooky Season going early (ahead of her Fall course on Witches & Witch Trials!) with a delightful take on Practical Magic.
Before you go-go, for his Academic Bubble newsletter Dion Georgiou reviewed a documentary about Wham!’s 1985 visit to China.
& if you need even more public scholarly goodness, check out Dion’s 65th installment of his Stop, Look, & Listen round-up.
PS. I’m sure both Dion & I missed plenty, so please share more writing, podcasts, new & forthcoming books below. Thanks, happy reading, listening, & learning, & enjoy these precious last days of summer, all!
Leave a Reply