The allure of violence is real. So are its consequences.
Archives for July 2023
What I Am Reading: Colleen Vasconcellos
Summer is the season for reading, whether re-reading old favorites or finding new onesâon your porch, in a cabin in the woods (bears optional), or at the playground or the beach. Because there have been so many wonderful essays on […]
A historian of fascism is ready to use the term to describe Trumpism
Up until this point,Christopher Browning, a historian at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, has not used the word “fascism” to describe Donald Trump and the movement he leads. But it looks like he has changed his mind. Browning is […]
The Baptist President you (probably) never knew was a Baptist
Years ago, a former colleague of mine and Dan’s at the University of West Georgia said something nice about President Warren Harding in a lecture that inspired students and colleagues to troll him for years thereafter. A President Harding bobblehead […]
Does a fixation with identity politics hurt the fight against racism?
Over at Jacobin, Taj Ali interviews writer Kenan Malik, the author of Not So Black and White: A History of Race from White Supremacy to Identity Politics. Here is a taste: TAJ ALI: You discuss the decline of cross-racial class […]
Swimmer Katie Ledecky is getting faster
Here is Washington Post sportswriter Dave Sheinin: By the last few lengths of the womenâs 1,500-meter freestyle Tuesday at the World Aquatic Championships, Katie Ledecky was swimming against only the clock and the ghost of her younger self. In the […]
Pedagogy as therapy?
Is the goal of education for students to feel good about themselves? Is it a form of therapy? Len Gurkin tackles this issue at The Chronicle of Education. Here is a small taste: Vincent Lloyd…widely read essay in Compact, âA Black […]
Who is the most popular governor in the United States?
Morning Consult has the answer: Much of this piece focuses on Kentucky’s Democratic Andy Beshear and his ability to attract Republican voters. Read the entire piece here.
The Author’s Corner with Zhongping Chen
Zhongping Chen is Professor of History at the University of Victoria. This interview is based on his new book, Transpacific Reform and Revolution: The Chinese in North America, 1898-1918 (Stanford University Press, 2023). JF: What led you to write Transpacific […]
REVIEW: The Secret Lives of Mothers and Daughters
A mid-20th century novel reaches easily across the decades
What I am reading: John Ferling
Summer is the season for reading, whether re-reading old favorites or finding new onesâon your porch, in a cabin in the woods (bears optional), or at the playground or the beach. Because there have been so many wonderful essays on […]
Give every public school kid a free lunch
This makes sense. Free lunch. No strings attached. Every kid gets one. Some might even say it is a good way to make America a more “Christian” nation. đ Here is Paul Waldman: Consider the remarkable concept of âlunch debt,â […]
Bret Devereaux on Sparta in Foreign Policy
Ancient military historian Bret Devereaux has a piece on modern fascination with Sparta in Foreign Policy that is very well worth reading. Ancient historians have argued for a while, indeed, that idealizing Sparta is bad history, but in this essay, […]
When Gucci and Judith Butler meet
What happens when Gucci uses a book by philosopher Judith Butler to sell high-priced wallets? Here is Umut Ăzkırımlı at The Critic: Books as objects of attraction? Is that what brought Butler and Gucci together? I donât mean the commodification […]
Joe Biden approves three national Emmett Till monuments
Here is Juliana Kim at National Public Radio: President Biden will designate a national monument at three sites in honor of Emmett Till and his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley â both of whom served as catalysts for the civil rights movement. Biden is […]
“The Ivy League doesn’t have low-income students because it doesn’t want low-income students”
Here is Aatish Bhatia, Claire Cainb Miller, and Josh Katz of The New York Times: Elite colleges have long been filled with the children of the richest families: At Ivy League schools, one in six students has parents in the […]
Mike Pence may not make the GOP debate stage in August
He needs 40,000 individual donors to qualify for the August 23 debate in Milwaukee. He is not there yet. Here is Marianne LeVine at The Washington Post: HUDSON, N.H. â As he finished up his remarks at an outdoor garden […]
Will Chris Christie be the new James Garfield?
He thinks it’s possible. This is from a South Carolina campaign stop: The historical analogy is a huge stretch, but I’m guessing Christie is the only GOP candidate who knows anything about our 20th president.
The Author’s Corner with Mark Erlich
Mark Erlich is the Wertheim Fellow at The Center for Labor and a Just Economy at Harvard Law School and the retired Executive Secretary Treasurer of the New England Regional Council of Carpenters. This interview is based on his new […]
Evangelical roundup for July 24, 2023
What is happening in Evangelical land? Trump screens Sound of Freedom at his New Jersey golf club. Texas Baptists affirm women in ministerial roles Donald Trump: Evangelical hero Russell Moore on renewal and evangelicals: The next big religious liberty case? […]