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Archives for July 2023

Augustine and the Bullfight

Dixie Dillon Lane and Christopher J. Lane   |  July 26, 2023

The allure of violence is real. So are its consequences.

What I Am Reading: Colleen Vasconcellos

Colleen Vasconcellos   |  July 26, 2023

Summer is the season for reading, whether re-reading old favorites or finding new ones—on 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

John Fea   |  July 25, 2023

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

Nadya Williams   |  July 25, 2023

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?

John Fea   |  July 25, 2023

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

John Fea   |  July 25, 2023

Here is Washington Post sportswriter Dave Sheinin: By the last few lengths of the women’s 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?

John Fea   |  July 25, 2023

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, “A Black […]

Who is the most popular governor in the United States?

John Fea   |  July 25, 2023

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

Rachel Petroziello   |  July 25, 2023

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

Sunny Rosen   |  July 25, 2023

A mid-20th century novel reaches easily across the decades

What I am reading: John Ferling

John Ferling   |  July 25, 2023

Summer is the season for reading, whether re-reading old favorites or finding new ones—on 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

John Fea   |  July 24, 2023

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. 😉 Here is Paul Waldman: Consider the remarkable concept of “lunch debt,” […]

Bret Devereaux on Sparta in Foreign Policy

Nadya Williams   |  July 24, 2023

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

John Fea   |  July 24, 2023

What happens when Gucci uses a book by philosopher Judith Butler to sell high-priced wallets? Here is Umut Özkırımlı at The Critic: Books as objects of attraction? Is that what brought Butler and Gucci together? I don’t mean the commodification […]

Joe Biden approves three national Emmett Till monuments

John Fea   |  July 24, 2023

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 — 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”

John Fea   |  July 24, 2023

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

John Fea   |  July 24, 2023

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. — As he finished up his remarks at an outdoor garden […]

Will Chris Christie be the new James Garfield?

John Fea   |  July 24, 2023

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

Rachel Petroziello   |  July 24, 2023

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

John Fea   |  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? […]

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