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Vin Scully, RIP

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Scully was a native New Yorker and grew-up at New York Giants (baseball) fan: Scully was silent for more than 1 minute and 47 seconds at the end of this “call.”

Annette Gordon-Reed on race in America

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Chris Lehmann interviews the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian at Forum. Here is a taste: Chris Lehmann: In your recent book, On Juneteenth, you wrote very powerfully about the kind of stories that need to be told with regard to your experience growing […]

Redlining: 1860-Present

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ArcGIS Story Maps has published a very valuable resource on redlining in American history. Redlining is perhaps the best illustration we have of systemic racism in America. Indeed, white people created public policy in American cities to keep Blacks segregated […]

Nicholas Kristof returns to The New York Times

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After his bid for governor of Oregon did not go so well, The New York Times gave him his old job back. We tried to recruit Kristof to Current, but we couldn’t afford him–at least not yet. 😉 Here is […]

Kareem Abdul Jabbar on Bill Russell

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Here is Kareem at his Substack page: I always knew I wanted to be active in civil rights, but I didn’t always know how I would do that. I had attended some anti-war and civil rights protests rallies while at […]

The GOP is the party of “fear, hate, and grievances”

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Here is conservative commentator Peter Wehner at The Atlantic: Fear: If the hallmarks of Ronald Reagan’s speeches were optimism, hope, and a sense of limitless possibilities, Trump’s speeches are the antithesis. Trump is a genius at tapping into fear. In his […]

The death of nostalgia?

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The Internet and social media is killing it. Here is Sam Leith at The Spectator: Nostalgia depends to a large extent on the ability to misremember. The canonical form of nostalgia, captured in the Portuguese loan-word saudade, is longing for a […]

Elizabeth Johnson Jr. is exonerated by eight-graders

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Who is Elizabeth Johnson Jr.? Vimal Patel explains: Elizabeth Johnson Jr. is — officially — not a witch. Until last week, the Andover, Mass., woman, who confessed to practicing witchcraft during the Salem witch trials, was the only remaining person convicted during […]

The Author’s Corner with Michael Weeks

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Michael Weeks is Lecturer of History at Utah Valley University. This interview is based on his new book, Cattle Beet Capital: Making Industrial Agriculture in Northern Colorado (University of Nebraska Press, 2022). JF: What led you to write Cattle Beet […]

Episode 43: Jesus Freaks Do History

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A Christian rap band, with help from a GOP political activist, published a history book. Episode 43: “Jesus Freaks Do History” dropped today. Subscribers to Current at the Longshore level and above have access to new episodes of this narrative history podcast. Here is […]

The Author’s Corner with Claire Arcenas

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Claire Arcenas is Associate Professor of History at the University of Montana. This interview is based on her new book, America’s Philosopher: John Locke in American Intellectual Life (University of Chicago Press, 2022). JF: What led you to write America’s […]

Evangelical roundup for August 1, 2022

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What is happening in Evangelical land? Remembering Ron Sider here and here and here and here and here. Michael Wear on Sider: Shane Claiborne on Ron Sider: National Association of Evangelicals on Sider: Jim Wallis on Sider: Lisa Sharon Harper […]

Sunday night odds and ends

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A few things online that caught my attention this week: John Loughery reviews David Kertzer’s The Pope at War: The Secret History of Pius XII, Mussolini, and Hitler Rick Perlstein on the long backlash against teaching progress in public schools […]