Abortion and the final days of the 2004 election Episode 42: “The Culture of Life” dropped today. Subscribers to Current at the Longshore level and above have access to new episodes of this narrative history podcast. Here is a teaser: If you like what […]
Way of Improvement
The impending disaster
Yascha Mounk, a political scientist at The Johns Hopkins University and defender of liberal democracy, lists five reasons why the United States may be heading for disaster. They are: “Trump is Anti-Democratic” “A Second Trump Term Would Be More Dangerous […]
Abortion, the Supreme Court, and the uses of history
Below is a taste of Carlos Lozado’s piece at The Washington Post. It is one of the better things I have read on Dobbs. …One of the sharpest divides in the Supreme Court’s abortion rulings is over history — what […]
Commonplace Book #216
To the peasants of Lucania Rome means very little; it is the capital of the gentry, the center of a foreign and hostile world. Naples has more right to be their capital, and in some ways it is; it is […]
“So many guns…people are reeling.” Thoughts on Highland Park
The shootings are getting closer to “home.” I live nearly 700 miles from Highland Park, Illinois, but I resided in this Chicago suburb for two important years of my life. From 1992-1994 I lived at a now defunct synagogue in […]
The Author’s Corner with Daniel J. Broyld
Daniel J. Broyld is Associate Professor of African American History at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. This interview is based on his new book, Borderland Blacks: Two Cities in the Niagara Region during the Final Decades of Slavery (LSU Press, […]
Sunday night odds and ends
A few things online that caught my attention this week: Historian Robert Caro and his editor Michael Brenes reviews Francis Fukuyama’s Liberalism and Its Discontents Historians and creative liberties. A trip to an antiquarian book fair The responsibility of pro-lifers […]
Thomas Jefferson: hero or villain?
The title of this post is not, primarily, a historical question. It is primarily a moral question. We should keep the complexity of the past in mind as we celebrate Independence Day. Check out early American historian’s Jack Rakove‘s recent […]
How private interests led the way on urban segregation in America
Historian Colin Gordon argues that the federal housing policies contributed to segregation in cities, but private interests led the way. Here is a taste of his piece at Dissent: Recent scholarship and reporting on racial disparities in the United States […]
Understanding the Supreme Court’s recent prayer in schools decision
The case is titled Kennedy v. Bremerton School District. Here are the facts of the case for those who are just getting up to speed: Joseph Kennedy, a high school football coach, engaged in prayer with a number of students […]
“Slavery” or “involuntary relocation?”
Here is Brian Lopez at The Texas Tribune: A group of Texas educators have proposed to the Texas State Board of Education that slavery should be taught as “involuntary relocation” during second grade social studies instruction, but board members have […]
What is popular this week at Current?
Here are the most popular features of the week at Current: FORUM: The End of Roe, Day One FORUM: The End of Roe, Day Two FORUM: The End of Roe, Day Three FORUM: The End of Roe, Day Four John Fea, […]
It appears that Jerry Falwell Jr. was using Liberty University as a personal ATM
The 990 is an IRS tax form that provides the public with financial information about a nonprofit organization. Chronicle of Higher Education reporter Dan Bauman read Liberty University’s recent Form 1990 with a fine-tooth comb. Here is a taste of what […]
The Author’s Corner with Anna Koivusalo
Anna Koivusalo is a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Philosophy, History and Art Studies at the University of Helsinki. This interview is based on her new book, The Man Who Started the Civil War: James Chesnut, Honor, and Emotion […]
Does the Christian Right still need Trump?
Bonnie Kristian, a columnist at Christianity Today and a fellow at Defense Priorities, does not think so. Here is a taste of her piece today at The New York Times: For many backers of former President Donald Trump, Friday’s Supreme […]
Evangelical roundup for June 30, 2022
What is happening in Evangelical land? Korean Christians and American evangelicalism. The Presbyterian Church in America votes to leave the National Association of Evangelicals. Walter Kim, the president of the National Association of Evangelicals, attends a PCA church n Virginia. […]
Who will be the last Trump evangelical standing?
Today, after watching another day of damning testimony before the House January 6th Committee, I was reminded again of this passage from Grant Wacker‘s biography of Billy Graham: The details of the low-level crime and high-level mendacity that led to […]
Doug Mastriano is still running for governor of Pennsylvania on the Trump playbook
Here is Andrew Seidman at The Philadelphia Inquirer: He went on the podcast hosted by former Donald Trump aide and “Stop the Steal” leader Steve Bannon. He named a former Trump campaign lawyer who tried to overturn Pennsylvania’s election a […]
Commentary editor: “Trump is in deep, deep, deep, deep trouble”
That’s four “deeps” from John Podhoretz, the editor of the conservative Commentary magazine. Here is a taste of his piece: The testimony this afternoon of Cassidy Hutchinson, the aide to Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows, cannot be dismissed. If […]
The GOP is trying to defend the most corrupt president in United States history
Historians will have the last say, but in the meantime here is a taste of Jonathan Chait’s recent piece at New York Magazine: At this point, even with the hearings in progress, it seems safe to rate this as the […]