A few things online that caught my attention this week: 29 rules for reading James Lasdun reviews Alexander Stille’s The Sullivanians: Sex, Psychotherapy and the Wild Life of an American Commune Robert Bellah: A socialist who insisted democracy needs religion. […]
Way of Improvement
GOP candidates were together in Iowa yesterday. Will Hurd won the night.
Last night all of the GOP candidates for president spoke at the Iowa Republican Party’s annual Lincoln Dinner. Most of the candidates delivered shortened versions (10-minutes) of their stump speeches. Watch here. The night belonged to former Texas congressman Will […]
The Washington Post “Made By History” column comes to an end
Here is a final word from the current editors of “Made By History”: Six years ago, The Washington Post took a leap of faith and partnered with us to launch Made by History. We shared a commitment to getting the […]
What is popular this week at Current?
Here are the most popular features of the week at Current: Here are the most popular posts of the last week at The Way of Improvement Leads Home blog: Here are the most popular posts of the last week at The Arena blog:
The Author’s Corner with Diane Winston
Diane Winston is Associate Professor of Journalism and Knight Center Chair in Media and Religion at the University of Southern California, Annenberg. This interview is based on her new book, Righting the American Dream: How the Media Mainstreamed Reagan’s Evangelical […]
Commonplace Book #276
All the pathologies of the woke turn–or rather the anti-scholarly turn–in the humanities were on display in l’affaire James Sweet. To recap: in August 2022, Sweet, the president of the AHA and a historian of slavery, used his monthly column […]
Evangelical roundup for July 27, 2023
What is happening in Evangelical land? Russell Moore on revivalism and evangelical nostalgia Evangelicals: From Jimmy Carter to Donald Trump Are Trump evangelicals really evangelical? What kind of fundraising ads do evangelicals prefer? The latest on the demise of the […]
A former undocumented Salvadoran immigrant is now an auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Washington
Over at The Washington Post, Karen Tumulty tells the moving story of Evelio Menjivar-Ayala: Three times in the space of a year, the undocumented teen fleeing war-torn Central America tried and failed to make it over the southern border of […]
Commonplace Book #275
It is vital for historians to reckon with the flaws of their profession as an institution, not only for their own sake but for the sake of the nation that supports their institution, and to reflect on the ways that […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]