Brian Ogren is Associate Professor of Judaic Studies at Rice University. This interview is based on his new book, Kabbalah and the Founding of America: The Early Influence of Jewish Thought in the New World (New York University Press, 2021). […]
American founding
Josh Hawley’s “Love America Act.” Let’s break it down
Last week we published a post on Missouri Senator Josh Hawley’s op-ed in The New York Post condemning critical race theory and promoting his personal view of what young Americans should learn in history class. His views are encapsulated in […]
The Author’s Corner with Dennis Rasmussen
Dennis Rasmussen is Professor of Political Science at Syracuse University. This interview is based on his new book, Fears of a Setting Sun: The Disillusionment of America’s Founders (Princeton University Press, 2021). JF: What led you to write Fears of […]
The Author’s Corner with Lisa Tucker
Lisa Tucker is Associate Professor of Law at Drexel University. This interview is based on her new book, Hamilton and the Law: Reading Today’s Most Contentious Legal Issues through the Hit Musical (Cornell University Press, 2020). JF: What led you […]
Editor of *The New York Times Magazines* addresses recent criticisms of the 1619 Project
You can find all of our posts on the 1619 Project here. Here is Jake Silverstein, editor of The New York Times Magazine: Most of the questions around our display language have centered on variations on a single phrase. In […]
Sean Wilentz on Tom Cotton and slavery
The Princeton University American historian Sean Wilentz has been a harsh critic of The New York Times 1619 Project. But that doesn’t mean he is going to give Arkansas senator Tom Cotton a pass for his recent comments about slavery and the […]
Engaging with the latest stuff on race and the founders coming from Liberty University’s Falkirk Center
Not all Christian colleges are the same. Some of you may recall a post in which I compared Messiah University to Liberty University. If you have a child considering a faith-based college I encourage you to read that post. Liberty […]
The debate over America’s Christian founding continues
The Cato Institute hired four scholars–Mark David Hall, Steven Green, Thomas Kidd, and Brooke Allen–to debate issue. Follow along here. You can get my take here.
A Time for Citizenship
It’s not really that difficult to be a citizen in times like these. Health officials are telling us to stay six feet apart, wash our hands, avoid crowds, self-quarantine, and check on our older neighbors. If we want to get […]
Episode 63: The 1619 Project
In August 2019, The New York Times Magazine published The 1619 Project, an attempt to reframe American history by “placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of black Americans at the very center of our national narrative.” American historians have praised […]
The Author’s Corner with Laura Lohman
Laura Lohman is Director of the Center for the Advancement of Faculty Excellence and Professor of Music at Queens University of Charlotte. This interview is based on her new book, Hail Columbia!: American Music and Politics in the Early Nation (Oxford […]
The Author’s Corner with Carli Conklin
Carli Conklin is Associate Professor at The University of Missouri School of Law. This interview is based on her new book, The Pursuit of Happiness in the Founding Era: An Intellectual History (University of Missouri, 2019). JF: What led you to write The […]
Joseph Ellis’s New Book is About the Founding Fathers
Ellis is a productive writer and historian, but I can’t keep up with all his books about the founding fathers. Here is a taste of Jeff Shesol’s review of his latest: American Dialogue: The Founders and Us: If the historian Joseph J. […]
The Author’s Corner with Jonathan Gienapp
Jonathan Gienapp is Assistant Professor of History at Stanford University. This interview is based on his new book The Second Creation: Fixing the American Constitution in the Founding Era (Belknap Press: An Imprint of Harvard University Press, 2018). JF: What led you to write […]
The Author’s Corner With Tom Cutterham
Tom Cutterham is a lecturer in United States history at the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom. This interview is based on his new book, Gentlemen Revolutionaries: Power and Justice in the New American Republic (Princeton University Press, 2017). […]
The Author's Corner with Kevin Gutzman
Kevin Gutzman is Professor and Chairman of the Department of History at Western Connecticut State University. This interview is based on his new book, Thomas Jefferson- Revolutionary: A Radical’s Struggle to Remake America (St. Martin’s Press, 2017). JF: What led you […]
Defining the "Founding Fathers"
A recent piece I wrote on religion and the framers of revolutionary-era state constitutions received a small amount of criticism from folks who said that the writers of these constitutions were not considered “founding fathers.” I didn’t give much thought to […]
Was the United States “Created on Racist Principles?”
In his recent visit to Liberty University, Bernie Sanders said that the United States “in many ways was created, and I’m sorry to have to say this, from way back, on racist principles, that’s a fact.”On Tuesday night in my […]
The Author’s Corner with Charles Edel
Charles Edel is Assistant Professor of Strategy and Policy at the U.S. Naval War College. This interview is based on his new book, Nation Builder: John Quincy Adams and the Grand Strategy of the Republic (Harvard University Press, September 2014). JF: What led […]
“Religion and the American Founding” Seminar: Day 2
I love doing these seminars for (and with) teachers!! Unlike many traditional undergraduates, high school and middle school teachers come to a seminar like this wanting to learn. They are full of questions about the material and are always thinking […]