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democracy

Early thoughts on the first January 6th Committee hearing

John Fea   |  June 10, 2022

I am building these comments around the live-tweeting I did last night. I am sure we will all have more to say in the coming weeks. Bill Barr began by calling the idea that Biden stole the election “bullshit”: Later,...

The Author’s Corner with Olivier Zunz

Rachel Petroziello   |  May 3, 2022

Olivier Zunz is James Madison Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Virginia. This interview is based on his new book, The Man Who Understood Democracy: The Life of Alexis de Tocqueville (Princeton University Press, 2022). JF: What led...

Is the current Republican Party compatible with democracy?

John Fea   |  April 15, 2022

Timothy Shenk asks this question in a review of Matthew Continetti’s book The Right: The Hundred Year War for American Conservativism. Here is a taste of the review at The New Republic: Of course, January 6 was only the beginning....

The Author’s Corner with Clarissa J. Ceglio

Rachel Petroziello   |  February 14, 2022

Clarissa J. Ceglio is Associate Director of Research for Greenhouse Studio and Assistant Professor of Digital Humanities at the University of Connecticut. This interview is based on her new book, A Cultural Arsenal for Democracy: The World War II Work...

David Blight on fighting the Trumpian Lost Cause

John Fea   |  January 17, 2022

The Yale historian wants us to keep battling for democracy. Here is a taste of his piece at The Guardian: On 6 January 2021, an American mob, orchestrated by the most powerful man in the land, along with many congressional...

Will American democracy survive another Trump presidency?

John Fea   |  January 15, 2022

Yale historian Timothy Snyder is not optimistic. Here is a taste of his interview with Charles Davis of Business Insider: Let’s revisit this scenario where Trump and the Republican Party have claimed victory and have had some legal cloaking of...

The world’s democracies tell the United States to get its act together

John Fea   |  November 22, 2021

It happened at a major national security conference in Nova Scotia. Here is Politico: If “America is back,” someone forgot to tell America’s allies. At a major national security conference this weekend designed to rally the world’s democracies against autocratic...

Speech of the day

John Fea   |  October 21, 2021

Angus King, independent senator from Maine:...

Episode 92: “Original Sin and the History of American Democracy”

John Fea   |  October 3, 2021

Our guest in this episode is historian Robert Tracy McKenzie, author of We the Fallen the People: The Founders and the Future of American Democracy. In the spirit of the 20th-century theologian and ethicist Reinhold Niebuhr, McKenzie places the Christian doctrine of...

Episode 86: A Conversation with Eric Miller, Editor of Current

John Fea   |  July 4, 2021

In this episode we introduce Current, a new online platform of commentary and opinion that provides daily reflection on contemporary culture, politics, and ideas. Editor Eric Miller talks about Current‘s vision, some of his favorite articles, and the history of the...

Snyder: “The war on history is a war on democracy”

John Fea   |  June 30, 2021

Yale historian Timothy Snyder sees a lot of similarities between the discussion of race happening right now in American schools and the 20th-century European totalitarianism regimes thought about the past. Here is a taste of his piece The New York...

Do Marxists, critical race theorists, and Tucker Carlson have anything in common?

John Fea   |  June 29, 2021

Anne Applebaum is going to catch hell for this column, but she is right. The subtitle of her Atlantic piece reads: “Marxist literary scholars and popularizers of critical race theory have one thing in common with certain GOP commentators: a...

100 prominent political scientists: American democracy is in danger

John Fea   |  June 2, 2021

New America, a Washington D.C. think tank, gathered 100 political scientists to sign this statement of concern: June 1, 2021 We, the undersigned, are scholars of democracy who have watched the recent deterioration of U.S. elections and liberal democracy with...

William F. Buckley: “…I, for one, would not willingly die for ‘democracy'”

John Fea   |  May 28, 2021

Historian Joshua Tait writes, “…the democracy-denying beliefs and actions of today’s conservative Republican party–rejecting the results of the 2020 presidential election and seeking to manipulate voting laws nationwide in a cynical assault on the democratic process–have plentiful precedent in conservative...

“The humanities face continued marginalization despite increasing evidence of the broad civic and social harm that results from neglecting them.”

John Fea   |  May 27, 2021

The quote in the title of this post comes from Grant Kaplan’s piece “The Crisis in Catholic Theology” published last week at America. Here is a taste: Today, although concern for the future of Catholic universities remains high, relatively little...

Who will enhance humanities research at Christian colleges?

John Fea   |  May 24, 2021

I am happy for my STEM colleagues at Christian colleges. Here is Inside Higher Ed: Nine Christian colleges will receive more than $1.5 million in total grant funding as part of a project to enhance science, technology, engineering and mathematics research at Council...

Are we in the midst of a third American revolution?

John Fea   |  May 18, 2021

CNN legal scholar Carrie Cordero and historian Ed Larson at USA Today: We are all familiar with the first American Revolution: an actual war, a rebellion for self-governance. But it was not long after that Thomas Jefferson called the election of 1800...

A Third Reconstruction?

John Fea   |  May 18, 2021

Matt Ford gives us a lot to think about in this piece at The New Republic. titled “Our 250-Year Fight for Multiracial Democracy.” A taste: Some scholars and activists, by the same token, break down American history into presidencies or...

Liz Cheney: “Remaining silent and ignoring the lie emboldens the liar”

John Fea   |  May 11, 2021

Her party empowers liars and removes truth-tellers from leadership positions. Here is Liz Cheney’s parting shot: The sound you hear are progressives cheering for one of the most conservative members of the House of Representatives:...

The Author’s Corner with Elizabeth Kimball

Annie Thorn   |  April 29, 2021

Elizabeth Kimball is Assistant Professor of English at Drexel University. This interview is based on her new book, Translingual Inheritance: Language Diversity in Early National Philadelphia (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2021). JF: What led you to write Translingual Inheritance? EK:...

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