CSPAN recently filmed a lecture on the American Enlightenment in my colonial America course at Messiah University. Watch it here....
Enlightenment in America
The Relevance of the Enlightenment (#AHA19)
We are thrilled to have Megan Jones, a history teacher at The Pingry School in Martinsville, New Jersey, writing for us this weekend from the annual meeting of the American Historical Association in Chicago. Here is her first dispatch. –JF...
The Author’s Corner with Jonathan Clark
Jonathan Clark is Hall Distinguished Professor of British History at the University of Kansas. This interview is based on his new book, Thomas Paine: Britain, America, and France in the Age of Enlightenment and Revolution (Oxford University Press, 2018). JF: What led...
The Author’s Corner with Jonathan Israel
Jonathan Israel is Professor Emeritus of Modern European History in the School of Historical Studies at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. This interview is based on his new book, The Expanding Blaze: How the American Revolution Ignited...
The Author's Corner with Gideon Mailer
Gideon Mailer is Associate Professor of History at the University of Minnesota, Duluth. This interview is based on his new book, John Witherspooon’s American Revolution: Enlightenment and Religion from the Creation of Britain to the Founding of the United States (The University...
The Author's Corner with Nicholas Guyatt
Nicholas Guyatt is University Lecturer in American History at the University of Cambridge. This interview is based on his new book, Bind Us Apart: How Enlightened Americans Invented Racial Segregation (Basic Books, 2016). JF: What led you to write Bind...
The Author's Corner with John Dixon
John Dixon is Assistant Professor of History at the College of Staten Island of the City University of New York. This interview is based on his new book, The Enlightenment of Cadwallader Colden: Empire, Science, and Intellectual Culture in British...
Newspapers and British Identity in 18th-Century Quebec City and Halifax
If you have not discovered Borealia, you should go check it out. The editors of this blog are pushing us to expand our understanding of early America to include Canada. (Of course scholars have been doing this for a long...
Ebenezer Kinnersley
When I was a graduate student I had a colleague named Kevin who was interested in the history of science in early America. Kevin finished his Ph.D shortly after I did. I think he had a few academic appointments and...
Oh How I Wish Contributors Received a Free Copy
The Bloomsbury Encyclopedia of the American Enlightenment is here for the low, low price of $451.00. From what I can tell, Mark Spencer has edited an amazing research tool for students of American history. It is now time for all...
The Author’s Corner with Tom Shachtman
Tom Shachtman is an author, filmmaker, and educator who has written over thirty books along with a series of documentary films and has lectured at various universities and historical societies. This interview is based on his forthcoming book Gentleman Scientists and […]
Reflections on “The State of the Field: The Trans-Atlantic Enlightenment”
As a student of the Enlightenment in America who has written a bit on the subject, and as a student of Ned Landsman (who, sadly, was not mentioned in this session–he should have been), I was excited to attend the...
Tweets From OAH Session on the American Enlightenment
Here are my tweets. This was an interesting panel. I will try to write a blog post on it soon. Stay tuned. Read from the bottom in order to see the Tweets in chronological order. For more about the panel...
Live Tweeting OAH Session: “State of the Field: The Trans-Atlantic Enlightenment in America”
Chair: Rosemarie Zagarri (George Mason) Panelists:Joyce Chaplin (Harvard University)Sarah Knott (Indiana University)Michael Meranzie (Institute of European History)Jason Opal (Colby College)Jose Torre (SUNY-Brockport)Caroline Winterer (Stanford University) Follow along at @johnfea1 or #oah2014 In case you miss the live-tweeting I will try...
Reviews of Marsden’s “The Twilight of the American Enlightenment”
I have been enjoying the reviews of George Marsden’s new book, The Twilight of the American Enlightenment: The 1950s and the Crisis of Liberal Belief. (I blurbed it for Basic Books and have been eagerly awaiting its publication to see...
Is There a Lack of Scholarship on the American Enlightenment?
Eric Herschtal, in his review of James MacGregor Burns’s Fire and Light: How the Enlightenment Transformed Our World, laments the lack of “good recent scholarship” on the Enlightenment “that American historians can readily incorporate into their work.” I respectfully disagree. Although...