Few topics seem as appropriate for discussing at the very beginning of a new year as family–the people who shape us and the people whom we shape in turn. And so, in this first Ideas in Progress interview of 2025, […]
family history
The Author’s Corner with Michael O’Malley
Michael O’Malley is Professor of History at George Mason University. This interview is based on his new book, The Color of Family: History, Race, and the Politics of Ancestry (University of Chicago Press, 2024). JF: What led you to write […]
The Author’s Corner with Rachel Louise Moran
Rachel Louise Moran is Associate Professor of History at the University of North Texas. This interview is based on her new book, Blue: A History of Postpartum Depression in America (University of Chicago Press, 2024). JF: What led you to […]
The Author’s Corner with Lori D. Ginzberg
Lori D. Ginzberg is Professor Emerita of History and Women’s, Gender, & Sexuality Studies at the Pennsylvania State University. This interview is based on her new book, Tangled Journeys: One Family’s Story and the Making of American History (University of […]
The Author’s Corner with Elizabeth Garner Masarik
Elizabeth Garner Masarik is Assistant Professor of History at the State University of New York, Brockport. This interview is based on her new book, The Sentimental State: How Women-Led Reform Built the American Welfare State (University of Georgia Press, 2024). […]
The Author’s Corner with Rebecca Wellington
Rebecca Wellington is a Clinical Instructor and Director of Field Placements in the School of Education at the University of Puget Sound. This interview is based on her new book, Who Is a Worthy Mother?: An Intimate History of Adoption […]
My father didn’t need James Dobson to teach him how to be a patriarch. Focus on the Family had a different influence on him.
I’ve made this point before, but I recently made it again on a WNYC (New York City’s National Public Radio station) podcast called “On the Divided Dial.” (It was repackaged and rereleased last week). I appreciate journalist Katie Thornton willingness […]
The Author’s Corner with Victoria E. Ott
Victoria E. Ott is James A. Wood Professor of American History and the coordinator of Gender and Women’s Studies at Birmingham-Southern College. This interview is based on her new book, The Failure of Our Fathers: Family, Gender, and Power in […]
What a Charles Willson Peale painting can teach us about vaccinating our children
Central Michigan University historian Andrew Wehrman has been an indispensable guide in this age of COVID-19. Here is a taste of his recent piece at Age of Revolutions blog: For portrait painters like Charles Willson Peale, ignoring smallpox was part […]