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...
French Revolution
What early Americans could teach Donald Trump about this pandemic
Check out historian Andrew Wehrman‘s piece at The Washington Post: Thomas Paine, who had helped shift public opinion with “Common Sense” in the spring of 1776, wrote a new book weighing in on the French Revolution from London, titled “The Rights...
Wednesday night court evangelical roundup
What have Trump’s evangelicals been saying since our last update? John Hagee invited Fox News commentator, conspiracy theorist, disgraced Christian college president, and convicted felon Dinesh D’Souza to speak at the Sunday evening service at his Cornerstone Church in San Antonio. Watch: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXnd5fMkIaA&w=560&h=315]...
Monday night court evangelical roundup
What have Trump’s evangelicals been saying since our last update? Greg Laurie is still suggesting that the United States was “born out of a revival.” I addressed the many problems with this view here. In fact, religious attendance and membership was at an all-time...
Friday night court evangelical roundup
What have Trump’s evangelicals been saying since yesterday’s update? Eric Metaxas is still attacking systemic racism. Today one his guests said, “systemic racism does not exist. It is a conspiracy theory that the radical Left has been using to try to destroy the...
Os Guinness’s Appeal to the Past is Deeply Problematic
Watch Christian speaker and author Os Guinness deliver a speech titled 1776 vs. 1789: the Roots of the Present Crisis. It is part of an event hosted by the Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview. Someone sent it to me...
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...
“Information Networks in the Age of Revolutions”
This is the title of a Fall series of posts at the Age of Revolutions blog. In an introductory post, Bryan Banks tells us what we can expect and sets the series in context. Here is a taste: Robert Darnton,...
How George Washington Got the Key to the Bastille
If you go to Mount Vernon and tour the mansion you will see it. Over at Smithsonian.com, Sara Georgini tells the story of Washington’s key to the Bastille. Here is a taste: President George Washington knew how to curate a...
The Author’s Corner with Michael Rapport
Michael Rapport is Professor of History at the University of Glasgow in Scotland and a fellow of the Royal Historical Society. This interview is based on his new book, The Unruly City: Paris, London and New York in the Age...
OAH Panel Wrap-Up: Religion and Transatlantic Print Culture in the Early Republic
Noah Webster: Anti-Jacobinist This morning I had the privilege of chairing a session on “Religion and Transatlantic Print Culture” at the annual meeting of the Organization of American Historians. Actually, I was pinch hitting for Kyle Roberts of Loyola University-Chicago,...
July 4 vs. July 14
Ceremony of the new Republican Religion of Reason in Notre Dame cathedral, Paris, 1793 Over at The Anxious Bench, Tal Howard has written a very informative piece on the role of religion in the American Revolution and the French Revolution. ...