Matthew Ward is Senior Lecturer in American History at the University of Dundee. This interview is based on his new book, Making the Frontier Man: Violence, White Manhood, and Authority in the Early Western Backcountry (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2023)....
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Nikki Haley is running as a common sense conservative in a political party that has abandoned common sense
Former South Carolina governor and U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley was in Washington D.C. yesterday to speak to the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s Road to Majority Conference. Her walkout music was Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger.” Watch: Like some of the...
Randall Balmer: “Don’t look for pronouns on my email signature”
The Dartmouth College historian of American religion weighs in on the pronouns debate. Here is a taste of Balmer’s piece at the Santa Fe New Mexican: It’s all the rage these days, especially in academic circles, to specify pronouns —...
“The Left is more likely…to hold men responsible for their own problems and advise them to purge themselves of their ‘toxic masculinity.'”
Over at Commonweal, Brendan Ruberry reviews Richard V. Reeves’s book, Of Boys and Men: Why the Modern Male is Struggling, Why It Matters, and What to Do about It. Here is a taste: “…today, around the industrialized world, men seem...
The Author’s Corner with Michael D. Pierson
Michael D. Pierson is Professor of History at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell. This interview is based on his new book, The Wild Woman of Cincinnati: Gender and Politics on the Eve of the Civil War (LSU Press, 2023). JF:...
Is Wellesley College still a women’s college?
In his 2017 book Confident Pluralism: Surviving and Thriving Through Deep Difference, Washington University Law Professor John Inazu writes: Wellesley College, an all-women’s school, now confronts internal challenges around its growing transgender student population. Even though Wellesley admits only women,...
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...
The Author’s Corner with Rodney Hessinger
Rodney Hessinger is Professor of History and Associate Dean of Humanities and Social Sciences at John Carroll University. This interview is based on his new book, Smitten: Sex, Gender, and the Contest for Souls in the Second Great Awakening (Cornell...
Why I almost came to see Josh Hawley as a sympathetic figure
Notice the word “almost” in the title. As most readers of this blog know, I am not a Josh Hawley fan. In fact, the guy usually makes my skin crawl. But the other day I actually found myself, at least...
The Author’s Corner with Nik Ribianszky
Nik Ribianszky is Lecturer of American History at Queen’s University Belfast. This interview is based on her new book, Generations of Freedom: Gender, Movement, and Violence in Natchez, 1779-1865 (University of Georgia Press, 2021). JF: What led you to write Generations...
A critique of “Jesus and John Wayne”
If social media is any indication, everyone loves Kristin Kobes Du Mez’s book Jesus and John Wayne. The praise is merited. It’s a strong book that says things about the recent history of American evangelicalism that should have been said...
What happened at the end of this prayer before Congress?
I have no idea what Rep. Emanuel Cleaver was doing at the end of this prayer. It appears to be political correctness run amok: The word “Amen” means “so be it.” “Awoman” is not a word. Cleaver, however, must have...
Women: Don’t worry about it, Trump will get your husbands back to work and preserve your domestic suburban lifestyle
When I talk about my book Believe Me: The Evangelical Road to Donald Trump, I often discuss the meaning of the phrase “Make America Great Again.” If Trump can tell me when America was “great,” I can enter the conversation...
Muscular Jesus and His Tough-Guy Followers
Rodney Howard-Browne is the co-founder (with his wife Adonica) of Revival Ministries International, a Tampa-based Christian organization committed to revivals of “signs and wonders and miracles.” He is a court evangelical who includes his meeting with Donald Trump as an...
“The boys mostly like Trump”
This is a really interesting article on how 18-year-olds in the Scranton, Pennsylvania area are thinking about the 2020 election. Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Julia Terruso explores some of the gender differences among first-time voters in this important swing state. Here...
Pro-Trump Evangelical: “When you look at the women who were literally scratching the doors of the Supreme Court building and pounding the doors, it was like someone having a tantrum when they couldn’t get their way…”
Michael Brown, a pro-Trump radio pundit, recently appeared on court evangelical Steven Strang‘s podcast and talked about the attempts to impeach Donald Trump . The title of the podcast is “Are Demonic Spirits Influencing the Trump Impeachment Process.” (I am...
Kate Bowler on Evangelical Women Celebrities
Duke Divinity School’s Kate Bowler keeps churning out books. Her latest is The Preacher’s Wife: The Precarious Power of Evangelical Women Celebrities. Over at Christianity Today, Liberty University’s Karen Swallow Prior interviews Bowler about her new book. Here is a taste: Despite...
The Author’s Corner With Kelly Ryan
Kelly A. Ryan is Dean of the School of Social Sciences and Professor of History at Indiana University-Southeast. This interview is based on her new book Everyday Crimes: Social Violence and Civil Rights in Early America (New York University Press, 2019). JF:...
Beware of Social Justice Warriors and Women Preachers
The anti-social justice warriors and complementarians are at it again. Here is Religion News Service: (RNS)  — A video posted by Founders Ministries, a neo-Calvinist evangelical group, paints Bible teacher Beth Moore, Southern Baptist ethicist Russell Moore, a former president of...
Did Men Invent “Likability?”
Check out historian Claire Potter‘s piece at The New York Times: “Men Invented ‘Likability.’ Guess Who Benefits.” She reflects on the origins of the idea of “likability” advertising culture and, eventually presidential politics. As Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, Amy Klobuchar and...