Check out Jeannette Cooperman’s essay at Common Reader on the late white-suited writer Tom Wolfe. She has some interesting thoughts on the so-called “New Journalism” of the 1960s and 1970s. A taste: Did Wolfe do such a good job capturing […]
truth
In the Fall of 2024, history matters
Here is Harvard intellectual historian James Kloppenberg at Commonweal: Before entering graduate school I had read a little book by the Oxford historian E. H. Carr, What Is History? I found his answer persuasive: it is a practice of interpretation. Historians can […]
Donald Trump’s gut and the fate of American democracy
What will happen to truth if Donald Trump is our next president? Here is Megan Garber at The Atlantic: “I have a gut,” Donald Trump announced in 2018, “and my gut tells me more sometimes than anybody else’s brain can ever […]
Is “truth-telling” REALLY the only thing that matters?
So let’s get back to this whole Rob Reiner thing. I’ve enjoyed thinking this through. Thanks for reading. If you have no idea what I am talking about, get up to speed here. This series of tweets is revealing: These […]
Is Oklahoma senator James Lankford conspiratorial enough for The Federalist?
Preview in new tab Here is The Federalist editor Mollie Hemingway, the daughter of a Missouri-Synod Lutheran minister. Career Democrat and ABC host George Stephanopoulos completely emasculated Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma this weekend on his Sunday show. Right at […]
The Author’s Corner with Yael Sternhell
Yael Sternhell is Professor in the Department of History and Department of English and American Studies at Tel Aviv University. This interview is based on her new book, War on Record: The Archive and the Afterlife of the Civil War […]
The Author’s Corner with Matthew Dennis
Matthew Dennis is Professor Emeritus of History and Environmental Studies at the University of Oregon. This interview is based on his new book, American Relics and the Politics of Public Memory (University of Massachusetts Press, 2023). JF: What led you to […]
More on the censure of Trump lawyer and evangelical pundit Jenna Ellis
As I wrote last night in this post, Jenna Ellis rarely tweets without claiming that she is a great defender of truth. She has built a platform on defending Donald Trump and contesting the 2020 election and now she had […]
Trump lawyer and conservative evangelical pundit Jenna Ellis is censured in Colorado for lying about the 2020 election
It was all lies. Jenna Ellis is a former Liberty University representative, Colorado Christian University law professor, former host of a podcast titled “Just the Truth,” and a Trump election fraud lawyer who, along with Rudolph Giuliani, tried to overturn […]
Trumpism and American pragmatism
I just finished University of Virginia English professor Mark Edmundson‘s piece on Richard Rorty, pragmatism, and Donald Trump. Is it published in the January 2023 issue of Harper’s. I highly recommend it. Here is a taste: It has been said […]
In a sermon on “defending truth,” Tim Barton makes multiple false claims
The son of Wallbuilders founder David Barton recently gave a rambling “history” sermon at Christian Missions Church in Jacksboro, Texas. This is what can happen when the past is only useful as a form of activism. Here is Barton: Let’s […]
Scarlett Lewis channels the voice of God
Watch the mother of a boy killed in the Sandy Hook massacre confront conspiracy theorist Alex Jones in court yesterday: