#ScholarSunday thread 190

Published on September 15, 2024

Here it is, my 190^th #ScholarSunday thread of great public scholarly writing & work, podcast episodes, new & forthcoming books from the last week. Add more in comments below, & enjoy, all!

Starting with a few favorites from the week as usual, including this bracing & beautiful Yale Review essay from the always awesome Christina Sharpe:

https://yalereview.org/article/christina-sharpe-shapes-of-grief

On his website, William Horne shared his new Civil War History article on white supremacist historical fraud:

https://williamihorne.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/horne-frisbie-fraud-published.pdf

& my Saturday Evening Post colleague Troy Brownfield is a must-read as ever, this time on the 50^th anniversary of Little House on the Prairie:

https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2024/09/50-years-ago-america-loved-a-little-house/

Two great pieces for Jacobin this week, including Joshua Kluever on what we can learn from the golden age of Wisconsin socialism:

https://jacobin.com/2024/09/wisconsin-socialism-golden-age-history

& for the magazine’s Organize the Unorganized podcast, Benjamin Fong interviewed labor historian Nelson Lichtenstein on the 1930s CIO:

https://jacobin.com/2024/09/cio-worker-organizing-labor-history

Turning to current events, Arash Azizi wrote for The Atlantic on the rise of charlatan historians (FWIW, I don’t agree with the term “podcast historians” for them—the issue is the propaganda & the falsehoods, not the space):

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2024/09/holocaust-denial-podcast-historians/679765/?taid=66e0ac555df5c500010af639&utm_campaign=the-atlantic&utm_content=true-anthem&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter

Also for The Atlantic, the great Jemele Hill wrote on Tyreek Hill & the frustrating absence of politically conscious Black athletes in 2024:

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/09/athletes-trump-tyreek-hill/679772/

Philip Bump wrote for his Washington Post column (gift link below) on the right-wing bubble & the xenophobic attacks on Haitian Americans:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/09/09/rumors-about-an-ohio-town-show-scale-right-wing-bubble/?pwapi_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJyZWFzb24iOiJnaWZ0IiwibmJmIjoxNzI1ODU0NDAwLCJpc3MiOiJzdWJzY3JpcHRpb25zIiwiZXhwIjoxNzI3MjM2Nzk5LCJpYXQiOjE3MjU4NTQ0MDAsImp0aSI6IjIxODE3M2M1LTg4MzktNDVjMi04OWYwLTQzYjE1NjNlNTM1OSIsInVybCI6Imh0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lndhc2hpbmd0b25wb3N0LmNvbS9wb2xpdGljcy8yMDI0LzA5LzA5L3J1bW9ycy1hYm91dC1hbi1vaGlvLXRvd24tc2hvdy1zY2FsZS1yaWdodC13aW5nLWJ1YmJsZS8ifQ.XOey5m8tUaWw0RE0QfFVUpUCH-lKB3gLOhzyckkGIBE

& on that same horrifying & all-too-American unfolding story, Elie Mystal for The Nation is a must-read as always:

https://www.thenation.com/article/society/racist-cat-attacks-against-haitian-immigrants/

For his American Prospect column, Rick Perlstein highlighted what we can learn from the experiences of a former rising right-wing media star:

https://prospect.org/politics/2024-09-11-zeal-of-the-convert-matthew-sheffield/

& I really enjoyed this The Root piece interviewing Black experts on the presidential debate, featuring the awesome Walter Greason & many more:

https://www.theroot.com/black-experts-speak-on-harris-trump-presidential-debate-1851645459

Lots of great new podcast episodes this week, including the latest Unsung History featuring Adam Jortner on Jewish patriots during the American Revolution:

https://www.unsunghistorypodcast.com/jewish-patriots/

The latest episode of Drafting the Past features Lindsay Chervinsky on her new book on John Adams & much more:

https://draftingthepast.com/podcast-episodes/episode-51-lindsay-chervinsky-loves-that-writing-is-work/

Part two (of five) of the Lillian Smith Center’s Dope with Lime episodes on Smith & religion has dropped, featuring a number of experts:

For episode 25 of his Holocaust History podcast, Waitman Beorn interviewed Jurgen Zimmerer on German genocide in Namibia:

For her Freedom Over Fascism podcast, Stephanie Wilson interviewed political expert Michael Podhorzer on getting infrequent voters to the polls:

Within the Margin of Our Effort. How to Get Infrequent Voters to the Polls

I’m really excited to share the Second Inning of my new podcast The Celestials’ Last Game: Baseball, Bigotry, & the Battle for America:

https://americanstudier.podbean.com/e/second-inning-denis-kearney-and-the-tragic-ironies-of-irish-american-white-supremacy/

& for more on that podcast & its sports history contexts, check out my latest Saturday Evening Post Considering History column on 19^th century baseball & the battle for America:

https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2024/09/considering-history-19th-century-baseball-and-the-battle-for-america/

& watch this space later today for the Third Inning, locating the Celestials baseball team in its 19^th century baseball & sports history contests!

Four great pieces for Time’s Made By History this week, including Cyrus Veeser on the dangerous legacies of “America First” rhetoric:

https://time.com/7006686/history-america-first-dawes/

Rebecca DeWolf wrote for Made By History on what Project 2025 might mean for the return of the Comstock Act:

https://time.com/7014473/comstock-act-project-2025/

Here’s Barry Mitnick for Made By History on the 19^th century concept of “character” that can help explain Trump’s mysterious appeal to some voters:

https://time.com/7014479/donald-trump-character-history/

& finally for Made By History, Ruth Nelson highlighted the inspiring legacies of the 1964-65 New York World’s Fair:

https://time.com/6991999/worlds-fair-history/

Also four great pieces this week for the AAIHS’ Black Perspectives, including Norrell Edwards on Black women’s fiction & medical experimentation:

https://www.aaihs.org/black-womens-fiction-and-medical-experimentation/

Very timely Black Perspectives piece from Michael Lawrence Dickinson on Haiti & the birth of Black internationalism:

https://www.aaihs.org/haiti-and-the-birth-of-black-internationalism-in-the-united-states/

Cindy Reed wrote for Black Perspectives on contemporary comics writer Eve Ewing’s Ironheart & Black women’s fiction:

https://www.aaihs.org/eve-ewing-ironheart-and-black-womens-fiction/

& finally for Black Perspectives, Tanguy GIL wrote about identity in Louisiana’s 18^th century Black literature:

https://www.aaihs.org/examining-identity-in-louisianas-18th-century-black-literature/

Couple important new book releases to highlight this week, including Rebecca Nagle’s By the Fire We Carry: The Generations-Long Fight for Justice on Native Land, from Harper Collins:

https://www.harpercollins.com/products/by-the-fire-we-carry-rebecca-nagle?variant=41322925359138

Also out this week is Sarah Dimick’s Unseasonable: Climate Change in Global Literatures from Columbia University Press:

https://cup.columbia.edu/book/unseasonable/9780231209250

For two recent publications, check out Iliana Yamileth Rodriguez’s Southern Spaces review of Cecelia Márquez’s Making the Latino South & Sarah McNamara’s Ybor City:

https://southernspaces.org/2024/race-gender-latinx-south-review-cecilia-marquezs-making-latino-south-sarah-mcnamaras-ybor-city/

While Hyperallegic reviewed a number of forthcoming books not to miss, including Elizabeth Block’s Beyond Vanity: The History & Power of Hairdressing:

https://hyperallergic.com/949602/art-books-to-read-fall-2024/

& two important forthcoming books from Hachette to highlight this week as well, including Lyndal Roper’s Summer of Fire & Blood: The German Peasants’ War:

https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/lyndal-roper/summer-of-fire-and-blood/9781541647053/

& I can’t wait for Lou Moore’s The Great Black Hope: Doug Williams, Vince Evans, & the Making of the Black Quarterback:

https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/louis-moore/the-great-black-hope/9781541705098/?lens=publicaffairs

Gonna end with four great newsletters from four folks we should all be subscribed to, starting with Kevin Levin for Civil War Memory on the anniversary of his book Searching for Black Confederates:

Searching for Black Confederates Five Years Later

Stephanie Wilson wrote for her Freedom Over Fascism newsletter on the media’s frustrating attempts to sane-wash Trump’s gibberish:

https://substack.com/@freedomoverfascism/p-148624451

First part of a series from Dion Georgiou’s Academic Bubble newsletter on Ealing Studios during WWII:

Ealing Plots (Part I)

& after a hiatus, Vaughn Joy’s Review Roulette newsletter is back with a wonderful piece on Spinal Tap, documentaries, & truth:

This One Goes to 11

PS. I’m sure I missed plenty as ever, so please share more writing, podcasts, new & forthcoming books below. Thanks, happy reading, listening, & learning, & watch this space for my podcast’s Third Inning later today!