Why We Read
August 8, 2019
Azar Nafisi— Reading is like Alice running after that white rabbit, because she is curious; she wants to know more about a talking rabbit. She is prepared to take the… READ MORE
Category: American History
Examining the Secular Age
August 7, 2019
Nicholas Wolterstorff— Recently I dipped once again into Charles Taylor’s massive A Secular Age, and one of the themes he develops there led me to reflect on the implications of… READ MORE
Adventure Capitalism and the Frontier Question
July 26, 2019
Andrew Offenburger— In 1883, an academic and traveler named William Henry Bishop posed a question on many Americans’ minds. “What is a world to do,” he asked, “when it has… READ MORE
How Many Trails of Tears Were There?
May 31, 2019
Jeffrey Ostler— When Donald Trump recently tweeted that he looked forward to seeing Elizabeth Warren “on the trail,” everyone knew he was mocking Warren’s claim to Cherokee ancestry by making… READ MORE
Rethinking the History of Religious Freedom
May 22, 2019
Robert Louis Wilken— In the Supreme Court case Minersville School District v. Gobitis, 1940, that upheld compulsory pledging of allegiance to the U.S. flag in schools, Justice Felix Frankfurter, writing… READ MORE
How the Iowa Writers’ Workshop Saved Kurt Vonnegut’s Fledgling Career
May 7, 2019
David O. Dowling— In mid-1960s suburban Cape Cod, Kurt Vonnegut—whose ink sketches and signed monographs now command up to $5,000 each—was unknown and his books were out of print. “I… READ MORE
Who Was Ben Hecht?
April 11, 2019
Adina Hoffman— Ben Hecht was “a genius,” Jean-Luc Godard declared in 1968. “He invented 80 percent of what is used in Hollywood movies today.” He “wrote stories—and he made history,”… READ MORE
The “Seriatim Practice” of the Supreme Court
March 6, 2019
Paul W. Kahn— We can imagine a state in which courts issued judgments without explanation. The need to settle disputes requires some form of adjudicatory mechanism; it does not… READ MORE
Hitler and Moscow, 1941: A Counter-Factual Speculation
March 4, 2019
Stephen G. Fritz— It is mid-September 1941. The unpredictable late summer weather in Russia has turned in Germany’s favor, as has the military situation. In late August, with the nightmarish… READ MORE
Ep. 70 – White Women and Slavery
February 28, 2019
A look at the true role white women played in slavery and the effects that are still being felt today. Subscribe:Apple Podcasts | Stitcher | Spotify | Soundcloud
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