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books

  • SOURCE: Slate
    3/3/2021

    How Dr. Seuss Responded to Critics Who Called Out His Racism

    by Rebecca Onion

    If anyone wants to examine the particulars of Dr. Seuss Enterprises' decision to discontinue the publication of six of the late author's books before jumping in to culture war combat, writer Rebecca Onion's interview with children's literature scholar Philip Nel is a good place to start. 

  • SOURCE: New York Times
    2/25/2021

    Searching for Our Urban Future in the Ruins of the Past

    Annalee Newitz's book on lost cities debunks the idea of sudden, catastrophic collapse. But the death of cities does show that humanity is vulnerable to change that makes centuries-old ways of life untenable. 

  • SOURCE: Washington Post
    3/2/2021

    Some Dr. Seuss Books with Racist Imagery will Go out of Print

    The decision, which was made by Dr. Seuss Enterprises and is neither an instance of "cancellation" nor a fatal blow to the revenue generated by the late author's works, reflects growing awareness of the impact on children of ethnic stereotypes. 

  • SOURCE: Public Books
    2/24/2021

    What Counts, These Days, In Baseball?

    by David Henkin

    A cultural historian considers recent baseball controversies in light of new books on the sport, and concludes that ideas of fair competition have much more to do with our social context than fans acknowledge. 

  • SOURCE: Public Books
    2/16/2021

    The Arch of Injustice

    Historian Steven Hahn reviews Walter Johnson's "The Broken Heart of America," finding that Johnson makes a compelling case that St. Louis is the archetypal American city but is less effective at showing concepts like white supremacy and racial capitalism as dynamic historical processes. 

  • SOURCE: New York Times
    2/16/2021

    John C. Calhoun: Protector of Minorities?

    by Andrew Delbanco

    Robert Elder's biography of Calhoun examines the racist and pro-slavery thought of the legislator and his political afterlife. 

  • SOURCE: University of California Press
    2/9/2021

    Who Gets to Govern the Global Economy?

    by Christy Thornton

    Johns Hopkins Latin Americanist Christy Thornton describes her book "Revolution In Development" and its contribution to understanding how Mexican officials fought against dismissive treatment from the world's leading economic powers as they sought a voice in shaping the international economic order. 

  • SOURCE: Perspectives on History
    2/11/2021

    As Many Voices as Possible

    Laura Ansley reviews Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N. Blain's "400 Souls" and reflects on the idea of a community history both in terms of its subjects and its authors. 

  • SOURCE: Black Perspectives
    2/11/2021

    Biographies of Women and Emancipation in the Americas

    by Vanessa M. Holden

    Historian Vanessa Holden reviews a new book edited by Erica L. Ball, Tatiana Seijas and Terri L. Snyder which draws on the stories of women of African descent in the Americas to argue that such women helped bring freedom into being and defined what freedom in the world actually means. 

  • SOURCE: The Metropole
    2/8/2021

    “A New Jerusalem”–A Review Of The City-State Of Boston

    Kristian Price reveiws Mark Peterson's study of Boston from its founding through the mid-19th century, which focuses on the contradiction of the Puritan ideal of a city of moral rectitude and the economic necessity of local merchants' enthusiastic participation in the slave trade. 

  • SOURCE: The Metropole
    1/19/2021

    Early American Urban Protests — A Review Of Boston’s Massacre

    A review of Eric Hinderaker's new book "Boston's Massacre" highlights the shifting narrative of the events and their place in the national story, and the perpetually unanswered conflict between limits of authority and those of popular protest.

  • SOURCE: Keeping Democracy Alive
    1/19/2021

    One Nation, Indivisible: Really? Forever?

    Richard Kreitner, author of "Break It Up" joins Burt Cohen's podcast to discuss the history and future of calls to break up the United States.

  • SOURCE: Civil War Memory
    1/3/2021

    Do We Really Need Another Biography of Robert E. Lee?

    by Kevin M. Levin

    Recent discussion of the forthcoming biography of Robert E. Lee by Allen Guelzo shouldn't foreclose the possibility that the book will offer insight because many historians object to Guelzo's participation in Donald Trump's conference on teaching history.