This week, more than a thousand academics will gather in St. Louis for the Organization of American Historians meeting. Sadly, I won’t be at the OAH (have fun, everyone!) but I will be attending several conferences in the summer and fall. I’ll go to panels (fewer than I should); I’ll go to . . .
Read MoreFrom the moment I started researching ruins, I began to see them everywhere. Sometimes I actively sought them out, especially during vacations: Tulum in Mexico, the Pont du Gard in France, Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in West Berlin. Other times I would run across them by accident – tucked into some corner . . .
Read MoreThere are abundant essays and blog posts out there about how to boost your writing productivity (like this, this, and this). The advice contained therein can be helpful, depending on your professional situation and your personality: set specific times for writing; challenge yourself to produce a certain number of words per day; . . .
Read MoreAs Dan and I entered the stark white exhibit space at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston this past weekend, we heard the sounds of spring. We ambled further into the exhibit and the birds chirped more loudly, the insects buzzed more insistently. It felt less like a hallucination then, and . . .
Read MoreLast week, I went to see Fifty Shades of Grey. I’m going to let you take a moment to process that. Okay. So. There is certainly much to say about the sadomasochistic elements of the film. Jim Downs does a nice job situating these acts (particularly whipping) in entertainment culture and the . . .
Read MoreWhen you drive west on Old Sudbury Road toward Wayland, Mass., you turn a corner and suddenly the landscape opens up: cows lazily munch on grasses, sheep and llamas hang out under trees, organic vegetables grow in long rows in the distance. And in a wedge of overgrown field by a fence, . . .
Read MoreA few weeks ago, I went with Kevin and Michaela Levin to see Suzan-Lori Parks’ new play, Father Comes Home from the Wars (Parts 1, 2, & 3) at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The play is part of a longer cycle (there will ultimately be nine parts) but this . . .
Read MoreWell, hello there. I’m Mr. Wolf. I solve academic problems. Sometimes colleagues, advisers, administrators, or students send you egregious emails or behave in an outrageous manner — yet, you don’t want to ruffle feathers. Mr. Wolf is here to help. I’ll say what you want to say but can’t. I’m not here . . .
Read MoreOver the past few weeks I’ve been party to several conversations about blogging, its role in the field of history, and in academia in general. What is the point? some people ask. Why would anyone do this? Blogging invites trolls; it doesn’t help anyone get tenure; it’s a ton of work. Yes, . . .
Read MoreYesterday, John Stauffer — Professor of English and African-American Studies at Harvard — published a piece for The Root entitled, “Yes, There Were Black Confederates. Here’s Why.” In it he argues that “between 3,000 and 6,000 served as Confederate soldiers. Another 100,000 or so blacks, mostly slaves, supported the Confederacy as laborers, . . .
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