Benjamin A. Railton's Blog, page 5

August 20, 2025: University of Michigan Studying: Football

[Laterthis week, we’ll be moving my youngerson Kyle into his first-year dorm at Michigan. So this week, through proudDad tears, I’ll share a handful of UMichigan contexts, leading up to a specialpost on some of Kyle’s plans there!]

Threemoments that help chart the rise of a perennial pigskin powerhouse.

1)     Pond’s score: One of the many innovations ofPresident Angell (for much more on whom see yesterday’s post) was to bring footballto the university, and in May 1879 the team played its firstintercollegiate game, against Wisconsin’s Racine College. Hosted at Chicago’sWhite Stocking Park, the groundbreaking contest was, accordingto the Chicago Tribune, “the first rugby-football game to be playedwest of the Alleghenies.” Civil engineering major and future architect IrvingKane Pond scored the team’s firsttouchdown (and the game’s only one, as Michigan triumphed 1-0) on a longrunning play, and the crowd—already die-hards, it seems—responded with cheersof “PondForever.”

2)     Birthing a rivalry: As that Tribunequote indicates, Michigan was instrumental in extending this new collegiate(and buddingprofessional) sport beyond its Northeasternorigins, and it likewise helped spread the sport to other colleges in thearea. Perhaps the most striking such moment took place in 1887: traveling toanother game in Chicago (this one apparently against a high school team—the pickingsremained pretty slim in the 1880s), the Michigan team made a stop in SouthBend, Indiana, and introducedfootball to students at the University of Notre Dame. Apparently theylearned fast, as in November of that same year Michigan played itsfirst game against the Fighting Irish (winning 8-0, natch), inauguratingone of the sport’s oldest and most fierce rivalries.

3)     A happy hire: In 1899 Michigan football went8-2, and in 1900 they were 7-2-1; those might seem like perfectly acceptablerecords, but only if you didn’t know Michigan fans. After the 1900 season, theuniversity’s first athleticdirector Charles Baird wrote to one of the nation’s most famous youngcoaches, Fielding Yost, notingthat “Our people are greatly roused up over the defeats of the past twoyears” and offering Yost (then the head coach at Stanford) a job. Fortunatelyfor Michigan, Yost accepted, and the results speak for themselves: by the1902 season Michigan was outscoring its opponents 644-12 en route to an 11-0record, and the NewYork Times would write of one ofits victories (a 128-0 trouncing of the University of Buffalo) that it was “oneof the most remarkable ever made in the history of football in the importantcolleges.” Let’s just say that the fans haven’t been satisfied with much lessever since.

NextMichiganStudying tomorrow,

Ben

PS. Whatdo you think?

August 19, 2025: University of Michigan Studying: Three Presidents

[Laterthis week, we’ll be moving my youngerson Kyle into his first-year dorm at Michigan. So this week, through proudDad tears, I’ll share a handful of UMichigan contexts, leading up to a specialpost on some of Kyle’s plans there!]

On takeawaysfrom the tenures of the three 19th century university presidents.

1)     Henry Philip Tappan(pres from 1852-1863): Although there had technically been universitypresidents since the 1817 founding (as I discussed in yesterday’s post), until 1851the university was under control of the territorial/state legislature and sothose leaders had very little actual power. But anApril 1851 act gave the university independence and established a presidentialposition selected by the regents, and the first such independent president wasthe philosopher and educational innovator Henry PhilipTappan. Known as “Johnthe Baptist of the age of the American university,” Tappan took a hugenumber of influential actions during his decade as president, from establishinga law school to constructing anobservatory, adding BS degrees to organizing aGlee Club and student newspaper. As the first hyperlinked article aboveillustrates, he was also divisive due to his lack of overt religion, which eventuallyled to his forced resignation in 1863; but by that time every aspect of the universitybore his imprint.

2)     ErastusOtis Haven (pres from 1863-1869): The university’s second independentpresident had followed a very winding path before assuming that role: Erastus OtisHaven had been a seminary principal and Methodist minister before servingas a professor and chair of Latin and English at Michigan in the early 1850s;in 1856 he left the university and moved to Massachusetts, where he edited the MethodistnewspaperZion’s Herald, served in the State Senate, and worked as HarvardUniversity overseer; but when Tappan resigned he was coaxed back to becomeMichigan’s . The ongoing Civil War and other challenges led to significantfunding difficulties at the state level, however, and Haven only served for ahalf-dozen years before he resigned in 1869 to become presidentof Northwestern, a private Methodist university. The fate of thisgroundbreaking public institution seemed at that moment very uncertain.

3)     James Burrill Angell(pres from 1871-1909): Enter then-University of Vermont President and longtimeeducator, reformer, and diplomat JamesBurrill Angell. While Angell would positively affect every aspect of theuniversity during his nearly four decades as president, nowhere was hisinfluence more clear and important than in its international presence. Thatmeant much more than just the university’s standing and reputation (although hischanges affected those to be sure): appointed Minister toChina in 1880, Angell helped bring a number of Chinese students to theuniversity; named EnvoyExtraordinary to Turkey in 1897, he built a relationship with that nation;and so on. Even those nations with which he did not have a direct diplomaticconnection became connected to the university during Angell’s tenure, such asthe 80Japanese students who came to study law around the turn of the century. Angellretired in 1909 but lived his remaining seven years in the President’s House, atestament to this most influential University of Michigan President.

NextMichiganStudying tomorrow,

Ben

PS. Whatdo you think?

August 18, 2025: University of Michigan Studying: Founding Histories

[Laterthis week, we’ll be moving my youngerson Kyle into his first-year dorm at Michigan. So this week, through proudDad tears, I’ll share a handful of UMichigan contexts, leading up to a specialpost on some of Kyle’s plans there!]

Threeinteresting and telling moments in the early history of a groundbreaking publicuniversity.

1)     A Crucial Conversation: The oldest institutionof higher ed in Michigan was the brainchild of a number of early 19thcentury figures, including the territory’s acting governor William Woodbridge,but at the top of the list was AugustusBrevoort Woodward, an emigrant from New York who had become the first ChiefJustice of the Michigan Territory. Woodward believed that knowledge could becategorized and thus taught more easily to others, and in 1814 he exchangedcorrespondence with afamous friend who had a similar perspective (and in-development plans for hisown public university): former President Thomas Jefferson. As a result of boththat conversation and his own evolving perspective, Woodward coined a new term,Catholepistemiad, a blend of Greek and Latin words by which he meant “Schoolof Universal Knowledge.”

2)     An 1817 Act: His role as Chief Justice meantthat Woodward could put that idea into legislative action, and in late August 1817 hedid so, crafting a territorial act that formally created the University ofMichigania, featuring thirteen distinct professorships (what he calleddidaxiim) that embodied Woodward’s goal of universal knowledge. The law alsonamed the university’s first president (the Methodist minister, abolitionist,and educator JohnMonteith) and vice president (the French Catholic priest and educationalpioneer Gabriel Richard),a pairing that nicely connected this new institution to key communities in theterritory. In late September 1817 the cornerstone for the first buildingwas laid, at the intersection of Detroit’s Bates and Congress Streets, and lessthan a year later the university was in operation.

3)     A Distinct Campus: For twenty years theUniversity of Michigan was located in Detroit, but by the 1830s it wasstruggling to survive. So when Michigan Territory was admittedto the union as a state in January 1837, the time was ripe for a change,and fortunately one was very much in the offing: the small but growing town of Ann Arbor(located about forty miles west of Detroit) had proposed that the universityrelocate, and the university’s regents met and acceptedthe invitation. The move allowed the university to develop a much moredistinct and comprehensive campus than had been possible in the bigger city,and to reinforce that goal, the talented and innovative young architect AlexanderJackson Davis drafted a plan to build a number of buildings in his GothicRevival style. In 1841, the University of Michigan opened its first Ann Arborbuilding, MasonHall, and the rest is history.

NextMichiganStudying tomorrow,

Ben

PS. Whatdo you think?

August 17, 2025: Birthday Bests: 2024-2025

[On August15th, this AmericanStudier celebrated his 48th birthday.So as I do each year, I’ve featured a series sharing some of my favorite postsfrom each year on the blog, leading up to this new post with 48 favorites fromthe last year. And as ever, you couldn’t give me a better present than to sayhi and tell me a bit about what brings you to the blog, what you’ve found orenjoyed here, your own AmericanStudies thoughts, or anything else!]

Here theyare, 48 favorite posts from my 15th year (!) of AmericanStudying:

1)     August 19:NashvilleStudying: Three Origin Points: A son at Vanderbilt gave me theopportunity to learn a lot more about his new home city, starting with thispost.

2)     August 30:American Catholics: Carlo Acutis: I couldn’t resist ending a series onAmerican Catholics with this nominee for sainthood who “became very angry whenhe encountered young people who trod on lizards.”

3)     September6: Fall Semester Previews: Aidan at Vanderbilt!: If youthought I’d resist including any and every post featuring my sons in thisbirthday list, well, hi, I’m Ben.

4)     September12: Classic TV Studying: Lassie: I learned a lot about the classiccanine for this post, including the batshit crazy details in the third section(seriously, check ‘em out!).

5)     September18: Summer Reads: The Cold Millions: Sharing my summer pleasure reads wasalmost as much fun as reading ‘em, including Jess Walter’s powerful historicalnovel.

6)     September27: MrBeast and 21st Century Folk Heroes: Like alot of my blog posts over the last year+, this one, concluding a series on folkfigures from American history and culture, was directly inspired byconversations with my wife!

7)     October 1:19th Century Baseball: Henry Chadwick: It wasreally fun to complement my new podcast with a series on 19thcentury baseball, including this pioneering figure.

8)     October5-6: My New Podcast!: And here’s a post on that podcast inprogress (at that point), which is now complete and you can check out here!

9)     October12-13: Contested Holidays: Columbus/Indigenous Peoples Day: I reallylike when the blog can reflect how my ideas have evolved, which we can seeclearly in the comparison of this post to the 2015 Talking Points Memo column Icite.

10)  October19-20: An AmericanStudier Tribute to the Phone: Not themost analytical post in my series on famous phone calls in American history andculture, but a very heartfelt one!

11)  October26-27: A PrisonStudying Reading List: I always enjoy the chance tohighlight the work of fellow AmericanStudiers, as I did in this conclusion to aPrisonStudying series.

12)  November1: The Politics of Horror: Recent Films: Not my favorite HorrorStudyingseries of the year (that would be the Sinners series in July), but a funHalloween series that concluded with these recent additions to the pantheon.

13)  November9-10: 2024 Election Reflections: I really didn’t want to write thispost, any more than I wanted to wake up on Wednesday November 6th.But la lucha continua, my friends.

14)  November11: AmericanStudies’ 14th Anniversary!: Foregrounding Favorites: I couldreally highlight any post from my anniversary series, and hope you’ll checkthem all out!

15)  November25: Podcast Thanks: A Serendipitous Conversation: Dittofor this series on my gratitude to lots of folks for helping make my firstpodcast happen.

16)  December7-8: McCarthy’s America: 21st Century Echoes: Idrafted this post before the election, and it aired well before Trump 2.0began, but let’s just say it hasn’t become less relevant in the months since.

17)  December9: Hawaiian Histories: Three Shifts: I love how much I still learn fromresearching and writing this blog. A major case in point here!

18)  December25: 2024 in Review: The Celtics: The 2025 Playoffs didn’t go nearlyas well for the Celtics, and next season looks precarious to boot. Which makesit that much more important to lean into and reflect on the best that sportscan give us, together.

19)  December30: 2025 Anniversaries: King Philip’s War: 2025 has been a big year forhistoric anniversaries, but I stand by my argument that we need to rememberthis moment and figure at least as well as we do the Revolution’s.

20)  January 6:Great Society Laws: Civil and Voting Rights: There’s no way I could haveimagined, when I drafted and published this series on the Great Society’s 60thanniversary, how fully every one of these laws would be under assault in 2025.Makes it that much more important to AmericanStudy them!

21)  January18-19: Spring Semester Previews: My Scholarly Work and You: I’dstill love y’all’s input on what’s next for me, including a second season of mypodcast and more.

22)  January22: Misread Quotes: The Constitution: Am I suggesting we need a refreshercourse in the Constitution here in 2025? Yes, yes I am.

23)  January30: Musical Activism: Artists United Against Apartheid: If youhad “Fighting against South African white supremacy” on your “Becomes RelevantAgain in 2025” Bingo Card, congrats to you, and sorry to all of us.

24)  February8-9: Inspiring Sports Stories: Aidan and Kyle Railton: What didI say about any and every chance to share posts highlighting the boys?!

25)  February15-16: One More Love Letter to the Big Easy: Following up my wife and my Januarytrip to New Orleans with this series was a very fun way to reflect on both thevisit and my favorite American city.

26)  February17: Places I Love and Hate: Cville: It’s impossible to separate our bestfrom our worst here in 2025, so this year’s post-Valentine’s non-favoritesseries felt very apt.

27)  February28: AlaskaStudying: McKinley or Denali?: What’s in a name? A lot, as thispost hopefully helps us recognize and analyze.

28)  Marcy 7:Hockey Histories: Team Trans: There’s a lot of noise about trans athletesthese days, most of it deeply misinformed. Here’s a chance to be betterinformed about an actual community of trans athletes.

29)  March15-16: Reflections of a College Dad: You knew I had to end a Spring Breakseries with some thoughts on my first year as a College Dad!

30)  March 21:ScopesStudying: “Part Man, Part Monkey”: I already loved this post on mywife’s favorite Bruce song, and then a student used it to put me and Bruce inconversation as part of their first-year writing research analysis paper!

31)  March 28:Patriotic Speeches: Alexander Vindman: When I shared this post on Bluesky,Vindman read and responded thoughtfully and gratefully, which was definitely apublic scholarly highlight of the year for me.

32)  April 1:Foolish Texts: “Won’t Get Fooled Again”: Writing about a British rock anthemin an AmericanStudies blog series is exactly the kind of thing that helps keepthis blog fresh, at least for me (and hopefully for y’all too!).

33)  April 10:A Great Gatsby Centennial: Gatsby’s American Dreams: I reallyenjoyed revisiting Fitzgerald’s novel for its 100th anniversary,including this post on its most famous themes.

34)  April 14:Kyle Contexts: Younger Siblings: You know I could have included thiswhole series inspired by my younger son’s 18th birthday, and I hopeyou’ll read them all in tribute to my awesome not-so-young man!

35)  April26-27: EarthquakeStudying: Charles Richter: Look, I could try to tell you thecrazy places this post on Mr. Earthquakes goes, but you really gotta read itfor yourself.

36)  May 1:Ending the Vietnam War: “Galveston Bay”: I will never pass up a chance towrite about one of my favorite, and definitely one of the most underrated,Bruce songs!

37)  May 10-11:A Works Progress Administration for the 21st Century: Is itcrazy to argue for a new WPA, here on its 90th anniversary andamidst unprecedented attacks on federal workers and the federal government(from within)? Then call me crazy, ‘cause I did it.

38)  May 16:Spring Semester Reflections: Student Tributes to Dad: Idedicated my whole Spring reflections series to my late Dad, and especiallyloved the chance to share these tributes from former students of his.

39)  May 20:Malcolm X’s 100th: An Opera: Did you know that three AfricanAmerican brothers collaborated on a Malcolm X opera in the 1980s? Me neitheruntil I researched and wrote this post!

40)  June2: GraduationStudying: George Moses Horton’s Poem: I really enjoyed planningand writing every post in this special series for my younger son’s high schoolgraduation, but this poem by one of our most inspiring literary figures wasespecially fun to examine.

41)  June11: Revolutionary War Figures: The “Black Regiment”: Speaking of AfricanAmerican figures and histories, I didn’t know about this Revolutionary War unituntil I highlighted them for a series inspired by the Continental Army’sanniversary.

42)  June27: Sound in Film: Meaningful Music: Any chance I get to highlight theamazing Film- and AmericanStudies work of Vaughn Joy, I’m going to take it!

43)  July5-6: Keeping the Critical Patriotic Conversations Going!: I’d really lovethe chance to talk with any and all audiences about my most recent book and thecontested history of American patriotism, and y’all can help make that happen!

44)  July11: Rock-y Groundbreakers: Women Who Rock: This whole series on early rock ‘nrollers was a lot of fun, but I was really glad to have the chance to highlightnot only these rocking women, but the equally badass women who wrote aboutthem.

45)  July15: AmericanStudying Sinners: Hoodoo: Sinners is our favorite filmwe’ve seen this year, and this whole weeklong series made me love it even more.

46)  July23: The U.S. Postal System: Stamps: So many great trivia answers in thispost on a small but crucial aspect of the USPS on the service’s 250thbirthday.

47)  July26-27: A Tribute to the U.S. Postal Service: Will that vital federalresource endure this catastrophic administration? I made the case here for whyit should and must.

48)  July31: Echoes of Bad Presidents: Andrew Johnson: And speaking of thiscatastrophic administration, my series on how our worst presidents echo in thismoment featured this post on our very worst on the 100th anniversaryof his passing.

Nextseries starts Monday,

Ben

PS. Youknow what to do!

August 16, 2025: Birthday Bests: 2023-2024

[On August15th, this AmericanStudier celebrated his 48th birthday.So as I do each year, I’ve featured a series sharing some of my favorite postsfrom each year on the blog, leading up to a new post with 48 favorites from thelast year. And as ever, you couldn’t give me a better present than to say hiand tell me a bit about what brings you to the blog, what you’ve found orenjoyed here, your own AmericanStudies thoughts, or anything else!]

Here theyare, 47 favorite posts from my 14th year of AmericanStudying:

1)     August 28:Contextualizing the March on Washington: 1941 Origins: I lovefinding and sharing forgotten sides to familiar histories, and this wholeanniversary series qualified.

2)     September8: Fall Semester Previews: Departmental Program Review: Beingpart of Program Reviews is one of the hardest but most rewarding elements of myjob, and I highlighted this year’s in one of my Fall preview posts.

3)     September15: AmericanStudying The Rising: “My City of Ruins” and “Superman (It’s NotEasy)”: I love revisiting one of my favorite Springsteen albums,building to this particularly complex post.

4)     September23-24: AmericanStudying the Panic of 1873: 2023 Connections: Historydoesn’t repeat, but it rhymes.

5)     October 4:LGBT Histories: 1950s Discriminations: Finding light in our darkesthistories is an incredibly difficult but important goal, and I hope I modeledit here.

6)     October11: Vice President Studying: Henry Wilson’s Book: We’vethought a lot about VPs recently; I’m a big Walz fan, but I don’t think anywill ever equal what Henry Wilson did in the same year he was nominated.

7)     October19: Basketball Stories: The Harlem Globetrotters: I don’tgenerally link to my Saturday Evening Post Considering History columnshere, but I’m always glad when it makes sense to share that other onlinewriting!

8)     October23: New Scholarly Books: A Seat at the Table: Every book in this series is wellworth your time, but I was especially glad to share this one co-edited by myfrequent Guest Poster Hettie Williams.

9)     November3: Contested Elections: 2000: There are lots of origin points for our ownmoment, but none looms larger than the 2000 election.

10)  November11-12: Kyle Lockwood’s Guest Post: Exploration and the Human Spirit: I’llalways include Guest Posts in these recaps, but doubly so when they’re from FSUstudents!

11)  November14: AmericanStudying the Blues: Robert Johnson: Quitesimply one of my favorite posts of the year.

12)  November18-19: Sandra Hamilton’s Guest Post on the Blues in American Culture: My cuprunneth over with Guest Posts from FSU students this month!

13)  November20: Thankful for Scholarly Communities: Fitchburg State: Speakingof the community at which I’ll be starting my 20th year inSeptember.

14)  November25-26: My Biggest Thanks-giving: But no community is more meaningfulthan the intimate one my sons and I have built for the last 18.5 years.

15)  December1: Gun Control Histories: Jim Jefferies: Getting to write about favoritetexts is a perk of this gig, and Jim Jefferies’ stand-up special is a greatexample.

16)  December9-10: Crowd-sourced Board Game Studying: I don’t get to share as manyCrowd-sourced Posts as I used to, but I always love the chance!

17)  December14: Boston Tea Party Studying: The Peggy Stewart: Did youknow there was a second Tea Party in October 1774? Me neither!

18)  December16-17: A Tribute to BostonStudiers: Really enjoyed paying tribute to ahandful of the many folks from whom I’ve learned about my home city.

19)  December23-24: Hamza Suleiman’s Guest Post on Mohja Kahf: Myfriend Robin Field has shared a great deal of student work for Guest Posts,with this as the latest example.

20)  December29: Christmas Stories: A Christmas Carol: Another favorite text, and thusanother extremely fun blog post.

21)  January 2:2024 Anniversaries: The First Continental Congress in 1774: I learnso much from my New Year’s anniversary series, including this one on forgotten1774 delegates.

22)  January12: AmericanStudying Columbia Pictures: Matt Helm and Casino Royale: ColumbiaStudios missing out on James Bond led to some very interesting creativechoices.

23)  January13-14: Vaughn Joy’s Hollywood Histories: Loved the chance to pay tribute toone of our very best up-and-coming Film and AmericanStudiers.

24)  January20-21: Ava DePasquale’s Guest Post on Grey Dog: And toshare a third FSU student Guest Post!

25)  January26: AmericanStudying Groundbreaking Women: Shirley Chisholm: I had noidea Kamala would be our nominee when I included this post on Chisholm’scampaigns, but I love the connection.

26)  January29: Quirky American Traditions: Pumpkin Chunkin:Sometimes it’s just fun to research and write these posts.

27)  February10-11: AmericanStudying Sports Movies: My Pitch!: Mycurrent project has evolved into a podcast (for more on which watch thisspace), but we can all agree it would also work great as a sports film, no?

28)  February17-18: AmericanStudying Love Songs: Five New Classics: Love wasin the air for me all year, and on the blog this week in particular.

29)  February24-25: Biden and Anti-Immigrant Narratives: Everybody can stand to learn moreabout our history, including politicians I support.

30)  March 7:National Park Studying: Mesa Verde: Some childhood moments really defineour interests and lives. This was one of mine.

31)  March 13:NeMLA Reflections: My Panel on Nostalgia & the 50s: I’ve hadso many great experiences at NeMLA conferences, but this was at the top of thelist.

32)  March 20:American Magic: Orson Welles: One of the most surprising posts I’ve everhad the chance to share.

33)  March 25:What is Game Show Studying?: 30s and 40s Origins: Anotherone for which I learned so much, and from which I hope you will too.

34)  April 6-7:Emily Lauer on Comics Analysis & Editing as Public-Facing Scholarship: Anothergreat post from my most frequent Guest Poster.

35)  April 11:I Am AmericanStudying Sidney Poitier: Two 1967 Classics: Hasthere ever been a better pair of films from one actor in the same year?

36)  April20-21: Mythic Patriotisms in 2024: Nothing is more central to thisyear’s presidential campaign than debates over patriotism, a subject on which Iknow a little bit.

37)  April 26:Climate Culture: Climate Songs: Really loved the chance to highlightMidnight Oil’s last album among other great climate music.

38)  May 11-12:Beach Blogging: Guest Posts from Elsa Devienne and Jamie Hirami: Don’tthink I had ever featured two Guest Posts in the same post before!

39)  May 17:Spring 2024 Stand-Outs: Special Guests!: My three favorite people visited myclasses this Spring!

40)  May 21:Criminal Duos: Leopold & Loeb: Historic anniversaries have drivenmuch of this blog for its last decade, and this was a particularly interestingone to investigate.

41)  June 4:The Indian Citizenship Act: Joseph K. Dixon and Rodman Wanamaker: On theAct’s 100th anniversary, remembering the pair of complex white dudeswho were instrumental in its journey.

42)  June15-16: Ocean State Histories: Further Reading: I don’t do bibliographic posts asoften as I should, and this one was a very fun one.

43)  June22-23: Kyle Railton’s Guest Post on the Simpson Trial: I’ve hadthe chance to share Guest Posts from both of my sons now, and man do I lovethat.

44)  June 24:WesternStudying: Hopalong Cassidy: Come for the first licensed image ona children’s lunch box, stay for a vital cultural history.

45)  July 6-7:Critical Patriotism in 2024: A vital complement to the earliest post onmythic patriotism in 2024.

46)  July 19:ElvisStudying: First and Last: I haven’t always done Elvis Presley justicein this space, so this whole series felt like a nice addition to theconversation.

47)  July 31:Martin Sheen Studying: Estévez Legacies: And I’ll end with one of the mostfun series I got to write all year!

New bdaypost tomorrow,

Ben

PS. Youknow what to do!

August 15, 2025: Birthday Bests: 2022-2023

[On August15th, this AmericanStudier celebrates his 48th birthday.So as I do each year, I’ve featured a series sharing some of my favorite postsfrom each year on the blog, leading up to this new post with 48 favorites fromthe last year. And as ever, you couldn’t give me a better present than to sayhi and tell me a bit about what brings you to the blog, what you’ve found orenjoyed here, your own AmericanStudies thoughts, or anything else!]

Here theyare, 46 favorite posts from my 13th year of AmericanStudying:

1)     August 22:Virginia Profs: Alan Feldstein: For my annual Cville series (thenext of which starts when these bday posts conclude), I focused on inspiringUVa professors, starting with an impressive one from the Civil Rights era.

2)     September5: APUSH Studying: Mrs. Frankel: It was fun to reflect on my own APUS History experiences as my older son began his, and especially to think aboutone of my favorite teachers of all time.

3)     September10: Michael Walters’ Guest Post: Chaos, Order, and Progress in the First NorthAmerican Nation: By far my favorite thing about this year’s bday best is that itincludes the most Guest Posts ever, starting with this excellent one fromMichael Walters.

4)     September17-18: War is Hella Funny: M*A*S*H: For the 50th anniversaryof the TV show’s pilot, I learned a lot about the novel and film as well asthat iconic show.

5)     September24-25: Faulkner at 125: Digital Yoknapatawpha: I couldn’t end a series forFaulkner’s 125th birthday without paying tribute to my Dad SteveRailton’s third and most impressive digital humanities project.

6)     September28: Asian American Leaders: Patsy Mink: On the 20th anniversaryof Patsy Mink’s passing, I really enjoyed the chance to learn more about justhow impressive and influential her political career was.

7)     October1-2: Kelly Marino’s Guest Post: The “American Queen”: “Sweetheart” Bracelets,Jewelry Trends, and the World Wars: The next of those many great GuestPosts featured Kelly Marino on all we can learn from material culture.

8)     October 3:Bad Presidents: James Buchanan: My bad presidents series ended whereyou’d expect, but it also allowed me to think through some of the worst of hispredecessors, starting with a very competitive entrant in the category.

9)     October8-9: Anita Siraki’s Guest Post on Interview with the Vampire: Theawesome Guest Posts rolled on with Anita Siraki on a new TV adaptation of AnneRice.

10)  October11: RunningStudying: The Boston Marathon: Despite living in the Boston areafor the majority of my 46 years, I still had a lot to learn about its iconicroad race.

11)  October15-16: RunningStudying: Aidan Railton’s Guest Post on Strava: All theyear’s Guest Posts were fantastic, but nothing can top sharing my older son’swriting for the first time!

12)  October18: HUAC Histories: The Blacklist: One of my favorite things to do onthe blog is take a subject I and we know a bit about and add a ton more detailand context, which I felt I was able to do throughout this series on HUAC andMcCarthyism.

13)  October28: PBS People: Bob Ross: But another favorite thing is to blog abouttopics I never imagined I’d be writing about, and the peaceful painter Bob Rossis high on that list.

14)  November5-6: Anya Jabour’s Guest Post on Legionnaire’s Disease: The nextexcellent Guest Post, Anya Jabour contextualizing a very challenging medicalcrisis.

15)  November12-13: 12 Years of AmericanStudying: My Reflections: The bestpart of my annual anniversary series is the chance to reflect on all that thisblog and you all have meant to me.

16)  November17: Public Art: The Harriet Wilson Statue: There’s so much amazing public artin New England, and one of my favorite is Southern New Hampshire’s tribute toHarriet Wilson.

17)  November19-20: Lily Hart’s Guest Post on Voices of the River: It’sespecially cool to share Guest Posts from folks who reached out to me, and thatwas the case with Lily Hart and this post on a vital new journal and project.

18)  November25: Thanks-givings: Young Voters: My Thanksgiving posts this year wereshort but sweet, and none sweeter nor more significant than my tribute to theyouthful voters who saved the 2022 election and just might save us all.

19)  December7: Constitutional Contexts: Delaware: For the 235th anniversaryof Delaware’s historic ratification of the Constitution, it was fun tocontextualize that crucial moment.

20)  December19-25: A Defining Wish: For this year’s wish for the AmericanStudiesElves, I focused on a defining hope for both the blog and America.

21)  December28: 2022 in Review: Hot Girl Music: I’d be lying if I said I everexpected to blog about Nicki Minaj and Lizzo—but that’s one of many reasons whyI keep doing this!

22)  January 5:2023 Anniversaries: 1923 and Hollywood: Did you know that the Hollywood signand Disney Studios debuted in the same year?

23)  January7-8: Einav Rabinovitch-Fox’s Guest Post on Senatorial Fashion: The nextcompelling Guest Post featured fashion historian Einav Rabinovitch-Fox on JohnFetterman’s suit.

24)  January14-15: Five Years of Considering History: Two Tributes and a Request: Ienjoyed the chance to look back on my first five years writing for the Saturday Evening Post, culminating inthis tribute to my editor, a loyal reader, and you all!

25)  January24: AbortionStudying: Sarah Grosvenor: I don’t normally feature two postsfrom the same series, but in this case the pairing of one 18thcentury historical figure...

26)  January26: AbortionStudying: Dirty Dancing: … and one late 20thcentury romantic film reflects the breadth I’m really trying for on theblog. 

27)  January30: Travel Stories: Around the World in Eighty Days: On the150th anniversary of Jules Verne’s novel, it was fun to think aboutthree American figures who inspired or tried out the travel feat.

28)  February11-12: Football (and Sports) Studiers: After Guest Posts, my secondfavorite thing to share on the blog is tributes to fellow AmericanStudiers—likethis list of folks doing great work in Sports Studies.

29)  February16: Songs I Love: “The Barka-Darling River”: Discovering an amazing new albumfrom an all-time favorite band was one of the best parts of 2022, so I was gladto share one of those songs in my Valentine’s series.

30)  February18-19: Hettie Williams’ Guest Post on Black Writers & AIDS:Returning Guest Posters are a particular delight, and so I was very glad toshare another from Hettie Williams.

31)  February25-26: Crowd-sourced Non-favorites: My favorite crowd-sourced post ofthe year didn’t disappoint, with lots of righteous airing of grievances.

32)  March 1:Temperance Milestones: Three Reformers: Yes, the anti-masturbation inventorof the Graham Cracker stands out, but all three of these 19thcentury temperance reformers are compelling subjects.

33)  March 8:American Cars: Rebel Without a Cause: I don’t get to stretch my closereading muscles too often in this case, but I always love when I do, as was thecase here with the iconic “chicken run” scene from the James Dean film.

34)  March 17:Wild West Stories: True Grit: And the close readings continued with anin-depth examination of Charles Portis’ excellent 1968 novel.

35)  March25-26: Bruce in 2023: Getting to see Springsteen in concert withmy sons was a life highlight, and the fact that the whole show was about agingand memory, loss and persistence, the past and the future? So much betterstill.

36)  April15-16: Remembering Reconstruction: Kidada Williams’ I Saw Death Coming: Anotherfavorite thing is to get to highlight scholarly books, and one of the best ofthe year to date is Kidada Williams’ history of Reconstruction.

37)  April 17:Soap Opera Studying: 1930s Origins: If you’re like me, you probablyhaven’t heard of any of these five pioneering women—so read the post andrectify the situation!

38)  May 5:Hemispheric Histories: The Panama Canal: There have been conversations andefforts toward a waterway through Panama for nearly 200 years, and I enjoyedtracing that history through three treaties.

39)  May 19:Watergate Figures: Jill Wine-Volner: This post on one of Watergate’s mostprominent investigators was already a favorite, and then she generously sharedand responded it to Twitter and took it to the next level.

40)  May 27-28:Barrett Beatrice Jackson’s Guest Post on Norman Rockwell, Robert Butler, andHer Grandfather: The last of the Guest Posts in this list was this fun one fromBarrett Beatrice Jackson—make sure to propose your own to keep the seriesgoing!

41)  June 6:Environmental Activisms: Mardy Murie: There are countless impressive andinspiring Americans to learn about, including the “Grandmother of theConservation Movement.”

42)  June 12:Women in War: The Women’s Armed Services Integration Act: Wedefinitely need to better remember Truman’s 1948 racial integration of the USArmed Forces—but we likewise have to add this vital gender integration law fromthe same year.

43)  June 29:Germany and America: The German American Bund: A series inspired by Kennedy’sinspiring Berlin speech turned to one of the most horrific & tellingmoments in American history, the February 1939 Nazi rally in Madison SquareGarden.

44)  July 17:Seneca Falls Studying: Quaker Communities: It was really fun to learn moreabout the Seneca Falls Convention--& its very surprising origins inparticular—for this 175th anniversary series.

45)  July 26:Korean War Studying: Films: Did you know that more than 20 Korean Warfilms were released between 1951 and 1953? Here are three that help us see howthat cultural genre evolved.

46)  August 4:SiblingStudying: The Eaton Sisters: No American siblings inspired memore than Edith Maude & Winifred Eaton.

Next bdaypost tomorrow,

Ben

PS. Youknow what to do!

August 14, 2025: Birthday Bests: 2021-2022

[On August15th, this AmericanStudier celebrates his 48th birthday.So as I do each year, here’s a series sharing some of my favorite posts fromeach year on the blog, leading up to a new post with 48 favorites from the lastyear. And as ever, you couldn’t give me a better present than to say hi andtell me a bit about what brings you to the blog, what you’ve found or enjoyedhere, your own AmericanStudies thoughts, or anything else!]

Here theyare, 45 favorite posts from my 12th year of AmericanStudying:

1)     August 27:American Teens: John Hughes Films: A series inspired by my pair of highschoolers concluded with this fun way to reconsider classic 80s films.

2)     September11-12: Tayna Roth’s Guest Post on “The Real Miss America”: I’vehad a ton of great Guest Posts this year, and you’d better believe I’m gonnahighlight them all, starting with this one drawn from Tanya’s excellent newbook!

3)     September18-19: Domestic Terrorism: 9/11 and 1/6: I’ve spent a lot of time this yearthinking and talking about January 6th, 2021, including in thiscomparative weekend post.

4)     September24: American Modernists: F. Scott Fitzgerald: Want to read Fitzgerald beyond Gatsby? This phenomenal short story is agood place to start.

5)     October 8:AmericanFires: The Great Chicago Fire: I promise I won’t use much of thisspace to promote my Saturday Evening Postcolumns, but this one lined up really well with a blog series.

6)     October15: SitcomStudying: We Love Lucy: Getting to revisit and rethinkfamiliar subjects is one of the real perks of this blog, and I enjoyed thechance to AmericanStudy I Love Lucy.

7)     October19: Work in Progress: Lesson Plan for CT Humanities: A funstory of the long afterlife of one of my first online pieces—and now I canshare the lessonplan itself!

8)     November3: Action Figures: Charles Bronson and Death Wish: In aseries inspired by Bronson’s 100th birthday, it was fun to exploreand challenge my preconceptions about his seminal film.

9)     November13-14: 11th Anniversary Tributes: Gotta share my tribute to what theRailton family have meant to this blog (and beyond)!

10)  November20-21: The Montgomery Bus Boycott: 21st Century Legacies &Echoes: There are lots of good reasons to learn history, but high on thelist has to be what it can help us understand in our own moment.

11)  November27-28: Emily Lauer’s Guest Post on Afrofuturism in Museums: Emily ismy first three-time Guest Poster, and since she keeps doing such great work, Icouldn’t be happier about that!

12)  December4-5: Crowd-sourced Online Reading List: I ended a series for ProjectGutenberg’s 50th birthday by sharing these recommendations fromfellow OnlineAmericanStudiers.

13)  December13: Fall Semester Recaps: First Year Experience Seminar: FYE wasa tough class to teach and an even tougher one to get right—but when I did, itsure felt extra meaningful and helpful.

14)  December20: Wishes for the AMST Elves: Higher Ed Funding: Thiswhole series was fun to write as ever, but this is the most universallyrelevant for my week’s wishes to be sure.

15)  December27: Year in Review: The Braves: Celebrating yet also critiquing thesurprising success of a favorite team—that’s the AmericanStudier way!

16)  December31: Year in Review: New Novels: I don’t get to read for pleasure toomuch these days, but these are books well worth finding time for.

17)  January 5:2022 Anniversaries: 1872 and Henry Wilson: I always learn a lot when I researchspecific years for the blog, and this discovery about Grant’s second vicepresident was no exception.

18)  January14: Women in Politics: Shirley Chisholm’s Campaigns: Runningfor president was just the tip of the iceberg of Chisholm’s impressivepolitical and activist career.

19)  January25: American Gangsters: Capturing Capone: Any time I get to write aboutTintin, I promise to share it in these series!

20)  January31: Bill MurrayStudying: Tootsie: Ditto any time I get to write aboutone of my favorite 80s films and how it (mostly) still holds up.

21)  February12-13: Kurtis Kendall’s Guest Post on Athlete Activism: Andreally really ditto when I’m sharing a Guest Post from an FSU English Studiesalum!

22)  February19-20: More Podcasts We Love: Please check out all the podcastshighlighted in this weeklong series—and now here’s my ownepisode of Drafting the Past!

23)  February22: Non-Favorite Myths: The Supreme Court: One of those times I really wish Ihad been less prescient in my analyses and predictions about our currentclimate.

24)  March 5-6:Megan Kate Nelson’s New Book on Yellowstone: Always great when I can end a seriesby highlighting a wonderful new book from a friend!

25)  March 11:The Pacific Theater: “I Shall Return”: Douglas MacArthur, quite theasshole but still a powerfully inspiring leader as well. Such is theAmericanStudying dance!

26)  March 21:Rock and Roll Groundbreakers: The Moondog Coronation Ball: If youthought I was going to miss a chance to write “Moondog Coronation Ball” acouple more times—well, you thought wrong.

27)  March 28:Stand-Up Studying: Anthony Jeselnik: Few things better than getting toanalyze a cultural work you love, and finding new layers in the process.

28)  April9-10: Arbor Day Activists: One of the people most responsible for ArborDay’s existence was Birdsey Northrop. I feel like we all need to know that.

29)  April 18:Boston Marathon Studying: The First Marathon: There’s a lot of pretty fascinatingstuff about the 1897 Boston Marathon—here’s just some of it.

30)  April23-24: Tiffany Chenault’s Guest Post: Boston Marathon RECAP: Myfriend and SSN Boston co-leader Tiffany ran her first Boston this year, and hada lot of great thoughts about the experience!

31)  April 26:Ulysses Grant Studying: His Book: Dedicating a whole series to theunderappreciated Grant was fun, and I learned a lot, as illustrated by thispost on his wonderful memoirs.

32)  May 7-8:Scholarship on Internment: I’ll never pass up a chance to re-uphighlights of favorite scholarly voices and works!

33)  May 14-15:Spring Semester Reflections: Adult Ed and Two Sandlots: Gettingto teach adult learning classes centered around a book in progress was a new,and very rewarding, experience.

34)  May 21-22:Aviation Histories: Amelia Earhart: There’s so much more to Earhart thanjust her most famous flights.

35)  May 28-29:Sydney Kruszka’s Guest Post: Why We Should All Read Maus: I’vebeen able to share three Guest Posts now from students taught by my friendRobin Field—and I’d love to share ones from y’all’s students too!

36)  June 9:Judy Garland Studying: Judgment at Nuremberg: I had completely forgotten that JudyGarland was in Judgment—much less howstunningly good her performance was.

37)  June11-12: LGBTQ Icons: Garland was also an icon and inspiration tothe LGBTQ community—as we the other four women I highlighted in this post.

38)  June 13:Revisiting Beach Reads: Tony Hillerman: With the excellent new Hillermanadaptation Dark Winds recently out,it was fun to dip back into a childhood favorite.

39)  June25-26: Las Vegas Studying: Vegas in Song: This whole Vegas series was a blast,but I especially enjoyed the chance to write about The Killers and so manyother Vegas songs.

40)  July 9-10:4th of July Contexts: Patriotism in 2022 America: Do Ineed to say more about why this is an all-too relevant topic?

41)  July 12:Investigative Journalists: Nellie Bly: Another one where I learned so muchabout my subject for the day.

42)  July 19:UtahStudying: National Parks: Lots in this one I enjoyed learning, but I’msharing mostly for the unforgettable quote about Bryce Canyon and cows.

43)  July 26:Christmas (Songs) in July: “Winter Wonderland” and “Jingle Bells”: Youknow you want to read about how I AmericanStudied those holiday classics—inJuly!

44)  August 1: AmericanPhones:The Great Gatsby: Had a Gatsby post in my first few in thislist, gotta have one in my last few as well. Rules are rules.

45)  August6-7: Hettie Williams’ Guest Post on Beyoncé’s Renaissance: Alwaysexcited when I can end a list like this with my newest Guest Post!

Next bdaypost tomorrow,

Ben

PS. Youknow what to do!

August 13, 2025: Birthday Bests: 2020-2021

[On August15th, this AmericanStudier celebrates his 48th birthday.So as I do each year, here’s a series sharing some of my favorite posts fromeach year on the blog, leading up to a new post with 48 favorites from the lastyear. And as ever, you couldn’t give me a better present than to say hi andtell me a bit about what brings you to the blog, what you’ve found or enjoyedhere, your own AmericanStudies thoughts, or anything else!]

Here theyare, 44 favorite posts from the 11th year of AmericanStudying:

1)     August 24:Katrina at 15: Nature or Nuture?: I always enjoy posts that get meway out of my comfort zone, and writing about meteorology to kick off thisanniversary series definitely did the trick.

1)     August 31:Fall Semester Previews: A Policy of Care: I sure wasn’t happy with much abouthow the last academic year went—but I stand by everything I wrote in this post,and am so glad I made this my priority for each and every student.

2)     SpecialPost: The Rock Springs Massacre and Working-Class White Supremacist Violence: Thinkthis is the only time I’ve ever shared a piece outside the blog’s dailyoperations; it didn’t end up running for my SaturdayEvening Post column, so you got it here!

3)     September9: History through Games: Careers: Every piece in this series was a tonof fun to write, but none more so than this trip through American history andculture via the board game Careers.

4)     September19-20: Nazis in America: Project Paperclip and Hunters: I learned a whole lot while researching andwriting this series, all inspired by watching the problematic but compellingAmazon original show Hunters.

5)     September26-27: Crowd-sourced AutumnStudying: I won’t include every crowd-sourcedpost from the last year in this list—but I could, because I love love loveevery one of them.

6)     October 5:Recent Reads: How Much of These Hills is Gold: Gotta highlight two posts from thisseries of book recommendations: this one, on the best novel I read last year…

7)     October 9:Recent Reads: Susie King Taylor’s Memoir: And this one, on a favoritehistorical source I found (and about which I ended up recording a wholepodcast episode as well!).

8)     October15: Confederate Memory: The Shaaras: Revisiting childhood favoritesthrough an analytical lens is never easy, but it sure is important, especiallywhen it comes to topics like Civil War memory.

9)     October24-25: The World in 2020: If you look back through these bday lists,you’ll see that I hardly ever directly engaged current events in the blog’searly years. That’s been one main thread of my public scholarly evolution, asthis post illustrates.

10)  October31-November 1: Robin Field’s Guest Post on Toni Morrison & the Rape Novel: Alsomight not highlight every Guest Post in this list, which is a sign of the verynice fact that I had more than ever before in this past year. (If you want towrite one, you knowwhat to do!)

11)  November9-13: AmericanStudies’ 10th Anniversary and Online PublicScholarship: Once again gotta highlight a couple interconnected posts, theseanniversary reflections…

12)  November14-15: Anniversary Acknowledgments: And these anniversary, heartfeltthanks!

13)  November21-22: Laura E. Franey’s Guest Post on The Keepers: I dohave to highlight this Guest Post as well, since they rarely line up soperfectly and thoughtfully with the whole week’s series as Laura’s great postdid!

14)  November27: Book Thanksgivings: Y’all: Having a book coming out is a chance tothank so many folks, and I hope you’ll read every post in this series. But ifyou read just one, make it the one dedicated to you!

15)  December5-6: AIDS and COVID: I could have written many more posts aboutCOVID than I did, and I think that was the right call. But this seriesconcluder made sense, and helped me think through some historical contexts andcontrasts.

16)  December19-20: Crowd-sourced Fall 2020 Reflections: I value all my semester reflections,and I hope you’ll check them out. But this was a year for community andsolidarity, so here’s a small expression of those more vital than ever goals.

17)  December26-27: AmericanWishing: My Sons: Do I really need to say any morethan that title?

18)  December28: Year in Review: Race, Memory, and Justice: 2021 has shaped up to be even moredefined by those themes as 2020 was.

19)  January 4:Hope-full Texts: “A Long December”: Not sure I ever would havepredicted that I’d get to write about my favorite Counting Crows song in thisspace. Very glad I was wrong!

20)  January17: Emily Hamilton-Honey’s Hope-full Guest Post: I thinkthis is a first for the blog—an online friend and fellow AmericanStudier read aseries and crowd-sourced post and had so many thoughts that it turned into aGuest Post!

21)  January21: MLK Histories: Where Do We Go from Here?: We all have a lot more to learnabout and from MLK; for me, this final book of his was a striking case inpoint.

22)  February6-7: Sports in 2021: Revolutionary Change: I think it’s fair to say sports haveand haven’t lived up to this potential over the last six months—but there’sstill time!

23)  February13-14: Short Stories I Love: Ilene Railton’s Stories: If youthought I wouldn’t share this Valentine’s series post, well, you were sorelymistaken.

24)  February20-21: Crowd-sourced Non-Favorites: The annual crowd-sourced airing ofgrievances didn’t disappoint!

25)  February27-28: Adam Golub’s Guest Post on Creativity and American Studies: Adam wasone of my first online AMST colleagues (and Twitter follows), and it was a joyto finally get to share a bit of his work in this Guest Post.

26)  March 8:Spring Break Films: Spring Break: Like most universities, we didn’tget a Spring Break this year—but I took us all down to sunnier climes throughthis fun series, starting with this (rightfully) forgotten 80s film.

27)  March13-14: Of Thee I Sing Update!: OfThee I Sing was published on March 15, so I kicked off a series on itscentral concepts and my book talk plans with this special post (I hope you’llcheck out the whole series, as well as thispage with talks, podcasts, etc.!).

28)  March 29:Key & Peele Studying: Negrotown: Dedicating my annual April Fool’sseries to my favorite sketch comedy duo was a very good and very fun idea.

29)  April 6:NeMLA Recaps: Grace Sanders Johnson’s Talk: I enjoyed everything about thisyear’s virtual NeMLA conference, and hope you’ll check out the whole recapsseries—but Grace’s talk was one of the most inspiring I’ve ever heard.

30)  April 21:RadioStudying: Alan Freed: If you’re like me, you know the name AlanFreed largely if not solely through the payola scandal. Suffice to say, there’sa lot more to the man and his legacies than that!

31)  April24-25: Kate Jewell’s Guest Post: A Love Letter to College Radio: I’veteam-taught numerous AmericanStudies with Kate, which means I was super excitedto finally feature a Guest Post from her and just as excited to share it withyou again here!

32)  May 8-9:Victoria Scavo’s Guest Post on Gender Roles in Italian American Culture &Literature: Fine, maybe I am gonna share most of the year’s Guest Posts.They’re just all unique and meaningful—like this one, from an undergraduatestudent of my friend and her fellow Guest Poster Robin Field!

33)  May 10:Spring 2021 Moments: Jericho Brown and the Power of Poetry: ThisSpring was the toughest semester of my teaching career, but even amidst allthat there were moments of grace and inspiration. This one really stood out.

34)  May 18:Small Axe and America: Remembering Reggae: It was fun thinking about how toapply Steve McQueen’s wonderful film series about West Indian Englishcommunities to AmericanStudying. This was my favorite in the series.

35)  May 29-30:Sarah Satkowsi’s Guest Post on T.C. Boyle: You knew I couldn’t share one GuestPost from a student of Robin Field’s and not the other!

36)  June 5-6:A Memorial Day Tribute: War and patriotism are two topics it’s easyto caricature—but both, individually and especially together, can and should becommemorated, just not in the ways we far too often have and do.

37)  June 11:Basketball Stories: WNBA Stars: The ad campaign for the new WNBAseason was about how we should all be ashamed we haven’t been watching. Notsure about it as a marketing strategy, but, well, it’s damn accurate.

38)  June 14:American Whistleblowers: Daniel Ellsberg: For the 50th anniversaryof the Pentagon Papers, this post got Twitter engagement from none other thanEllsberg himself!

39)  June 28:Talking Of Thee I Sing: GCE Lab School: It’s been a great Spring of booktalks and conversations about my new book, and I’d love for you to check outthis whole series and then suggest some more such opportunities, please!

40)  July10-11: Pop Culture Workers: Another very fun post to plan and write,from John Sayles to Hustlers and a lot of work and works in between.

41)  July 20:Expanding Histories: United States v. Burr: I’ve long professed my love forBurr, so this was a tough but important look at the seedier sides of US historyto which he so fully connects.

42)  July26-August 1: AmericanStudiers to Highlight: Gonna cheat and make this wholeseries one highlight, as you should really check out all these great folks& voices (including Hettie Williams’ Guest Post on the weekend, natch)!

43)  August 2:AmericanStudies Websites: Steve Railton’s Trio: I couldsay the same about all the websites in this series; but I can’t help but singleout this filial focus.

Nextbirthday post tomorrow,

Ben

PS. Youknow what to do!

August 12, 2025: Birthday Bests: 2019-2020

[On August15th, this AmericanStudier celebrates his 48th birthday.So as I do each year, here’s a series sharing some of my favorite posts fromeach year on the blog, leading up to a new post with 48 favorites from the lastyear. And as ever, you couldn’t give me a better present than to say hi andtell me a bit about what brings you to the blog, what you’ve found or enjoyedhere, your own AmericanStudies thoughts, or anything else!]

Here theyare, 43 favorite posts from 2019-20 on the blog:

August 23:Cville Influences: Satyendra Huja: It was fun to learn more about andshare the story of a quietly pivotal figure from my Cville childhood.

September2: Academic Labor: Adjunctification: In place of my annual fall previewseries, for my sabbatical I wanted to think through the (now even more) crucialissues around academic labor, starting with the most fraught and fundamentalsuch issue.

September7-8: Academic Labor: Hire Jeff Reyne!: Sometimes the blog gets especiallypersonal, and this was one such example. I stand by every word!

September9: Slave Rebellions: The Stono Rebellion: This whole series was one of thosefrom which I learned a great deal through the research and writing, and thatwas doubly true of the South Carolina revolt that provided the anniversaryaround which the series centered.

September26: AmericanStudy a Banned Book: Heather Has Two Mommies: Some ofmy favorite posts are those on topics I literally had never thought about (atleast not in an analytical context) until the series called for it. This one ona ground-breaking 1989 children’s book fits that description to a T.

October 2:Recent Reads: There There: Let’s just say this post’s main point, aboutnecessary challenges to my critical optimism, has come to feel all tooprescient as 2020 has unfolded.

October21: The 1850 Women’s Rights Convention: Paulina Kellogg Wright Davis: I’m notsure how I went so long without knowing that the first national women’s rightsconvention was held in Worcester, but it was a lot of fun to learn about thatconvention and some of its pivotal figures.

October26-27: Ariella Archer’s Guest Post: My Scary Thoughts: The Evolution of ThreeHorror Genres: Guest Posts remain my favorite part of the blog, and Ariella’smade for perfect Halloween week reading!

November6: 9 Years of AmericanStudier: Sharing Your Voices: Speakingof, some anniversary week reflections on the best part of the blog (and how youcan add your voice to it!).

November16-17: Kent Rose’s Guest Post: How I Got to Nelson Algren: And theGuest Post trifecta concludes with singer-songwriter Kent Rose on anunder-appreciated American novelist.

November23-24: Teaching Local Color: Between fall sabbatical and the clusterfuckthat was spring 2020, teaching has sure felt different over the last year—butit remains a key focus of my AmericanStudying, as of every aspect of my careerand life.

December11: 50s Musical Icons: Patti Page: Did you know that Page was the 50stop-charting and best-selling female artist? I didn’t until researching thisfun post.

December16: Book Talk Recaps: Temple Graduate English Program: My wholefall of We the People book talks waswonderful, but this return to my grad program was a special treat.

December20: Book Talk Recaps: The Boston Athenaeum: But just as special in its own waywas the chance to talk in this beautiful, historic space.

January 6:AmericanStudying Unbelievable: Sexual Assault: I’ve watched a ton of great TV overthe last year, but at the top of the list is this Netflix original police showthat’s also so much more.

January25-26: 21st Century Voices of Civil Rights: I lovedthe chance to highlight a handful of the many activists, writers, and scholarswho inspire my work every day.

January31: Sports and Politics: The Nationals at the White House: Ah,those halcyon days when a controversial appearance by the World Series champsseemed like big news.

February3: Immigration Laws: 19th Century Origins: Anotherof those whole series from which I learned a ton and which helped me continuethinking through a topic of central interest (to me and all of us).

February15-16: Fantasy Stories I Love: African Fantasy: Althoughmy spring semester didn’t go the way I hoped (to understate the case), it wasstill great to read and teach Kai Ashante Wilson’s Sorcerer of the Wildeeps as part of my larger engagement withAfrican and African American fantasy.

February22-23: Crowd-sourced Non-Favorites: Always one of my favorite posts ofthe year, and this year’s didn’t disappoint!

February24: Leap Years: 1816: I was 42 years old when I learned about theYear without a Summer, but, as with everything I write about on the blog,better late than never!

March 2:Boston Sites: The Freedom Trail: The series led to some interesting,ongoing conversations with both the various historic sites and my old friendNat Sheidley, now CEO of RevolutionarySpaces!

March 9:Last Week Recaps: SSN Boston and 2020 in Massachusetts: I had noidea the first week of March would be the last “normal” week of the year forme, but it was also a wonderfully full week for events, including this vitalpart of SSN Boston’s ongoing work.

March 18:StoweStudying: New England Local Color: I’ve strayed pretty far from myfirst book and my English PhD roots, but many of those subjects remain centralto my AmericanStudying nonetheless. This post offers a great example!

March 23:AmericanStudying the Deuce: Lori, Emily Meade, and Exploitation: Someposts practically write themselves, and that was the case with this explorationof one of my favorite TV characters and performances of the last few years.

April 4-5:Dolemite is … the Subject of This Post: Another wonderful character andperformance, and a lot of important cultural and American history to boot.

April 10:Poets We Should All Read: Robin Jewel Smith’s Suggestions: Myfavorite post in my National Poetry Month series was this group of contemporarypoetry suggestions from one of our most talented young poets!

April18-19: 21st Century Arab American Writers: Alongthose same lines, I ended my National Arab American Heritage Month series byhighlighting a handful of our many talented and vital contemporary authors.

April 22:Models of Critical Patriotism: “Eulogy on King Philip”:Critical patriotism is a central subject of my next book, and I know few betterexamples than William Apess’s stunning speech.

May 5:American Epidemics: Yellow Fever: My first series to address directlyour new 2020 realities, and a post on how such realities have influencedAmerica since our origins.

May 11:Spring 2020 Tributes: Lisa Gim and My English Studies Department: Ireplaced my annual Spring semester recaps with a series of heartfelt tributesto those who helped me get through this toughest semester of my career—nonemore heartfelt than this one.

May 16-17:Spring 2020 Reflections: And I ended that series with a few of my ownthoughts on teaching during COVID-19, which I hope might be useful for all ofus as we continue navigating those uncharted waters.

May 19:LibraryStudying: The Boston Public Library: Did you know that a Frenchventriloquist was a key factor in the development of the BPL? Me neither untilI researched this post!

June 4:MassMedia Studying: The March of Time and Newsreels: Theprominence and influence of early 20th century newsreels remainunder-appreciated, and I hope this post (like the new book I cite in it) mighthelp change that conversation.

June 12:Portsmouth Posts: The Black Heritage Trail: A rare locked-down road trip with mysons led me to this series on the many histories and stories around thePortsmouth (NH) waterfront.

June 22:BoschStudying: Harry: One of my most recent TV binges was Amazon’soriginal cop drama Bosch, whichinspired this series on the show’s five central characters.

July 4-5:Patriotism’s Contested Histories: Update on Of Thee I Sing!: A July4th series on the subject of my next book concludes with an updateon thatforthcoming project (now with a beautiful cover pictured above!).

July 6:Presidential Medals of Freedom: 1963 Recipients: It wasfun to look back through the 50+ year history of our highest civilian honor,starting with this post on some of the first recipients.

July 13:AmericanStudying Watchmen: Tulsa: When I finally got to watch HBO’s Watchmen, it more than led up to thehype, and it was fun to revisit the show for this week of posts.

July18-19: AmericanStudying Watchmen: Student Perspectives: Andespecially fun was the chance to share a few of my Spring 2020 Sci Fi/Fantasycourse’s many great student takes on the Watchmengraphic novel!

July 30:Great Movie Speeches: Jaws: I try to remain open to where historicanniversaries might take me—and the anniversary of the USS Indianapolis tragedy led me to this series on great moviespeeches, featuring Quint’s masterful monologue.

July 31:Great Movie Speeches: The American President: But also featuring one of theclearest and most inspiring statements of critical patriotism I’ve everencountered, President Andrew Shepherd’s riveting press conference speech.

August 5:Military Massacres: Balangiga: Chances are most of my readers haven’t heardof this Philippine American War massacre, which speaks to a large problem ofcollective memory that I hope posts like this can help address.

Nextbirthday post tomorrow,

Ben

PS. Youknow what to do!

August 11, 2025: Birthday Bests: 2018-2019

[On August15th, this AmericanStudier celebrates his 48th birthday.So as I do each year, here’s a series sharing some of my favorite posts fromeach year on the blog, leading up to a new post with 48 favorites from the lastyear. And as ever, you couldn’t give me a better present than to say hi andtell me a bit about what brings you to the blog, what you’ve found or enjoyedhere, your own AmericanStudies thoughts, or anything else!]

Here they are,42 favorite posts from 2018-19 on the blog:

1)     Cville aYear Later: I don’t imagine I’ll ever visit Cville without thinking about2017, but last year was particularly poignant, and I tried to capture some ofthose thoughts in this post.

2)     21stCentury Massacres and Hate Crimes: While I hope always to do justice tothe distinct histories on which many of my posts focus, I’ve becomeincreasingly insistent on connecting to our contemporary moment as well. I hopeI did so compellingly here.

3)     MassProtest Studying: The Whiskey Rebellion: Some of my favorite posts are thosewhere I know only the topic when I start, and have no idea where that topicmight take me. This was one of those!

4)     TinaPowell’s Guest Post on Refugee Literatures: Guest Posts remain one of myfavorite parts of the blog, and this was a particularly salient one.

5)     AmericanGay Studies: The Society for Human Rights: I could tell you that I already knewabout, indeed had heard of at all, America’s first, 1920s gay rightsorganization—but I’d never lie to you like that, fellow AmericanStudiers.

6)     AkeiaBenard’s Guest Post on the New Bedford Whaling Museum: It’sbeen awesome to watch my friend Akeia move into her role as the WhalingMuseum’s Curator of Social History, and it was just as awesome to get some ofher thoughts on that work here.

7)     Video GameStudying: Doom: This whole series was super fun to research and write, and thisparticular post brought me right back to late nights in my college dorm room.

8)     GhostStudying:Haunted Sites: Do I really need to sell a Halloween post on haunted historicsites around the US???

9)     MajorMidterms: 1874: Another post where I learned so much, and which really pushed meto rethink narratives of 1876 and the end of Federal Reconstruction.

10)  Finally, aBook Update!: On a professional level, the publication of my fifth andmost public book has been by far the best thing about thispast year. Still looking for any and all opportunities to talk about it thisfall!

11)  GettysburgStudying:Board Games: It’s always fun to revisit our childhoods and see what ouranalytical lenses can help us understand—and, yes, nostalgically nerd out abouthistorical board games.

12)  PearlHarbor Histories: The Varsity Victory Volunteers: The VVVare one of my favorite stories I learned for my book, and it was great to getto share a bit of that story here.

13)  RevolutionaryWritings: The Crisis: I love when my teaching informs my blog andvice versa, and both directions are part of this post on Tom Paine’s pamphlet.

14)  The Yearin Review: Electing America: Our current political climate continues tocause much despair, but figures like Veronica Escobar, Jahana Hayes, and DebHaaland give me reasons to hope.

15)  2019Anniversaries: President Grant: Nuance is hard, all the time anddoubly so in such a heated moment as ours. But I keep striving for it, as Ihope this post exemplifies.

16)  2019Predictions: I also strive more these days, as I said above, to connect thisblog to right now. Not sure yet whether I did so accurately here, but it wasfun to try!

17)  CubanAmerican Literature: I enjoyed writing this whole Cuban Americanseries, but engaging with three wonderful recent literary texts made for aparticularly fun endpoint.

18)  Crowd-sourcedAf Am Life Writing: It had been too long since I got to share acrowd-sourced post, and as always my fellow AmericanStudiers had a lot of greatresponses & ideas!

19)  Great(Sports) Debates: LeBron or Michael?: As my sons get older, conversationswith them make their way onto the blog a lot more often. This was one of thosetimes!

20)  ThePhilippine American War: War or Insurrection?: So many huge and crucial Americanhistories remain entirely unremembered in our collective memories. This 20-yearwar is certainly high on that list.

21)  Movies ILove: The Opposite of Sex and You Can Count on Me: Is myannual Valentine’s series an excuse to write analytical love letters tofavorite things of mine? Well, duh!

22)  Crowd-sourcedNon-Favorites: I don’t imagine my annual crowd-sourced Airing of Grievancesneeds any further introduction.

23)  The SalemWitch Trials: Tituba: Inclusive American histories don’t justhighlight figures and stories we need to remember—they open up so many vitalcontexts for understanding all of us, past and present.

24)  Rememberingthe Alamo: A Mexican Memoir: Another one of those texts and voices Imight never have learned about if it weren’t for a blog series.

25)  IrishAmerican Literature: I know, I’m always adding more compellingtexts to the Must Read list. #SorryNotSorry!

26)  YA Series:The Chronicles of Prydain, Revisited: One of my favorite personal threadsfrom the past year has been watching my older son get into fantasy series Iloved as a kid. That started here, with the wonderful Lloyd Alexander!

27)  NeMLA 2019Recaps: Homi Bhabha: Thanks to the great ClaireSommers, NeMLA 2019 featured this stunning keynote address. Read allabout it, then submit anabstract to join us at NeMLA 2020 in Boston!

28)  80sComedies: Airplane!: Not to get all Talking Heads on ya, but youmay find yourself writing about Airplane!on your public scholarly blog, and you may ask yourself, how awesome is that??

29)  StatueStudying:Christ of the Ozarks: I’m sure plenty of folks already know thatthere’s a 65.5 foot tall statue of Jesus in Arkansas. But I sure didn’t!

30)  Patriots’Day Texts: “This Land”: If you think I would miss any opportunity tobeg you to check out Gary Clark Jr.’s song and video if you haven’t yet, well,you’d be mistaken.

31)  Earth DayStudying: Animated Activisms: Not gonna lie, writing about Captain Planet and FernGully brought.me.back.

32)  RodneyKing in Context: Rodney King: There are lots of reasons to revisithistorical moments like the Rodney King riots, but doing more justice to thehuman figures at their center is very high on the list.

33)  TravelWriting: Sarah Kemble Knight: I’m not sure anyone who doesn’t take anAmerican Lit survey class (or read the NortonAnthology for fun) is likely to encounter Knight’s travel narrative. That’sa shame and one I tried to remedy here.

34)  AsAmerican as Blue Jeans: Jean Jackets: This was another unexpected and funseries overall, but any post that features both The Boss and Miley Cyrus isgonna show up in the Birthday Bests.

35)  JewishAmerican Journeys: Philip Roth and Sarah Silverman: Bloggingallows me to experiment with ideas, and connections, I might otherwise neverthink about. I think it yielded some interesting analyses here!

36)  JewishAmerican Journeys: Michael Hoberman’s Books: Blogging also allows me to paytribute to wonderful colleagues and scholars like Michael!

37)  AmericanStudiesBeach Reads: Ian Williams’s Reproduction: This whole series was a lot of funas always, but it was especially cool to learn more about my friend Ian’s debutnovel!

38)  21stCentury Lit: Jericho Brown: I wrote about Brown’s inspiring Twitter pagein this post, then he Retweeted my Tweet about the post and a ton more peopleget into the conversation. If that ain’t the best of 21C lit—well, it is, sothere.

39)  AlienAmerica: Brother from Another Planet: Everybody should see John Sayles’s1984 sci fi dramedy. I could say that about every Sayles film, but in this postI said it about that one!

40)  JeffRenye’s on The X-Files: My latest and one of my favorite Guest Postsfrom one of my favorite people!

41)  21stCentury American Anthems: It was fun to think about which recent songs(and one recent poem) would work well as new anthems. What would you nominate?

42)  RememberingMarilyn Monroe: Her American Origins: I learned a ton about Monroe in thecourse of researching and writing this series, one more reminder that this bloghas meant a great deal to my own continued growth, day in and day out!

Nextbirthday post tomorrow,

Ben

PS. Youknow what to do!

PPS. Todaywould have been Dad’s77th birthday. Please send some thoughts and love his and ourway if you would!