April 2-3, 2022: March 2022 Recap

[A Recap of the month that was in AmericanStudying.]

March 5-6: Megan Kate Nelson’s New Book on Yellowstone: A National Parks series concludes with a special tribute to the great Megan Kate Nelson’s new book!

March 7: The Pacific Theater: Guadalcanal: For the 80th anniversary of “I Shall Return,” a Pacific Theater series kicks off with three texts to help us analyze the Guadalcanal campaign.

March 8: The Pacific Theater: Midway and The Thin Red Line: The series continues with clear and telling differences between two star-studded WWII epic films.

March 9: The Pacific Theater: Model-making and Tarawa: A childhood building war models and what they can help us understand, as the series rolls on.

March 10: The Pacific Theater: U.S.S. Midway Museum: Trying to make sense of two distinct and even contradictory public roles of a unique historic site.

March 11: The Pacific Theater: “I Shall Return”: On its 80thanniversary, how one moment can exemplify the best and worst of a controversial military leader.

March 12-13: The U.S. and the Philippines: A special weekend post on what we should better remember about three stages of a defining international relationship.

March 14: AmericanThaws: Eliot and Williams: A start of Spring series kicks off with two Modernist poems that exemplary contrasting yet complementary narratives of Spring and hope.

March 15: AmericanThaws: The U.S. and the U.K.: The series continues with how a longstanding animosity began to thaw, and why the specifics matter.

March 16: AmericanThaws: William Mahone: On which late-in-life evolutions impress me more than others, as the series springs on.

March 17: AmericanThaws: Chivalry in War: A unique and amazing moment of wartime humanity.

March 18: AmericanThaws: Nixon Goes to China: The series concludes with two ways to AmericanStudy an undeniable international turning point.

March 21: Rock and Roll Groundbreakers: The Moondog Coronation Ball: On the 70thanniversary of the first rock concert, a groundbreaking series kicks off with three layers to that foundational moment.

March 22: Rock and Roll Groundbreakers: Alan Freed: The series continues with two contrasting sides to the foundational DJ and how to bridge the gap.

March 23: Rock and Roll Groundbreakers: Fats Domino: A few iconic moments in the career of the legendary artist, as the series rocks on.

March 24: Rock and Roll Groundbreakers: Chuck Berry and Little Richard: A pair of foundational icons whose stories represent some of the worst and best of rock and race.

March 25: Rock and Roll Groundbreakers: Elvis Presley (and Frank Sinatra): The series concludes with the differences between influential and interesting.

March 26-27: 21st Century Rock and Roll: A special weekend tribute to a handful of the many contemporary rockers extending the genre’s legacies.

March 28: Stand-Up Studying: Anthony Jeselnik: An April Fool’s series on great stand-up bits kicks off with the darkly sweet humor of my favorite current comic.

March 29: Stand-Up Studying: Roy Wood Jr.: The series continues with an example of how Wood engages social and political issues without preaching (and hilariously).

March 30: Stand-Up Studying: Jim Jefferies: The bit on gun control that’s so smart my son used it in an argumentative essay, as the series jokes on.

March 31: Stand-Up Studying: Katherine Ryan: When an American expatriate in England turns her attention to a #MeToo response to Hamilton, the result is cross-cultural comic gold.

April 1: Stand-Up Studying: Five More Faves: The series concludes with five more great bits from a handful of awesome current comics!

Next series starts Monday,

Ben

PS. Topics you’d like to see covered in this space? Guest Posts you’d like to contribute? Lemme know!