August 17, 2024: Birthday Bests: 2022-2023

[On August15th, this AmericanStudier celebrated his 47th 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 47 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.

New Birthday Best post tomorrow,

Ben

PS. Youknow what to do!