books

• 
• SOURCE: The New Republic
  6/7/2022
  

  James Kirchick's "Secret City" Tells the Story of Closeted Washington

  by Samuel Clowes Huneke

  Samuel Huneke reviews a new history of the capital city's gay residents, which focuses on those in government and conservative politics and the gradual lessening of hostility to gays in public service, a choice that undermines the book's usefulness for understanding contemporary queer liberation issues. 

• 
• SOURCE: Black Perspectives
  4/27/2022
  

  A Preview of Summer Books in Black Studies

  by Robert Greene II

  Academics who plan to catch up on their reading this summer can look here for suggestions. 

• 
• SOURCE: The Atlantic
  4/19/2022
  

  These Books Tell of Change Happening Slowly, then Suddenly

  Historians Lynn Hunt, Adam Hochschild, Kate Clifford-Larse and Keenaga-Yamahtta Taylor are among the authors whose books dig beneath the surface of famous leaders to describe how social movements built the strength to change laws, institutions and ideas. 

• 
• SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
  4/12/2022
  

  Greg Ginn, SST Records, and the Rise of SoCal Punk

  "In its 1980s heyday, SST released at least a dozen canonical rock albums that were notable for their rejection of convention."

• 
• SOURCE: Washington Post
  3/25/2022
  

  Linda Hirshman Offers a Lively Dissection of the Competing Strains of American Abolitionism

  by Drew Gilpin Faust

  Hirshman focuses on the complex character of abolitionist editor Maria Weston Chapman, whose combination of moral fervor and racial prejudice pushed Frederick Douglass from the moralistic Garrisonian camp to a pragmatic and more effective strategy of political activism. 

• 
• SOURCE: Washington Post
  3/25/2022
  

  Ted Cruz is an Unwitting Publicist for Left-Leaning Books

  If you have written a book about racism, policing, or other controversial issues, your best promotional strategy is to have Senator Cruz wave your book around in a televised Senate hearing. 

• 
• SOURCE: The Atlantic
  3/16/2022
  

  A Family History of the Futility of Preparing for Nuclear War

  On the lessons learned from working at the government's network of bomb shelters. 

• 
• SOURCE: Philadelphia Gay News
  3/15/2022
  

  Marc Stein Examines LGBTQ History through Academic and Community Lenses

  "Queer Public History" examines the connections between academic historians and the shared narratives maintained by LGBTQ communities. 

• 
• SOURCE: The Atlantic
  3/11/2022
  

  Historian Marci Shore's Recommended Books for Understanding Ukraine

  Including history, memoir, political theory and fiction, the Yale historian of Ukraine recommends 9 books to those looking to get up to speed on the history of the crisis. 

• 
• SOURCE: The New Republic
  3/7/2022
  

  The Conservative and the Murderer

  Sarah Weinman's book on the friendship between William F. Buckley and convicted murderer Edgar Smith reveals uncomfortable truths about the balance of principle and self-interest in modern conservatism and the persistent tolerance of violence against women. 

• 
• SOURCE: Black Perspectives
  2/3/2022
  

  Teaching Fannie Lou Hamer, Past and Present

  by Nicole M. Gipson

  Keisha N. Blain's biography of the Mississippi freedom activist is an important addition to the literature, but also an excellent roadmap to teaching African American history and its linkages to present struggles for justice. 

• 
• SOURCE: Public Books
  1/6/2022
  

  In Praise of Search Tools

  by Diedre Lynch

  Books by Dennis Duncan and Craig Robertson examine the history of indexing, filing, and other technologies for locating information in books and the resultant culture of research.

• 
• SOURCE: Chronicle of Higher Education
  12/3/2021
  

  A Descent into Textual Paranoia

  by Christopher S. Celenza

  "Doing one's own research" in an environment of proliferating information and few gatekeepers isn't new to the internet age. 

• 
• SOURCE: Smithsonian
  11/30/2021
  

  Smithsonian's Ten Best History Books of 2021

  The titles chosen offer an escape from the present while also showing our connections to the past. 

• 
• SOURCE: TIME
  11/16/2021
  

  ‘We’re Preparing For a Long Battle.’ Librarians Grapple With Conservatives’ Latest Efforts to Ban Books

  by Olivia B. Waxman

  “We’re seeing an unprecedented volume of challenges,” says Deborah Caldwell-Stone, Executive Director of the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom. “I’ve worked for ALA for 20 years, and I can’t recall a time when we had multiple challenges coming in on a daily basis.”

• 
• SOURCE: Chronicle of Higher Education
  10/19/2021
  

  Leonard Moore: On Teaching Black History to White People

  Dr. Leonard Moore of the University of Texas, author of the new "Teaching Black History to White People," discusses the challenges of teaching about racism in America, both from conservatives who often demand "colorblindness" and elements of the "woke left" who often demand intellectual safety.

• 
• SOURCE: WNYC
  10/5/2021
  

  Keisha Blain Joins Melissa Harris Perry and Shanta Covington to Talk Fannie Lou Hamer and Black Freedom

  Award-winning historian and New York Times best-selling author Keisha Blain joins us to discuss her new book, Until I Am Free: Fannie Lou Hamer’s Enduring Message to America and the relevance of the civil and voting rights icon today.

• 
• SOURCE: Boston Review
  8/16/2021
  

  The US is Not a "Nation of Immigrants" (Excerpt)

  by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

  Celebrations of multiculturalism obscure the country’s settler colonial history—and the role that immigrants play in perpetuating it, argues Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz in a new book excerpted here.

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  8/16/2021
  

  Where America Went Wrong in Afghanistan (Review Essay)

  by Fredrik Logevall

  "It will be up to historians of the future, writing with broad access to official documents and with the kind of detachment that only time brings, to fully explain the remarkable early-morning scene at Bagram and all that led up to it. But there’s much we can already learn — abundant material is available."

• 
• SOURCE: NBC News
  8/3/2021
  

  Historian Rebecca Hall's New Graphic Novel Highlights Women's Role in Slave Revolts

  With illustrator Hugo Martinez, Rebecca Hall's debut graphic novel examines women's roles in slave rebellions during the Middle Passage and in the Americas.