August 2, 2025: July 2025 Recap

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

June 30: Models of Critical Patriotism: Hannah Griffitts: For this year’s 4^th of July series, I excerpted and expanded upon sections from Of Thee I Sing, starting with this post on the great poem “The Female Patriots."

July 1: Models of Critical Patriotism: David Walker: The series continues with a fiery work and voice that exemplify the “critical” in critical patriotism.

July 2: Models of Critical Patriotism: Standing Bear: Two 2025 takeaways from one of our most inspiring court rulings, as the series celebrates on.

July 3: Models of Critical Patriotism: Carlos Bulosan: One of our most poetic and powerful patriotic passages.

July 4: Models of Critical Patriotism: Thoreau: The series concludes with a July 4^th special on a particularly patriotic text from one of our best protest voices.

July 5-6: Keeping the Critical Patriotic Conversations Going: And a special weekend follow-up request for opportunities to keep talking about my book and all things American patriotism!

July 7: Rock-y Groundbreakers: Bill Haley: In honor of Haley’s 100^th birthday, a series on rock ‘n roll pioneers kicks off with how Haley’s mythos is limited but still important.

July 8: Rock-y Groundbreakers: Chuck Berry and Little Richard: The series continues with a pair of foundational voices who represent some of the worst and best of rock and race.

July 9: Rock-y Groundbreakers: Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens: Two ways to separate a forever-linked pair, and one non-tragic way to pair them, as the series rocks on.

July 10: Rock-y Groundbreakers: Fats Domino: A few iconic moments in the career of the legendary rock ‘n roller.

July 11: Rock-y Groundbreakers: Women Who Rock: The series concludes with four of the many women who helped launch the rock revolution, through pieces by female journalists and historians.

July 12-13: Crowd-sourced Rock Responses: My first crowd-sourced post in a while, featuring responses to the week’s posts and further rock recs.

July 14: AmericanStudying Sinners: Coogler’s Career: A series on my favorite film of the year kicks off with how the director’s prior (great) films foreshadowed this masterpiece.

July 15: AmericanStudying Sinners: Hoodoo: The series continues with two literary predecessors to my favorite character in the film.

July 16: AmericanStudying Sinners: The Mississippi Chinese: A 1970s book and 2010s article that help contextualize one of the film’s most unique families, as the series screens on.

July 17: AmericanStudying Sinners: The Blues: Two stunning scenes that together embody the best of a foundational musical genre.

July 18: AmericanStudying Sinners: Interracial Romance: The series concludes with another layer to the film’s mid-credits scene and why I love it so much.

July 19-20: AmericanStudying Sinners: Other Scholars on the Film: A special weekend follow-up featuring responses to the film from fellow SinnersStudiers.

July 21: The U.S. Postal System: Ben Franklin: A series for the USPS’s 250^th anniversary kicks off with innovations from three stages in the career of the first Postmaster General.

July 22: The U.S. Postal System: The Pony Express: The series continues with three figures who helped shape the short-lived but iconic Western mail route.

July 23: The U.S. Postal System: Stamps: Six telling stamps that help trace the history of this essential element, as the series continues to deliver.

July 24: The U.S. Postal System: Mailed Threats: One moment when the mail was falsely perceived as threatening, other moments when it genuinely was, and how we can put them in conversation.

July 25: The U.S. Postal System: Cultural Representations: The series concludes with takeaways from five prominent cultural representations of the USPS, including Frog & Toad!

July 26-27: A Tribute to the U.S. Postal Service: A brief but impassioned weekend follow-up, making the case for the USPS, its workers, and all federal workers in 2025.

July 28: Echoes of Bad Presidents: Andrew Jackson: Speaking of 2025, a series inspired by Andrew Johnson’s death kicks off with how Andrew Jackson echoes our current worst president.

July 29: Echoes of Bad Presidents: James Buchanan: The series continues with one more obvious and one subtler echo of the pre-Civil War baddie.

July 30: Echoes of Bad Presidents: William McKinley: How tariffs reflect multiple layers of bad presidents past and present, as the series echoes on.

July 31: Echoes of Bad Presidents: Andrew Johnson: How our worst prior president both does and doesn’t echo our very worst one.

August 1: Echoes of Bad Presidents: The 20^th Century: The series and month conclude with quick hits from five 20^th century badnesses here in our very bad 21^st century moment.

Birthday posts start tomorrow,

Ben

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