Saturday, May 2, 2015

May 2-3, 2015: April 2015 Recap

[A Recap of the month that was in AmericanStudying.]
March 30: April Fools: Stooges and Marxes: An April Fools series on American humor kicks off with two talented and significant groups of siblings.
March 31: April Fools: The Interview: The series continues with what’s problematic, and what’s important, about the controversial recent comedy.
April 1: April Fools: Keaton and Chaplin: Mining the past or the present for laughs, and why we need both, as the series rolls on.
April 2: April Fools: Minstrel Shows: What we do with comic art that’s just not funny any more.
April 3: April Fools: James Thurber: The series concludes with three ways the unique humorist captured the human condition.
April 4-5: Crowd-sourced April Fools: An addendum of mine and funny responses from fellow AmericanFools—add your foolish-in-the-best-sense thoughts in comments!
April 6: Baseball Lives: Hank Greenberg: A series on meaningful baseball lives starts with why we should remember one of the first and greatest Jewish American athletes.
April 7: Baseball Lives: Josh Gibson and Satchel Paige: The series continues with what we can never know about Negro Leagues lives, and what we definitely can.
April 8: Baseball Lives: John Rocker: Three distinct, contradictory, and important stages in a controversial baseball life, as the series rolls on.
April 9: Baseball Lives: Cuban and Japanese Stars: Two recent communities of international stars, and the different historical contexts to which we can connect them.
April 10: Baseball Lives: Maria Pepe and Mo’ne Davis: The series concludes with two young stars who reflect how much has changed, and why we must remember both.
April 11-12: Tim McCaffrey’s Guest Post on Jackie Robinson: Extending the series with one of my favorite past Guest Posts, on a less well-remembered moment in one of our most inspiring baseball lives.
April 13: New AmericanStudies Books: Fugitive Slaves and the Unfinished American Revolution: A series on great new AmericanStudies books starts with one that helps us understand a crucial Early Republic question.
April 14: New AmericanStudies Books: States of Trial: The series continues with a book that exemplifies both international and interdisciplinary AmericanStudies.
April 15: New AmericanStudies Books: Belligerent Muse: A new book that complements a classic one, and what they offer us together, as the series rolls on.
April 16: New AmericanStudies Books: Chinese Yankee: The book that corrects a significant historical omission—and why that’s not even its best effect.
April 17: New AmericanStudies Books: Cowardice: A Brief History: The series concludes with a book that reminds us of the value of looking at things from the other side.
April 18-19: Crowd-sourced AmericanStudies Reading List: In my latest Crowd-sourced post, fellow AmericanStudiers share their own book recommendations—add yours in comments, please!
April 20: Patriot’s Day Special Post: My annual Patriot’s Day special post, on the easier and harder forms of patriotism.
April 21: How Would a Patriot Act?: Squanto: A series on nominees for genuine American patriotism starts with a 17th century cross-cultural patriot.
April 22: How Would a Patriot Act?: Quock Walker: The series continues with the 18th century patriot who also represents an alternative, vital kind of Founder.
April 23: How Would a Patriot Act?: Yung Wing: The many reasons to remember one of my favorite Americans as a 19th century patriot, as the series rolls on.
April 24: How Would a Patriot Act?: César Chávez: The series concludes with why it’s so important to remember the labor activist as a 20th century patriot.
April 25-26: How Would a Patriot Act?: You: But wait, a special weekend post on a contemporary American patriot—you!
April 27: Communist Culture: “The Palace-Burner”: A May Day series on communism in American culture kicks off with one of my favorite poems and images of difference and empathy.
April 28: Communist Culture: Dos Passos and Wright: The series continues with two authors and lives that trace the appeals and limitations of communism in the 1930s.
April 29: Communist Culture: Doctorow and Coover: Two distinct but complementary historical fictions of the Rosenbergs, as the series rolls on.
April 30: Communist Culture: The Blithedale Romance: How Hawthorne’s autobiographical novel of his experience with communism differed from his prior romances, and how it connects to them.
May 1: Communist Culture: Woody Guthrie and Steve Earle: The series concludes communist protest anthems and artists, then and now.
Next series starts Monday,
Ben

PS. Topics you’d like to see covered on the blog? Guest Posts you’d like to write? Lemme know

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