December 2-3, 2023: November 2023 Recap

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

October 30: Contested Elections: 1800: For the 75^th anniversary of “Dewey Defeats Truman,” a series on contested elections starts with the moment that definitely changed things in Early Republic America, and how it fortunately didn’t.

October 31: Contested Elections: 1824: The series continues with a contested and controversial election that frustratingly foreshadows our own moment two hundred years later.

November 1: Contested Elections: 1948: For that anniversary, on a couple significant AmericanStudies contexts for the 1948 election beyond the headlines.

November 2: Contested Elections: 1960: Two clearly important factors in one of our closest elections ever and one more ambiguous one, as the series votes on.

November 3: Contested Elections: 2000: The series concludes with three frustrating and continuing aftermaths of the most hotly contested presidential election in our history.

November 6: 13 Years (!) of AmericanStudying: 2010 Origins: For this year’s blog anniversary series, I highlighted key moments in my development as a public AmericanStudier, starting with when and how this blog got started!

November 7: 13 Years (!) of AmericanStudying: The Historical Society in 2013: The series continues with my 2013 connections to a key online public scholarly connection and community.

November 8: 13 Years (!) of AmericanStudying: Talking Points Memo in 2014: A viral piece that launched my first public scholarly column and changed everything for me, as the series reflects on.

November 9: 13 Years (!) of AmericanStudying: Saturday Evening Post in 2018: What my longest-running and best online public scholarly gig has helped me think about and do.

November 10: 13 Years (!) of AmericanStudying: #ScholarSunday Threads in 2020: How I’ve tried to build public scholarly community and solidarity through another new area of work.

November 11: 13 Years (!) of AmericanStudying: Influential Folks: The series concludes with a handful of the many folks who have been instrumental to my evolving career.

November 11-12: Kyle Lockwood’s Guest Post: Exploration and the Human Spirit: And here’s another great anniversary series conclusion, a Guest Post from a recent FSU English Studies alum!

November 13: AmericanStudying the Blues: Scott Joplin: For W.C. Handy’s 150^th birthday, a BluesStudying series kicks off with the composer who helped start it all.

November 14: AmericanStudying the Blues: Robert Johnson: The series continues with one reason I really like the Devil folktale, and one way I’d push back.

November 15: AmericanStudying the Blues: Billie Holliday: AmericanStudies takeaways from the two versions of Lady Sings the Blues, as the series sings on.

November 16: AmericanStudying the Blues: W.C. Handy: Three texts through which we can trace the legacy of the “Father of the Blues” on his 150^th birthday.

November 17: AmericanStudying the Blues: Five More Icons: That’s just the tip of the BluesStudying iceberg, so here are quick compelling stories for five more greats.

November 18: AmericanStudying the Blues: 21^st Century Artists: The series concludes with one telling song from five artists who are carrying the tradition into the 21^st century.

November 19-20: Sandra Hamilton’s Guest Post on the Blues in American Culture: And I’m so excited to have Guest Posts from two FSU English Studies Majors this month, including this one from current student and future professional writer Sandra Hamilton!

November 20: Thankful for Scholarly Communities: Fitchburg State: For my annual Thanks-giving series, I wanted to focus on scholarly communities for which I’m thankful, starting with two talks this Fall at my home institution of FSU.

November 21: Thankful for Scholarly Communities: Freedom Over Fascism Podcast: The Thanks continue with a podcast to which I was excited to return for a second conversation this Fall.

November 22: Thankful for Scholarly Communities: 9 Online Conference: Virtual conferences have meant a great deal to me in the last few years, and I was very proud to share my current book project with this conference on baseball history.

November 23: Thankful for Scholarly Communities: Black in Boston & Beyond Podcast: The second scholarly podcast to which I made a return visit this Fall, as the series thanks on.

November 24: Thankful for Scholarly Communities: U of Buffalo’s English Department: I was honored to give a lecture this Fall for the University of Buffalo’s Juxtapositions series!

November 25-26: My Biggest Thanks-giving: The series concludes with three of the countless ways in which my scholarship (like my life in every sense) has been inspired by my sons.

November 27: Gun Control Histories: The Constitution and Framing Era: For the Brady Bill’s 30^th anniversary, a GunControlStudying series starts where it has to start.

November 28: Gun Control Histories: Myths, Realities, and the 2012 Election: The series continues with the developing gun lobby myths around guns in America.

November 29: Gun Control Histories: Parkland: What wasn’t new at all and what definitely was about a 2018 school shooting and its aftermaths, as the series rolls on.

November 30: Gun Control Histories: The Brady Bill: For the 30^th anniversary of its passage, six figures who together helped move that groundbreaking legislation forward.

December 1: Gun Control Histories: Jim Jefferies: The series concludes with two of the many great arguments in a comic case for gun control.

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!