My New Book!

My New Book!
My New Book!

Saturday, June 1, 2024

June 1-2, 2024: May 2024 Recap

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

April 29: Communist Culture: “The Palace-Burner”: A Mayday series on representations of communism starts with Sarah Piatt’s poetic masterpiece that destroys easy us vs. them narratives.

April 30: Communist Culture: Dos Passos and Wright: The series continues with two similar yet importantly distinct 1930s to 50s literary careers.

May 1: Communist Culture: Doctorow and Coover: Two distinct but complementary postmodern historical novels of the Rosenbergs, as the series marches on.

May 2: Communist Culture: The Blithedale Romance: The novel about a contemporary commune that shifted yet extended Nathaniel Hawthorne’s streak of historical romances.

May 3: Communist Culture: Woody Guthrie and Steve Earle: The series concludes with communist protest anthems, then and now.

May 4-5: Communist Culture in the 21st Century: A special weekend follow-up on two parallel but very different forms of contemporary cultural commentary on communism.

May 6: Beach Blogging: Gidget and Friends: For the 60th anniversary of the Beach Boys’ first #1 hit, a BeachBlogging series kicks off with what we might make of the early 60s beach craze.

May 7: Beach Blogging: On the Beach: The series continues with an intense and tragic film that couldn’t compete with historic fears.

May 8: Beach Blogging: Brighton Beach Memoirs: Three cultural genres on which the incomparable Neil Simon made a lasting impact, as the series surfs on.

May 9: Beach Blogging: Baywatch: Why those beautiful beach bodies are also a body of evidence.

May 10: Beach Blogging: The Beach Boys: The series concludes with an anniversary tribute to the Beach Boys through three ways to contextualize their popularity.

May 11-12: Beach Blogging: Guest Posts from Elsa Devienne and Jamie Hirami: A special weekend follow-up featuring both a new book and a repeat Guest Post!

May 13: Spring 2024 Stand-Outs: Salvatore in Sci Fi/Fantasy: As the Spring 2024 semester wrapped up, my annual reflections series focused on stand-out moments, starting with an author visit.

May 14: Spring 2024 Stand-Outs: Ambiguity in Am Lit: The series continues with a class discussion that reflects why it’s still worth reading longer works over multiple classes.

May 15: Spring 2024 Stand-Outs: Gold in Grad Historical Fiction: The stand-out 21st century text I added to my oldest Grad course, as the series teaches on.

May 16: Spring 2024 Stand-Outs: Cereal in Composition: Why surprises are still important in my 19th year at FSU, and an in-class text that took me by surprise.

May 17: Spring 2024 Stand-Outs: Special Guests!: The series concludes with the three most special guests who could ever visit a class of mine.

May 18-19: American(Studier) Wedding!: A weekend blogging break for a very, very good reason!

May 20: Criminal Duos: Pecos Bill & Joaquin Murrieta: For the 100th anniversary of Leopold & Loeb’s murderous plot, a series on criminal duos kicks off with two folks heroes.

May 21: Criminal Duos: Leopold & Loeb: The series continues with that 100th anniversary and three broader issues to which the famous criminals connect.

May 22: Criminal Duos: Bonnie & Clyde: How images can reflect and shape but also distort our histories, as the series sprees on.

May 23: Criminal Duos: Butch & Sundance: Beautifying ugly men and deeds, and why we shouldn’t.

May 24: Criminal Duos: Sacco & Vanzetti: The series concludes with three contexts for the controversial trial and execution of a pair of Italian American radicals.

May 25-26: Laura Franey’s Guest Post on The Keepers & True Crime: To wrap up a CrimeStudying series, a repeat of Laura Franey’s great Guest Post on true crime.

May 27: Better Remembering Memorial and Decoration Day: I don’t repeat whole weeklong series very often, but I always will with my annual Decoration Day series, starting with this overarching intro.

May 28: Decoration Day Histories: Frederick Douglass: The Decoration Day posts kick off with one of the great American speeches.

May 29: Decoration Day Histories: Roger Pryor: The series continues with an invitation and speech that mark two shifts in American attitudes.

May 30: Decoration Day Histories: “Rodman the Keeper”: The late 19C short story that helps us remember how the holiday’s meanings didn’t change for African Americans, as the series parades on.

May 31: Decoration Day Histories: So What?: The series concludes with three ways to argue for remembering Decoration Day as well as Memorial Day.

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!

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