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Greetings from humid Virginia, where summer has arrived in earnest and we are already hanging onto our climate control for dear life. Schools are emptying out, which means that our own calendar is filling up. Between Flag Day, Juneteenth, Father’s Day book tables, and of course, Independence Day, it’s an exciting time of year in the American history publishing biz.
One annual ritual that is shaping up to be especially lively this year is the parsing of the biggest decisions of the Supreme Court term. While we wait for those to drop, we wanted to draw your attention to a BackStory episode from a few years back that explored the notion of this “apolitical” branch of government. And speaking of epistemic realms that are often seen as somehow above the fray of politics, this month’s newsletter also features a new Bunk exhibit on the history of science’s role in American life. You’ll find both of those below, along with the latest dispatch from Ed Ayers’ public history road trip, a review of a new book about American exceptionalism, and a teachers’ guide to the second annual Civic Season, organized by our friends at Made by Us. Stay informed, stay smart, and stay cool! - Tony Field |
Native TrailsIn the third installment of his new travelogue, Ed Ayers goes looking for traces of Cherokee disposession near his childhood stomping grounds in East Tennessee.Medium And the rest is (history) A new Bunk exhibit explores the ways Americans' pursuit of the natural and physical sciences has driven historical change and helped us understand our world. Bunk ExhibitsProduced during the standoff over Merrick Garland's SCOTUS nomination, this podcast turns to history to question the Supreme Court's reputation as somehow outside Washington's political scrum. BackStory
Read up on the newest federal holiday in this selection of stories from the Bunk archive.
A recent book argues that 19th-century Americans on both sides of the sectional divide came to embrace two conflicting visions of exceptionalism.
A teaching guide to a season of interactive, local, history-based experiences. “The conventional view is that we study history to avoid repeating mistakes. And while history surely provides a repository of instructive experience, that’s not all it offers. The past also gives us perspective.” |