2011 Greenwich Tea Burning Project--Day 4

We got a lot accomplished today during our work at the Lummis Library.  After a day of being quarantined to the attic, we once again returned to the main reading room.  When we entered the library we were greeted by Jonathan Wood who was eager to tell us about an 1814 letter written from John Dickinson of Cape May County to Ebenezer Elmer of Cumberland County.  Dickinson describes the militia of Cape May "beating back" British raiding parties that were invading the Jersey shore-line during the War of 1812.  The letter was found among the recently donated William T. Nixon family papers.

We spent most of the day continuing our research in We Women, the minutes of the Greenwich chapter of the Daughters of the Revolution, newspaper clippings dealing with the town of Greenwich, personal letters filled with reminiscences about growing-up in Greenwich, and a host of other miscellaneous items.

It was also decided that our book, "The Greenwich Tea Burning: History and Memory in an American Town," will be co-authored by myself and Cali Pitchel McCullough, the Arizona State graduate student known best by readers of The Way of Improvement Leads Home for her regular column "Dispatches from Graduate School."

We cut off work early today so that we could head to the beach!  In order to give the members of the team a break from research, we drove down to Ocean City, New Jersey this evening to eat some delicious Mack and Manco pizza and do some walking on the boardwalk.  Unfortunately, due to my badly sprained ankle (see yesterday's post), I spent the evening sitting on a bench.  Fortunately, I was joined by our esteemed host Jonathan Wood.  It was good to catch up.

Tomorrow is our last day in Greenwich.  We still have a lot of work to do.

Greenwich Tea Burning Project 2011-Day 3

Day 3 of the 2011 edition of the Greenwich Tea Burning Project is in the books.  It was a productive, but tiring day.  Fatigue is starting to set in and we are all hoping and praying that our proverbial "second wind" will arrive tomorrow.

When we arrived at the Lummis Library today we were told that we would be spending the day in a small second floor space away from the main reading room.  The library is open to the public on Wednesdays and the librarians wanted to make room for patrons.   So we made the best of it.

Cali and Valerie began work on issues of We Women, a local women's magazine from the 1950s.  They are finding a host of information on the way that local women promoted local history, patriotism, and civic mindedness in the region.  This was the culture that produced the commemoration ceremonies for the fiftieth anniversary of the 1908 erection of the Greenwich Tea Burner's Monument (1958). (Yes, you read that correctly).

Tara managed to learn a great deal more about the ways in which the residents of Greenwich expressed their dissatisfaction with an attempt to build a nuclear power plant in this rural village.  She then moved on to explore the records of the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

Ally continued to work her way through a series of diaries that describe everyday life in Greenwich during the 1920s.  She also did some bibliographic work in the Vineland Historical Magazine.

It was not one of my better days.  On the research front, I found useful materials on the history of the Cumberland County Historical Society and the attempts to turn Greenwich into a Colonial Williamsburg-type public history park. 

The low point of the day was when I crashed my head into a door frame at one of Greenwich's 18th century homes.  The bang to the head caused me to fall to the ground, resulting in a badly sprained ankle.  To make matters worst, the accident happened about three minutes before I needed to be on the air with the host of a South Dakota radio show who asked to interview me about Was America Founded as a Christian Nation? I am writing this with my ankle covered in ice and propped up on several hotel-room pillows.

Stay tuned.  I am sure there will be more adventures to report tomorrow!

Was America Founded as a Christian Nation in the Montreal Review

The Montreal Review is currently running a piece I wrote on Was American Founded as a Christian Nation: A Historical Introduction.  You can read it here.

Greenwich Tea Burning Project 2011-Day 2

Day two of the 2011 edition of the Greenwich Tea Burning Project has come to an end. 

For those of you who are still unfamiliar with the Project, I am in the quiet town of historic Greenwich, NJ with four students and we are spending long hours in the Lummis Library of the Cumberland County Historical Society doing research for a potential book tentatively titled "The Greenwich Tea Burning: History and Memory in a New Jersey Town."  If what we are doing sounds the least bit interesting, feel free to join our Facebook page to stay in touch with the comings and goings of the Project

This morning we met together for breakfast at our hotel, stopped at a local WAWA food store to buy our lunches, and then headed to the Lummis Library.  Cali spent the morning reading through The Old Slate, a nostalgic literary magazine published in the early twentieth century by the alumni of a late nineteenth-century one- room school house in Greenwich.  She then moved on to a few Civil War diaries and some miscellaneous manuscripts.  Tomorrow Cali will dive into back issues of We Women, a magazine published in the 1950s by society women from the neighboring town of Bridgeton.  We are hoping that our work in We Women will provide a great deal of insight into the culture of commemoration in mid-20th century Greenwich, which we will argue is driven largely by the wives of some of Cumberland County's prominent male citizens.

Tara has been toiling away on the local response to the proposed installation of a nuclear power plant in Greenwich.  Most of her work has been in newspapers from the late 1960s.  We are hoping to find some Greenwich residents arguing against the nuclear power plant on the basis of the town's rural and historic identity.

Ally has been poking around newspapers from the late 1940s looking for articles dealing the bicentennial of the founding of Cumberland County (1948), the establishment of the Cumberland County Historical Society, and the decision to change the name of Greenwich's main thoroughfare from "Main Street" to "Ye Greate Street."

Valerie arrived today after a successful interview for a history-teaching job.  She is continuing her work on the diaries of a family from the Bridgeton area in an attempt to uncover the flavor of everyday life in this region.

Finally, I am wandering in and out of the archival vault looking for some additional collections to explore.  I spent considerable time today reading about the history of the Cumberland County Historical Society.  I also did a radio interview for Was America Founded as a Christian Nation and spent time catching up with Jonathan Wood, the president of the Cumberland County Historical Society and our host for the week.

After a great dinner at Moe's Southwest Grill (I highly recommend it) and a stop at Target to buy some new reading glasses and a container of trail mix, we returned to our hotel, had our regular evening meeting, and headed off to our respective rooms for what we hope will be a good night's rest.

Tomorrow should be a busy day.  The library is open to the public and I am going to spend part of the morning investigating a historic house in Bridgeton with Jonathan.  Stay tuned!

Jim Cullen on Publishing Kindle Singles

Jim Cullen, a prolific writer and blogger, has an excellent piece at American History Now discussing the pros and cons of e-publishing.  Cullen's post has introduced me to a form of publishing called "singles."  Not unlike a "single" in the music industry, a "single" in the publishing industry is a piece of writing, sold in electronic form, that is longer than an article, but shorter than a book.  Cullen has recently published a single from his recent project on Hollywood actors as historians.  If you head over to Amazon, and you have 99 cents to spare, you can download a copy of his "President Hanks."  (Wait a minute--should I put that title in quotes or italicize it?).  He even gets a 70% royalty on each single sold.  Not too shabby.

Here is a taste of Cullen's post:


At some point in the process of working on my new book, I found myself wondering: does this make sense as a book? Might it not make more sense as a set of five or six chapter-length e-books? Very often, instructors only use part of a book; in any case, they rarely assign the whole thing at once. If something like this caught on, I might tell my students in class that we’re going to discuss X tomorrow, and some of them could download it before they left the room. I made a pitch along these lines to a major university press, which reacted with respectful interest. It’s in their future, I was told. But not yet.

Around the same time, I received an offer from Amazon.com to publish one of my chapters as a Kindle Single. This series, which was launched earlier this year, consists of writing that’s longer than a typical article but shorter than a typical book. Singles are priced very cheaply—no more than $2.99 per title. On the advice of my editor, I priced mine at 99 cents. He explained that shoppers really do care about price, and that a higher sales ranking can become a positive feedback system. What sweetens the deal is that I get a 70% royalty rate (minus a small fee for wireless delivery on each copy). That’s about seven times better than I could ever hope for from a scholarly press.

Research on Religion Podcast

A few weeks ago I was interviewed by Anthony Gill of the University of Washington and Baylor University for his podcast, Research on Religion.  The discussion focused on my Was America Founded as a Christian Nation: A Historical Introduction.

You can listen to the 65-minute podcast here.  At one point about midway through the interview Gill asked me if I would have taken up arms against the British if I were living in 1776.  I hemmed and hawed a bit because I did not think my opinion was pertinent to the discussion, but I answered it anyway.  You will need to listen to the podcast to hear my answer.

Greenwich Tea Burning Project 2011--Day 1

The 2011 edition of the Greenwich Tea Burning Project kicked off today.  This week we will be spending long hours in the Lummis Library of the Cumberland County Historical Society in Greenwich, NJ thinking about how the people of this small New Jersey town have remembered the most seminal event in their history--the 1774 Greenwich Tea Burning.  For the last several years I have been working on a book manuscript tentatively titled "The Greenwich Tea Burning: History and Memory in an American Town." (Five chapters are complete, five more to write). The book explores the way this small town, which predates the founding of Pennsylvania by William Penn, has used the 1774 tea burning as a way of understanding social and cultural change in the 19th, 20th, and 21st century.  Our work is supported by a generous grant from the New Jersey Historical Commission.

Our team of four (another member of the team will be joining us tomorrow) rolled into historic Greenwich around noontime. We were greeted by our hosts, Jonathan and Warren, the true guardians of Cumberland County's past.  After an opening orientation meeting and lunch, we dove right into the research.  Today we have been exploring the relationship between memory and nostalgia through a close reading of a series of pamphlets published in the early 20th century by the alumni of a local school in the area, Greenwich's response to the news (circa 1967) that a nuclear reactor would be placed in their town, and the flavor of everyday life in the 1920s as seen through the eyes of local diarist.

After dinner at a great Vietnamese/Chinese restaurant in Millville, a stop at Shop Rite and Target for some supplies (including our traditional caramel-nut trail mix), and a brief end-of-the-day meeting, we are now ready to get some sleep in preparation for a long day tomorrow.

It was a great first day and our Greenwich narrative is really starting to take shape.  Stay tuned.

Deerfield Dispatch #2

Katie Garland checks in from the Deerfield Summer Fellowship Program.  Read the previous volumes of the Deerfield Dispatch here.  --JF

After submitting my previous blog entry, I realized that I should have started out by answering everyone’s burning question: “So what exactly are you doing up there?”  During my time in the Historic Deerfield Summer Fellowship Program, I will help to construct an exhibit, guide in-house museums, write a research paper, and visit other museums along the eastern seaboard.

So what exactly am I studying?  I am learning about the objects that people from the past used and the architecture of their buildings in order to better understand their daily lives.  This involves considering the production, consumption, use, and meaning of various items.

For example, we recently discussed 17th and 18th-century ceramics.  I can now identify earthenware, stoneware, and porcelain, explain the differences in their production, and discuss the social and cultural implications of each type of ceramic.  If people living in Deerfield had imported Chinese porcelain, that signified their refinement and gentility because most people could not afford porcelain and had to settle for other types of ceramic.

As part of our study of material culture, the fellows will be creating an exhibit about the Old Indian House, a building that survived the 1704 French and Mohawk raid (see my previous post for details).  After the building was torn down in the mid- 19th century, its wood was made into various commemorative items. I will be studying these canes, gavels, and other objects to understand their meaning in hopes of better grasping the significance of the building.

After we gain a solid foundation in material culture, we will begin the next portion of the program: guiding.  I am eagerly looking forward to this, not only because I will get to study a house and its objects more deeply, but because I will be able to interface more directly with the public.  I cannot wait to pass along my passion for the past to Historic Deerfield visitors.  I hope that I can teach them a little bit about history and historical thinking in general.

The third component of this program is an extensive research paper about the history of the town.  Having been inspired by the way Laurel Thatcher Ulrich’s used the diary of Martha Ballard to provide insight into her life, I hope to do the same for a person who lived in Deerfield.  After spending some time rummaging around the archive’s collection of diaries and journals, I settled upon the memoirs and diary of a 19th century Deerfield minister named Robert Crawford.  I realize that I am no Laurel Thatcher Ulrich and that I only have a few weeks to research, but I am excited to delve into Crawford’s writings and try to understand his life.

To help us understand how museums work, we will visit other nearby museums and learn how they handle their collections and interact with the public.  Last week, we visited the museum of the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association (Historic Deerfield’s sister institution).  It provided a wonderful introduction to Deerfield and had three floors full of intriguing artifacts from the town’s history.  As a musician, my favorite part of the museum was a room full of 17th and 18th century harpsichords and pianos.  I had what could only be described as nerd moment when I stood next to a harpsichord made by Clementi and teared up in awe.  I have never been so tempted to ignore a “Please do not touch” sign in my life!

As I learn more about material culture and museums, I will continue to write over the course of the summer.  If you find yourself near Historic Deerfield in the next few weeks, let me know and I would be glad to give you a personalized tour!

Sunday Night Odds and Ends

A few things online that caught my attention this week:

Are you obsessed with your kids' happiness?

Peter Lawler on our love of Locke and Darwin.

Michael Burlingame reviews Amanda Foreman's A World on Fire: Britain's Crucial Role in the American Civil War.

Stanley Fish on GeoHumanities.

Andrew DeBlanco reviews David S. Reynolds, Mightier Than the Sword: "Uncle Tom's Cabin" and the Battle for America.  Fergus Bordewich reviews it here.

Edge of the American West inducted into the Cliopatria Hall of Fame for history bloggers.

Heather Cox Richardson offers some ideas for teaching.

Janine Giordano Drake historicizes Michelle Bachmann.

Thoughts on the process of writing a first book.

Nothing to do on July 4?  Join a Boston 1775 walking tour.

David Barton responds to a critic.  Jon Rowe responds to Barton's response.

Support federal funding for the humanities.

Scot McKnight on politics in the pulpit.

Obama's communitarianism.

On the value of a liberal arts education.

Obama Impersonator Gets the Hook

Reggie Brown, an Obama impersonator, recently spoke at the Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans.  When he started critcizing GOP candidates he was yanked from the stage.

By the way, he does an amazing impersonation of Obama.



After the yanking, Bill Maher invited Brown to his show to finish the act.  Watch it here.

Jonathan Rees: "I am an online education Quaker."

Jonathan Rees does not want to teach history online.  Neither do I.  But until I read Rees's post at More or Less Bunk, I never thought seriously about the possibility that some day I might be forced to teach online.

Rees writes:

...“Should they make you teach online?” I think you know already that my answer is “no.” Where do I start with reasons? It’s often dull, there’s no security against cheating, it usually does nothing to foster critical analysis, etc. But Ivan Boesky wouldn’t care about such trivialities. All he’d want to know is whether it would make any money.

However, I say “no” on those grounds too. The internet has disrupted many established in its relatively short history. However, in most cases those industries have suffered because it was possible to build a better mousetrap. Someone give me one advantage of online education from an educational standpoint. No, the ability to learn while still in your pajamas doesn’t count because that’s not educational.

If all the financial benefits of online education continue to flow to the university and the students continue to get no educational benefit from the endeavor, this whole house of cards simply won’t last in the long run. The students are going to demand a better education because employers are going to demand better educated graduates.

So I think I’m going to become a conscientious objector – an online education Quaker.* If there’s ever a draft, I’ll go to prison because I don’t want to participate in a system that’s misguided at best and inherently corrupt at worst. Unfortunately, war sometimes makes leaders do stupid things. Here’s hoping our university’s leaders are only at the preparedness stage.

I'm ready to join the Rees Monthly Meeting.  Where do I sign up?  Or perhaps I need to show some solid evidence that the Inner Light is leading me to make this decision. 

Book Notes at The Way of Improvement Leads Home

One of the benefits of having a blog that people actually is read is the opportunity I have to get early looks at new books.  The number of review copies are starting to pile-up.  I can probably get around to reading all of these books, but there is no way I can offer extensive reviews of all of them.  I do, however, want to give many of these books, and their authors, the exposure that they deserve.

So starting soon, I will be writing short book notes on newer books that relate to the themes discussed on this blog.  These will not be long, but I hope they will offer some information about the book beyond the blurbs on Amazon or the publisher's website.  If you have read the blog for any length of time, you know that we already do some of this.

Stay tuned.

I'm Going to Ft. Ticonderoga in September...And I am Bringing My Metal Detector

On the weekend of September 23 I will be giving a lecture on the religious beliefs of the founding fathers at the 8th Annual Seminar on the American Revolution at Fort Ticonderoga.

After reading this, I may bring my daughter's metal detector with me on the trip.

David Hadju on Clarence Clemons

David Hadju, the music critic for The New Republic, weighs in on the death of Clarence Clemons.  According to Hadju, Clemons was important to the history of rock and roll and the success of Bruce Springsteen for reasons other than his musical talent.  He writes:

Clemons’s enormous popularity among Springsteen’s fans clearly had as much to do with his personality as with his long-diminishing musical contributions to Springsteen’s music. To acknowledge his primary contributions as extra-musical is not to say they were all less than musical, though, as the Boss himself suggested in his statement. “With Clarence at my side,” Springsteen said, “my band and I were able to tell a story far deeper than those simply contained in our music.”

Among the main themes of that story are loyalty and service, values that Springsteen has always prized in both the narratives of his songs and the meta-narrative of his life as a performer. Put gently, out of respect for his memory, Clemons was a saxophonist of limited capacity. Springsteen seemed to have known this but to have valued Clemons precisely for his limits. As he once described Clemons’s musicianship in an interview, “He plays the notes you want to hear.” Speaking for myself, I would have preferred sometimes to have heard more than the same few notes, always played the same way. But I’m a minority voice in Springsteen fandom, and I see in Springsteen’s four decades of loyalty to Clemons an almost self-sacrificing act of devotion to his public. To understand Springsteen, I find, it always helps to think like a Catholic boy.

When Clemons joined the E Street Band, four decades ago, he fit well in the woolly hybrid of rock and folk and funk and jazz that Springsteen was making at the time. But, as Springsteen’s musical style coalesced and his voice grew more rural (and I refer both to his musical voice and his speaking voice), there was no longer much call for Clemons’s growling sax. On stage, there was less and less for the Big Man to do but stand there, pat the tambourine, chant a bit in the background, toot a few notes, and wait for his solo in “Jungleland.” Steadily over the years, Clemons’s stage persona essentially replaced his music in the public eye, and no one mentioned the discomforting current of stereotyping in that persona.

The only African American in the E Street Band, sidelined and beaming in the enormity that came almost solely to define him, the Big Man became the Black Man as a symbol of physical prowess and mystical power. Springsteen, in concerts, would introduce him with stagey hyperbole that played teasingly off that image. “The minister of soul, the secretary of the brotherhood,” Springsteen would call him, and scream out his nickname, “the Big Man!” He could just as well have said, “the Black Man!” It is sad that Clarence Clemons had to go for the Big Man to die.

Glenn Beck: Universities Teach Garbage

This is why I don't have any patience for Glenn Beck.  Listen to this interview.  He attacks this caller before she even gets a word in edgewise.  When she refers to their shared Mormon faith, he mocks her. 

Beck actually has some good points about the problems with higher education, internships, and the fact that not everyone needs a college education, but this kind of bombastic, sarcastic approach gets us nowhere and it disrespects the real value of a college education.

And by the way, Thomas Jefferson did go to college.  He went to the College of William and Mary.

Rock Critic Dave Marsh Talks About Springsteen with Bob Costas, Circa 1988.

Bob Costas interviews rock critic Dave Marsh on "Later with Bob Costas." I am guessing this is either 1988 or 1989.  Costas asks Marsh if Springsteen's popularity was the creation of rock critics like Marsh and Jon Landau.  Marsh does not directly answer the question. 

The Springsteen stuff picks up around the 1:38 mark.  My favorite part is when Costas asks Marsh if young female fans love Springsteen in the same way that they love Michael J. Fox.

Why We Still Need Books

I have never read a book on a Kindle or a Nook or a laptop or a screen.  I am sure I will some day, but I am a bit behind the curve when it comes to new reading technology. 

Over at the blog of The Independent, Johann Hari argues that we will always need printed books because "most humans have a desire to engage in deep thought and deep concentration."

Here is a taste of his thought-provoking piece:

We have now reached that point. And here's the function that the book – the paper book that doesn't beep or flash or link or let you watch a thousand videos all at once – does for you that nothing else will. It gives you the capacity for deep, linear concentration. As Ulin puts it: "Reading is an act of resistance in a landscape of distraction.... It requires us to pace ourselves. It returns us to a reckoning with time. In the midst of a book, we have no choice but to be patient, to take each thing in its moment, to let the narrative prevail. We regain the world by withdrawing from it just a little, by stepping back from the noise."

A book has a different relationship to time than a TV show or a Facebook update. It says that something was worth taking from the endless torrent of data and laying down on an object that will still look the same a hundred years from now. The French writer Jean-Phillipe De Tonnac says "the true function of books is to safeguard the things that forgetfulness constantly threatens to destroy." It's precisely because it is not immediate – because it doesn't know what happened five minutes ago in Kazakhstan, or in Charlie Sheen's apartment – that the book matters.

That's why we need books, and why I believe they will survive. Because most humans have a desire to engage in deep thought and deep concentration. Those muscles are necessary for deep feeling and deep engagement. Most humans don't just want mental snacks forever; they also want meals.

I'm not against e-books in principle – I'm tempted by the Kindle – but the more they become interactive and linked, the more they multitask and offer a hundred different functions, the less they will be able to preserve the aspects of the book that we actually need. An e-book reader that does a lot will not, in the end, be a book. The object needs to remain dull so the words – offering you the most electric sensation of all: insight into another person's internal life – can sing.

So how do we preserve the mental space for the book? We are the first generation to ever use the internet, and when I look at how we are reacting to it, I keep thinking of the Inuit communities I met in the Arctic, who were given alcohol and sugar for the first time a generation ago, and guzzled them so rapidly they were now sunk in obesity and alcoholism. Sugar, alcohol and the web are all amazing pleasures and joys – but we need to know how to handle them without letting them addle us.

Why Barack Obama Should be the GOP Candidate in 2012

Yes, you read that correctly. 

Michael Lind's recent post at Salon reminds us that many of Obama's policies are similar to the old "liberal" wing of the Republican Party.  Lind argues that the Obama administration "is the third Clinton administration--or perhaps the fifth Eisenhower administration, following the four combined terms of Dwight Eisenhower and Bill Clinton (by comparison to both Richard Nixon, as president, was a New Deal liberal)."

Lind writes:

With the possible exception of Jon Huntsman, the Republican presidential field is weak on candidates who could appeal to centrist swing voters, including moderate Republicans. But there is one 2012 prospect who has a proven track record of pursuing policies that owe a great deal to the moderate Republican tradition and who could potentially shake up the race for the GOP presidential nomination: President Barack Obama.

If Obama chose to run for reelection not as a Democrat but as a moderate Republican, he could bring about two healthy transformations in the American political system. The moderate wing of the Republican Party could be restored. And the Democratic presidential nomination might be opened up to politicians from the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party.

In the last generation, the old-fashioned moderate Republicans from New England and the Midwest symbolized by Nelson Rockefeller have been driven out of the GOP by the conservative followers of Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan. Streaming into the Democratic Party as voters, and buying it with ample Wall Street cash as donors, this upscale elite has changed the party from a populist liberal alliance of unionized workers and populists into a socially liberal, economically conservative version of the old country-club Republicanism of the pre-Reagan era. The transformation began under Jimmy Carter, accelerated under Bill Clinton and has nearly been completed under Barack Obama. This is not your grandfather’s Democratic Party. It is your grandfather’s Republican Party of 1955.

Lind has even written Obama's acceptance speech at the 2012 GOP Convention:

"I have fought against the failed tradition of New Deal liberalism from the strongest possible position -- the presidency. When the liberals wanted to nationalize the banks, I bailed them out and let their executives reap huge bonuses, thanks to the taxpayers. When the liberals wanted an expansion of Lyndon Johnson’s big government Medicare, I said no and pushed for a version of the Heritage Foundation’s healthcare coverage plan and what Mitt Romney did in Massachusetts. When the liberals wanted a bigger stimulus, I drew the line in the sand. When the liberals criticized the Bowles-Simpson plan to gut Social Security and Medicare, I praised it. When the liberals demanded tougher action against Chinese mercantilist policies that hurt our manufacturing industries, I said no and sided with the U.S. multinationals that want to appease the Chinese government. When the liberals wanted America to withdraw from Afghanistan, I sided with the neoconservatives and ordered the surge. When the voices of the old, failed liberalism said that Congress has a part to play in authorizing foreign wars, I ignored that radical liberal assault on unchecked, arbitrary presidential power and ordered the U.S. to war in Libya on my own authority.

Look out Mitt, here comes Barack!

Most Popular Posts of the Last Week

Here are the most popular posts of the week at The Way of Improvement Leads Home.

1. A Little History Humor (May 2011).
2. Brian Williams Eulogizes Clarence Clemons (June 2011).
3. The Top Ten Most Religious Cities in America (November 2010).
4. Douthat on Andrew Weiner's Narcissism (June 2011).
5. What is the STORY of American History? (June 2011).
6. Do Clothes Make the Humanities Professor? (June 2011).
7. Are You Looking for an Archivist Job? (June 2011).
8. Michael Gerson on Herman Cain's Religious Test for Muslims (June 2011).
9. Jesus Will Return on May 22, 2011 (July 2010).
10. NBC Edits Out "Under God" (June 2011).

Also receiving votes:

The Vicar of Old North Church Weights in on the Palin-Revere Incident (June 2011).
A Final Word from the 2011 AP Reading in Lousville (June 2011).
Richard Beeman on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart (May 2011).

Robert George on Catholic University's Decision to Eliminate Co-Ed Dorms

Robert George is one of America's foremost conservative intellectuals. He holds the McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton University and is the founding director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions.  George makes some very interesting observations about the liberal response to Catholic University's decision to phase out its co-ed dorms.  He wonders if the "authoritarian impulse in some liberal circles" actually "threatens to undermine the historic commitment of liberalism to individual and institutional freedom and rights of conscience."

George writes:

But as liberals around the country---not all, but many, and indeed increasingly many, it seems---abandon support for conscience protection and seek to force pro-life and pro-marriage citizens and institutions to comply with liberal ideological beliefs by, for example, referring for or even participating in abortions and providing facilities or services for celebrations of same-sex sexual partnerships, it seems clear that the Rawlsian ambition has been thrown over in favor of a crusade to establish what might be called (following Rawls himself) "comprehensive liberalism" as the official pseudo-religion of the state.  The impulse to crush the rights of conscience (where conscience is considered in its classical sense of what Newman called a "stern monitor," and not in the degraded sense of a faculty for writing moral permission slips) to ensure conformity with what have become key tenets of the liberal faith (abortion, "sexual freedom," "same-sex marriage") is the authoritarian impulse I mentioned.  (I want to emphasize the words "have become." Such ideas were no part of the liberalism embraced by such great figures in the tradition as Cesar Chavez, Hubert Humphrey, or Sargent Shriver, just to name some leading liberals from the quite recent past.)

Am I exaggerating the worry?  Is the word "authoritarian" or the phrase "crush the rights of conscience" out of line in this context?  Well, perhaps we have a test case emerging.  A George Washington University law professor who is well-known for bringing law suits to advance liberal causes has given notice to the Catholic University of America that he will be suing the university under the District of Columbia Human Rights Act.  And what is alleged to be Catholic University's mortal sin against human rights?  Are you ready?  It is the decision of CUA president John Garvey (himself an eminent legal scholar in the field of religious liberty and human rights, as MoJers know) to shift the university from co-ed dormitories to single-sex dorms. President Garvey's objective (of which this particular change of policy is only a small piece) is to promote moral integrity as the Catholic Church understands that virtue and to combat the culture of promiscuity and alcohol abuse on campus.  And what could possibly be wrong with that?  Well, for "comprehensive liberals," it seems, having separate dorms for young men and young women is "discrimination" based on "sexual stereotypes."  It simply can't be tolerated.  Institutions that would separate the sexes in living quarters are practicing the equivalent of racism by imposing on their students the equivalent of the Jim Crow system in the segregated South.  Oy vey.

So we'll see where liberals in general line up on this.  It will, I predict, be instructive.  Some, I hope and trust, will sniff the odor of authoritarianism and perhaps even speak out publicly against this effort to whip a private religious institution into line with liberal ideological tenets.  But how many?  Where will Catholic liberals (especially Catholic liberal academics) come down?  Will they speak out?

What do you think?  Is George on to something here?  Read the entire post here.

Drew Gilpin Faust: The Civil War and the Meaning of Life

I am glad to see that The New Republic lifted the subscribers-only wall on this amazing essay on the meaning of war.  Drew Gilpin Faust, president of Harvard and the author of This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War, offers her reflections as we enter the 150th anniversary of the Civil War.  Here is a taste of her conclusion:

...two months from now, we will again witness a re-enactment of the Battle of Bull Run. Tens of thousands of participants and spectators are expected. The enthusiasm to refight the Civil War has only grown in the fifty years since the centennial observances. Most of the costumed soldiers and camp followers will have read extensively about the war; they will wear garments accurate to the last button and stitch; they will use period weapons and canteens and knapsacks, for authenticity is the watchword of the thriving re-enactor culture. They will in these myriad details get history just right. But what will they understand of war? Will this re-enactment do any more to acknowledge the war’s purposes and politics—and their continuing significance to America—than did the re-enactments of fifty years ago? Will its celebratory mood and mode acknowledge what Frederick Douglass declared he would never forget: “the difference between those who fought for liberty and those who fought for slavery”? Will the re-enactors tell only an old “battle piece” of courage and glory and how sweet and proper it is to die? Will we in this historic sesquicentennial—to be observed at a time when Americans are involved in real conflicts in various places across the globe—forget what a heavy responsibility rests on those who seek to tell the stories of war?

Washington Times Review of Was America Founded as a Christian Nation?

Here is a taste from the review by syndicated columnist William Murchison:

Mr. Fea notes cheerfully enough the complexity of history and the problems inherent in getting interpretations just right. He is scholar enough to “avoid polemics as much as possible,” in the process producing “a historical primer for students, churchgoers, and anyone who wants to make sense of the American past and its relationship to Christianity.” Hold the auto-da-fes. There’s enough here to keep inquiring minds of diverse sorts busy, while on their knees or off them.

Read the entire review here.

Reading and Christian Cosmopolitanism

Over at the Comment magazine blog, Susan VanZanten offers her thoughts on the relationship between Christianity and cosmopolitanism.  Christians, according to VanZanten, should be pursuing cosmopolitan values as part of their vocations as Christ-followers because all human beings are created in the image of God and all human beings have been created to dwell in relationship with other human beings. In this sense, we are all "citizens of the world."  VanZanten makes a very compelling and inspiring case for the way that reading can help to cultivate this kind of Christian cosmopolitanism. 

I couldn't agree more with VanZanten, but her piece only addresses one side of the story.

VanZanten writes (the bold-face is mine):

A crucial second aspect of human identity for Christians is the fact that we are created to dwell in relationship with other human beings. We are communal, like our triune maker. Human identity is premised on relationship both with God and with other human beings. While the Enlightenment emphasized individual identity and many non-Western traditions understand identity in communal terms, the Christian story includes both components. In Jesus and the Victory of God, N.T. Wright says that within the Christian worldview, corporate meaning enhances personal meaning. While individualism and collectivism cancel each other out, corporate and personal meaning reinforce one another.

This personal/corporate character leads to a particular plot: the way we are summoned to live. The respect for all humanity grounded in their common imago dei and the love for neighbour stipulated by the Scriptures are not limited to national, religious, or even geographic proximity. When Jesus relates the story of the Good Samaritan in response to the question, "Who is my neighbour?" he tells of how those of similar religious and cultural identity ignore a man who has been assaulted and robbed, while a Samaritan, a man from an ethnic and religious group loathed by the Jews of Jesus' day, stops and assists the victim. The character who embodies neighbourliness is the ultimate outsider. All first-century Jews knew that they were to love their neighbour, but Jesus has the Samaritan doing the loving. The neighbour is not someone who lives next door, or goes to the same synagogue or church, or claims the same national identity; the neighbour is anyone in need who we encounter. This kind of neighbourliness has been made more apparent and less easy to ignore with globalization.

Again, I can't argue with anything VanZanten has written here. But I would say this: Cosmopolitanism always has the potential of undermining a flesh and blood sense of community and neighborliness.  For most of us, our neighbor IS "someone who lives next door."  While our neighbors are certainly not limited to the people who live on our street, neighborhood, or town, being a neighbor in these local contexts remains the most practical and effective way of carrying out Jesus's command in the Sermon on the Mount.

I am a strong supporter of the kind of cosmopolitan imagination that reading and liberal learning in the humanities and arts can foster.  I have used this blog on many occasions to preach about the way that the study of the past can instill us with the virtue of empathy.  But I have also been a strong advocate for a cosmopolitanism, and even a Christian cosmopolitanism, that is grounded or "rooted" in a particular locale.

Herein lies the tension.  As Lavar Burton used to remind us on the PBS show Reading Rainbow, "I can go anywhere..take a look, it's in a book...."  Liberal learning, as Barbara Nussbaum and others have noted, leads us outward.  It saves us from the darker elements of our provincialism.  But we also must remember that while we are off engaging in the global world, there are still people living in the midst of those provinces. 

Is it possible to engage the world--even if it is in an imagined sense--and still remain connected to the local attachments that for many of us give our lives meaning? On the one hand, we want to bring the best of our common humanity--in a truly global sense--to the places where we live, work, and have our being.  On the other hand, we do not want to be itinerant, placeless beings who live in an abstract academic or intellectual "community."

As some of my readers know, I flesh these questions out in an eighteenth-century historical context in The Way of Improvement Leads Home.  You may also want to look at my forthcoming piece in The Cresset: "Does the Way of Improvement Lead Home? Rooted Cosmopolitanism and the Church-Related College."


Thanks to Susan VanZanten for this thought-provoking piece.

Song of the Day

From November 7, 2009--the next to last time Clarence played "E-Street Shuffle" with the E-Street Band.  He would only perform this song one more time with the band and I was there for it-- 11-20-09 in First Mariner Arena in Baltimore.  Springsteen went close to four hours that night. 

I love the shot of Clarence singing at the 3:51 mark of this video.

Excuse the annoying e-mail address on the screen.

Song of the Day

Nickel Creek:

The Benefits of a Classroom Lecture

I can't tell you how many times I have heard educational gurus say that students do not learn from lectures. Granted, in a history classroom lectures need to be balanced with close analysis of primary documents and other lessons in historical thinking, but I have always found lectures to be an effective means of delivering content.

I believe we have discussed this before here at The Way of Improvement Leads Home. See here and here.

Over at Brainstorm, Mark Bauerlein calls our attention to a new study that suggests students who listen to lectures do better on standardized tests.  Here is a taste:


“Contrary to contemporary pedagogical thinking, we find that students score higher on standardized tests in the subject in which their teachers spent more time on lecture-style presentations than in the subject in which the teacehr devoted more time to problem-solving activities.”

It wasn’t a large difference–one percent of a standard deviation–but the difference went up when the authors stuck to students who had, the authors write, “the exact same peers in both their math and science classes.  Among this group of students, a shift of 10 percentage points of time from problem solving to lecturing is associated with an increase in test scores of almost 4 percent of a standard deviation–or between one and two months’ worth of learning in a typical school year.”

The authors guard against drawing too firm a conclusion from this study, noting, for instance, that TIMSS emphasized factual knowledge, while other tests, such as PISA, emphasize problem solving.  But a softer conclusion they offer with confidence:

“The results suggest that traditional lecture-style teachign in U.S. middle schools is less of a problem than is often believed.”

New Jersey Executive Order No. 67

Issued today by governor Chris Christie:

WHEREAS, Clarence A. Clemons, Jr., was a gifted musician, remarkable performer and iconic figure in New Jersey whose membership in Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band and various other musical and entertainment related endeavors have left an indelible mark upon the cultural landscape of our State; and
 
WHEREAS, Clarence Clemons was born in Norfolk, Virginia on January 11, 1942 and moved to Newark, New Jersey in 1962 to work as a youth counselor while pursuing a career in the music industry; and
 
WHEREAS, Clarence Clemons passed away in Palm Beach, Florida on Saturday, June 18, 2011 at the age of 69 due to complications from a stroke suffered previously; and
 
WHEREAS, as a solo artist, musical contributor and, most prominently, lead saxophone player and long serving member of the E Street Band, Clarence Clemons participated in the recording of over thirty (30) albums and countless live performances over the past four decades; and
 
WHEREAS, his studio recordings and live performances have endeared him to countless fans in New Jersey and around the world and have enriched the lives of fans of many different genres of music, including rock & roll, soul and jazz; and
 
WHEREAS, Clarence Clemons’ considerable musical talent and unique style of saxophone playing contributed significantly to the success of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, leading to the sale of over 100 million albums worldwide, numerous music awards and critical acclaim; and
 
WHEREAS, Clarence Clemons’ passion and enthusiasm for his music, his seemingly boundless optimism and his extroverted nature and larger-than-life personality, together with his imposing physical stature, further endeared him to his fans and earned him the moniker “the Big Man” from Bruce Springsteen; and
 
WHEREAS, in addition to his success in the music industry, Clarence Clemons appeared in several films and television shows, including Martin Scorsese’s “New York, New York,” and authored his memoirs, “Big Man: Real Life and Tall Tales” in 2009; and
 
WHEREAS, having enriched the lives of so many people during his musical and entertainment career, which spanned across five decades, Clarence Clemons has left a legacy in this State that will be cherished for many years; and
 
WHEREAS, through his accomplishments and achievements in the entertainment industry and his contributions to the cultural identity of New Jersey, Clarence Clemons has made New Jersey a better place; and
 
WHEREAS, it is with deep sadness that we mourn the loss of
Clarence Clemens and extend our sincere sympathy to his family, friends and many fans; and
 
WHEREAS, it is appropriate to recognize the achievements and contributions, to honor the memory, and to mark the passing of Clarence Clemons;
 
NOW, THEREFORE, I, CHRIS CHRISTIE, Governor of the State of New Jersey, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and by the Statutes of this State, do hereby ORDER and DIRECT:
 
1. The Flag of the United States of America and the flag of the State of New Jersey shall be flown at half-staff at all State departments, offices, agencies, and instrumentalities during appropriate hours on Thursday, June 23, 2011, in recognition and mourning of the passing of Clarence Clemons.

2. This Order shall take effect immediately.
 
GIVEN, under my hand and seal this 21stday of June ,
Two Thousand and Eleven, and of the Independence of the United States, the Two Hundred and Thirty-Fifth.

Chris Christie
Governor

Professors and Multiple On-Line Identities

I can relate to this article in The Chronicle of Education.  It seems that professors around the country are pursuing multiple online identities.  It is not easy trying to separate one's personal use of social media from one's professional or academic use.  Many professors have decided to go with multiple Facebook or Twitter accounts.

Jeffrey Young offers academics some tips about how to navigate the world of social media.  I have summarized them below:

1.   Having a split social media identity is not schizophrenic.

2.  Accept friend requests from students, but never make the first move.

3.  If you are an administrator at a campus with multiple Facebook accounts, try not to overregulate.

4.  Keep college or university related Facebook pages active.

5.  Fight Twitter rumors.

Happy Birthday to The Way of Improvement Leads Home!

Today we celebrate our third birthday here at The Way of Improvement Leads Home!  I started this blog on June 23, 2008 after spending a year blogging with Paul Harvey at Religion in American History as his first regular contributor. And the rest, as they say, is history.

It has been a good year and I hope what we do here continues to be useful.  We have developed a rather loyal following over the years and this year particularly we have picked up many new readers.

Thanks for all of you who read the blog!  I hope you will keep linking to our posts, subscribing to our RSS feed, and adding us to your blog-rolls!

What Are You Reading Right Now?

What book or books are you reading today?  Whether it is for pleasure, work, research, or some combination of all three, inquiring minds want to know!  Tell us in the comments section.

I am reading Joseph Bilby and Katherine Bilby Jenkins, Monmouth Court House: The Battle that Made the American Army and later today I hope to start Robert Louis Wilken's The Spirit of Early Christian Thought.

Students Have Never Known History

More on our woeful lack of history knowledge from All Things Considered at NPR.

Diane Ravitch clarifies a few things and takes on the declension narrative.

How to Go From an Evangelical to a Catholic in 95 Easy Steps

You see more and more books like this. It seems that every prominent evangelical intellectual who converts to Roman Catholicism feels the need to write a memoir about his or her experience.  Frankly, as a former Catholic who appreciated a great deal about my Catholic upbringing, I love these books. I have read most of them, from Howard to Hahn and from Currie to Beckwith.  I have not converted yet, but these books really help me to see some of the weakness of American evangelicalism.

The latest conversion memoir comes from prominent sociologist Christian Smith.  In How to Go from Being a Good Evangelical to a Committed Catholic in Ninety-Five Difficult Steps (Cascade Press, 2011), Smith writes about his own recent conversion to Catholicism--a conversion that, and I am only guessing here, contributed to his move from the University of North Carolina to Notre Dame.  The book comes with endorsements from the usual suspects:  Frank Beckwith, Thomas Howard, and Mark Noll.  Here is the publishers blurb.

American evangelicalism has recently experienced a new openness to Roman Catholicism, and many evangelicals, both famous and ordinary, have joined the Catholic Church or are considering the possibility. This book helps evangelicals who are exploring Roman Catholicism to sort out the kinds of concerns that typically come up in discerning whether to enter into the full communion of the Catholic Church. In simple language, it explains many theological misunderstandings that evangelicals often have about Roman Catholicism, and suggests the kind of practical steps many take to enter the Catholic Church. The book frames evangelicals becoming Roman Catholic as a kind of "paradigm shift" involving the buildup of anomalies about evangelicalism, a crisis of the evangelical paradigm, a paradigm revolution, and the consolidation of the new Roman Catholic paradigm. It will be useful for both evangelicals interested in pursuing and understanding Roman Catholicism and Catholic pastoral workers seeking to help evangelical seekers who come to them.

What Might a Non-Progressive History of Western Civilization Look Like?

Twenty years ago the late Christopher Lasch chronicled America's addiction to progress and provided an alternative vision of American life.  The book was called The True and Only Heaven: Progress and its Critics.  It was a masterpiece of scholarship and cultural criticism and it got a lot of liberal progressives very angry.

I have read The True and Only Heaven several times.  It is a book I return to quite often.  In fact, a couple of things have come up in the last few days that have led me to once again reflect on Lasch's prophetic tome.

Yesterday I posted about and endorsed Catholic University's decision to ban co-ed dorms. I thought I would get some backlash from a few of my more progressive readers, but so far my e-mail account, Facebook wall, and blog comments page have been void of criticism--either of me or Catholic University.

But while my progressive readers have been quiet, most progressives in the blogosphere have not.  The Left's outrage over this decision, and the attempt by a George Washington University law professor to sue Catholic University, are deeply rooted in a progressive vision of American history.  While some progressives might be upset with the whole concept of same-sex dorms, what is particularly scandalous to them is the fact that a university that had previously allowed co-ed dorms has now decided to eliminate them.  This is so scandalous because it is perceived as a step backward--an unenlightened decision that contradicts what some believe to be progress.  To suggest, based on religious tradition, that young men and women are different enough to be housed in separate spaces, or that their  moral convictions might be strengthened by such a move, is antithetical to a progressive mindset that perceives morality in less traditional ways.

I thought about Lasch again when I read William Lind and William Piper's provocative essay in The American Conservative.  The authors lay out what they call an "alternative" history of the West.  What might the story of Western Civilization look like, they ask, if the narrative was driven by faith, reason, and the failure of progress, especially in the 20th century?

Lind and Piper's "alternative history" is not without its problems, and Georgetown political philosopher Patrick Deneen notes a few of them, but I think such a historiographical project is worth doing and I am appreciative to Lind and Piper for giving it a shot.  Lasch would be happy.

Is Leith Anderson Tim Pawlenty's Jeremiah Wright?

Probably not.

You may recall that Barack Obama had some problems with his pastor when he ran for president in 2008.  Now the Huffington Post suggests that Tim Pawlenty, the Minnesota governor who has thrown his hat in the ring for the GOP presidential nomination, might have similar problems with his own pastor:  Rev. Leith Anderson, pastor of Wooddale Church in Eden Prairie, MN and the current president of the National Association of Evangelicals.

Unlike Jeremiah Wright, Anderson does his best to stay out of politics.  He is a rock-solid evangelical Christian with an impeccable reputation in the evangelical world.  He opposes same-sex marriage and abortion.  But he also parts ways with many political conservatives on issues such as immigration and the environment.

I doubt that Anderson will present much of a roadblock to Pawlenty's presidential aspirations, but if the GOP fight for the nomination gets dirty, I can certainly see one of the candidates playing the Leith Anderson card.  If Obama could be attacked for the beliefs of his pastor, why not Pawlenty?  Politics can get ugly.  Stay tuned.

So What CAN You Do With a History Major--Part 32

What can you do with a history major? Work as a system's specialist for a software company.

Georgiana Iasnik is a recent graduate (2007) of the Messiah College History Department who is using her history major in the software industry.  I caught up with Georgiana and asked her about her love of history and its application to her current job.

JF: Why did you decide to major in history?

GI: For as long as I remember I have always loved history. My family’s story has only fed my passion for the past. My parents and older siblings emigrated from Romania four months before I was born. I grew up hearing about why my parents moved to America and their desire for us to have the opportunities that they never had growing up. Learning little things about my Dad makes his story even more fascinating. For example, as a teenager he listened to music that was banned in Romania--stuff like the Beatles and Elvis Presley! 

It saddens me when people are immediately put off by the study of history because they think it is merely “names and dates.” We fail to see how one’s story, however big or small it may be, has an impact on all of humanity. I remember as a child thinking how big the world felt around me, but the more I studied history the more I felt connected and part of the big picture. When I graduated high school, I was sure that I was going to be a history major.  I remember many people trying to dissuade me from my choice because it didn’t seem “practical” or “promising” enough. As I look back, I still think that was one of the best decisions I have ever made. It has helped me learn more about myself and the world around me.

JF: What is your current job title and what does your job entail?

GI: I am currently a System Specialist for a software company located in the Washington, DC metro area. We specialize in document and media exploitation and serve various customers in the public sector. I help test computer software, create documentation, and train the end users on how to use our products.

JF: How has your training as a history major helped you in this job? Or in other words, what kind of skills did you learn as a history major that transferred well into this job?

GI: The History Department at Messiah College taught me the importance of being aware of the world around me: past, present and future. For example, technology is not something humanity first discovered in the 20th century. Human beings have always looked for ways to improve life through various forms of technology. My history degree has only enhanced my desire for improving our lives and understanding why we do the things we do. It has also given me the proper tools to ensure I am capable of gathering and sharing ideas effectively.


Communication is a huge part of my job. Whether I am responsible for writing documentation, training, or discussing ideas with my co-workers, I must know the best ways to share information with my audience. My study of history has helped me become a better communicator.


The company I work for was founded on the principle of preserving documentation through the best of modern technology. As a history major, I know how tremendously important documentation, especially primary source material, is for gathering information. We have come a long way from manually duplicating data and translating languages, but that is because we know what worked and didn’t work in the past.

JF: What advice would you give to undergraduates majoring in history or those considering a history major, either at Messiah College or elsewhere?

GI: Please don’t think that the only thing you can do with a history major is teach.  I had always loved history, but I was under the false impression that teaching was my only option after graduation.  I graduated with a History and Secondary Education degree from Messiah College, but I did not follow the path that many people thought I would. Although the desire to share my passion for history is still strong, there are other ways of doing it beyond teaching high school social studies.


I know I won’t be working in the information technology world for the rest of my life. In fact, I never even thought I would work in this field to begin with. However, it has given me opportunities that I only dreamed of. I have been very fortunate to travel the world for work and meet amazing people from places like Miami, Bosnia and Rwanda. While traveling I try to learn as much as I can about the local history and culture from the people who know it best, the locals. I'd like to think that my history major has given me the tools for understanding these cultures.  If it were not for the desire to see through the eyes of the locals, I probably would not have made the lifelong friends I made in Rwanda.


There is no set career path for a history major. The only requirement is to listen to the world around you and allow  the voices of the past, present and future to speak to you. History is the human connection that spans all time.

Thanks Georgiana!  To read more in our series "So What CAN You Do With a History Major," click here.

Should Liberal Arts College Produce Well-Educated Citizens or Prepare Students for the Job Market?

Kevin Carey tackles this question in his most recent Brainstorm column.

I think what Carey is trying to say is that liberal arts colleges are in the business of preparing thoughtful citizens AND preparing people for the job market.  Why do these have to be mutually exclusive goals?  As Carey notes, "Being a good citizen is being a well-informed voter and judicious juror and the like.  Another part is contributing socially and economically valuable activity to the common good.  Perhaps that means inventing something or writing a book or starting a business or teaching in a college."  He concludes:

And indeed, as liberal-arts supporters are constantly telling us, “thoughtful, critical thinkers” are exactly the kind of people that businesses want to hire and pay. The man at the conference took his classics degree and went into the business world for several decades. He was wearing a nice suit that I assume he bought with his own money. People can’t have it both ways, arguing for the economic value of college when it comes time to make claims on the public treasury and then arguing against it when it comes time to gather information about colleges success. Smart, well-educated people do well in this world more often than not, and colleges are in the business of making people smart and well-educated. The more information that bears this relationship out, the better.

Don't Know Much About History

Linda Salvucci, the chairwoman-elect of the National Council for History Education, weighs in on the recent report from the National Assessment of Educational Programs showing that students are less than proficient in their knowledge of American history.

In this interview with CNN, Salvucci zeroes in on some of the major problems with history education in America.  Here is a taste:


Is there a better way to teach history and what is preventing that from happening in schools today?

Absolutely.  Rather than requiring students to memorize endless lists of facts that are mandated in many state standards and reflected in conventional textbooks, we should organize significant content around principles of historical thinking. 

NCHE’s website  contains a short document entitled “History’s Habits of the Mind,” that identifies the skills acquired by studying history.  History is a way of thinking and can be effectively and engagingly taught by organizing content around questions and themes that allow students to function as practicing historians. 

K-12 students are more than capable of moving beyond the simple collection of evidence to the analysis, contextualization and interpretation of sources, followed by the articulation of arguments about the past.  They can learn how to think, not what to think, which is important in a democracy.   

Are you and Council members concerned about the number of young people who may or may not wake up one morning and think: That’s it! I want to grow up and be a history teacher!

What concerns NCHE is the “narrowing of the curriculum” due to the high-stakes testing in reading and math mandated by No Child Left Behind. 

History is being crowded out of the daily schedule in many states across the nation; in Indiana, for example, elementary students receive twelve minutes per week of instruction in history.  Twelve minutes per week!  Not much can flow through the pipeline under such circumstances.  And, of course, there is the larger issue of how society regards and compensates all teachers, not just history educators

Teachers and schools probably take the brunt of the blame when history test scores are low. What could parents do better?

There are so many dedicated history teachers out there, but they need support in the form of professional development.  That’s why it is so distressing to see Congress slash and try to eliminate funding for programs such as the Teaching American History grants, as well as to have Secretary of Education Arne Duncan reduce history to second-tier status (along with the humanities, the arts, geography, civics, economics, financial literary, environmental studies) in his plans to “consolidate” funding to foster a “well-rounded education.” 

Sure, parents can read history to their children and take them to visit historic sites, but they really ought to be mobilizing to demand that public officials get serious about adequately funding history education in the schools.  History must not be allowed to become some optional or occasional add-on to the “real” curriculum.  We need a STEM-like (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) initiative for history.   

Darkwood Brew Interview with Diane Butler Bass

I recently found this interview with American religious historian Diane Butler Bass.  It is from a website called Darkwood Brew which appears to be a web show that takes place in a coffee shop.


An Interview with Diana Butler Bass from Scott Griessel on Vimeo.


Bass addresses a host of issues, including the rapture, hell, Rob Bell, heaven, the book of Revelation, loving one's neighbor, justice, mystery, "post-mortem repentance," and a host of other theological issues.

This is all great and thought-provoking stuff, but I must admit that I could not get over the fact that Bass was Skyping from what she called her WRITER'S COTTAGE IN HER BACKYARD!  So cool!

Where are You Doing Research This Summer?

While normal people spend the summer months at the beach or in the mountains, academic historians head for the archives.  For those of us who teach during from August to May, the summer provides a major opportunity to make headway on that book, article, dissertation, or thesis.

So, here is my question for the day:  Where will you be doing research this summer?  And what kinds of stuff will you be looking at?

I will not be spending too much time in the archives this summer, but I have already made a stop at the Presbyterian Historical Society in Philadelphia and will probably make a few more stops there before the summer is over.  With the help of a few former students who are working for me as research assistants this summer, I am looking at Presbyterian church records and comparing them to local committees of public safety at the time of the American Revolution.

As I wrote about yesterday, I will also be spending a week in Greenwich, NJ as part of the Greenwich Tea Burning Project.  And if time allows, I may also drop in at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania for some additional research on my Presbyterians and the American Revolution project.

How about you?

Greenwich Tea Burning Project Update

We are just about five days away from the 2011 edition of the Greenwich Tea Burning Project.  The rooms are booked, the van is rented, and I think they are ready for us at the Lummis Library in historic Greenwich, New Jersey.

I will be leading a team of four students and former students to Greenwich to continue our work on how the past has been remembered there.  We are using the 1774 event known as the "Greenwich Tea Burning" as a window into the history and memory of this fascinating community on the Cohansey River.  We are funded this year by a generous grant from the New Jersey Historical Commission.

Stay tuned to The Way of Improvement Leads Home for regular updates starting Monday, June 27th.

Also, if you want to follow our progress, support our efforts, or stay up to date on what we do, feel free to join our Facebook page.

Michelle Bachmann's Evangelical Feminism

In today's Washington Post, Michael Lindsay, prominent sociologist of religion and president-elect of Gordon College, discusses why Michelle Bachmann just may have a chance to win the Iowa caucuses in 2012.  It all has to do with her appeal to evangelical women.  Lindsay writes:

...there is one significant difference between Bachmann and many other evangelical political contenders that have come before her—her gender. Evangelicals tend to follow traditional gender roles at home, so it is unusual that Bachmann, a woman of conservative Christian faith, is not only running for the White House but also receiving considerable evangelical support for it. Observers unfamiliar with evangelicalism may wonder then how Bachmann, who couldn’t even serve in formal leadership roles in many evangelical churches, can receive evangelicals’ blessing for something much grander: the nation’s highest office.

The reality is that evangelicals today have crafted a notion of what feminist scholar Marie Griffith calls “practical Christian womanhood,” whereby adherents hold seemingly contradictory notions regarding authority and gender ideals.

Even in her bid for the Oval Office, Bachmann—who has five children of her own and has cared for twenty-three foster children—describes herself as “first and foremost a mother.” This, actually, is political genius. It humanizes her and differentiates her from the rest of the Republican field. Bachmann invokes the mothering motif all the time; she mentioned it three different times in last week’s debate alone. In fact, motherhood is what Bachmann says brought her into politics. She first sought elected office out of a desire to shape Minnesota’s education policy to be more in line with her concerns as a mother. And she often speaks of her political career as a “calling,” which provides additional justification to evangelical voters that her political ambitions merit their support.

Fair enough. But is Bachmann's so-called "evangelical feminism" really that new to Republican politics?  I seem to remember a vice-presidential candidate named Sarah Palin who was playing the evangelical feminism card well before Bachmann.