Making History
History is not one thing, but two. It is the past, and it is the story we tell ourselves about the past. Hilary Mantel explains the distinction: “History is not the past–it is the method we’ve evolved of organizing our … Continued
Abortion: Integrity, Legitimacy, Morality
Pro-life advocates are riding the crest of a wave. Their self-assurance is palpable, but their program, if we consider only J. D. Vance’s recent comments, is dubious and, frankly, dangerous. No abortion in the case of rape or incest, … Continued
Time to Prove I’m Not a Felon (Again)
It’s that time again. Five years fly by whether you’re having fun or not. The Ohio Department of Education, my Hamilton County employer, even the app developer that enables me to find substitute jobs, they’ve all informed me it is … Continued
Young Radicals of the 1910s
“This is a story about hope and what comes after hope, and despair and what comes after despair.” (xiii) This may sound over-wrought, and it is. Jeremy McCarter can say that is what his book, Young Radicals, is about, but … Continued
Randolph Bourne, Immigrationist
“They say we be looking for illegal immigrants can we check your car / I say you know it’s funny I think we were on the same boat back in 1694.” – “Shame on You,” Indigo Girls, 1997 “The early … Continued
Randolph Bourne: Educational Reformer
“There has been no handle by which heterogeneous minds and wills could be taken hold of and directed.” — Randolph Bourne, ca 1915 [198] “Sometimes, the most brilliant and intelligent minds do not shine in standardized tests because they do … Continued
Randolph Bourne: Tribune of Youth
“That the inertia of the older people is wisdom, and not impotence, is a theory that you will never induce youth to believe for an instant. The stupidity and cruelties of their management of the world fill youth with an … Continued
On the Come Up
Of all the great opening lines of literature–“Call me Ismael,” “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…”–Angie Thomas’s in On the Come Up may well be the greatest: “I might have to kill somebody tonight.” … Continued
Debt: The First 5,000 Years
In his Afterword to Debt: The First 5,000 Years, David Graeber says he wanted to write “a big, sprawling, scholarly book” of the kind people didn’t write anymore. [393] From a background in anthropology and ethnology, Graeber felt he had … Continued
Always Look on the Dark Side of Life
Krista Tippet’s radio show “On Being” was a little too earnest for my tastes–or perhaps it was just her voice, or the connotation from its original title, “Speaking of Faith.” Still, I discovered by accident (on early Sunday morning grocery … Continued