John Fea

Sunday night odds and ends A few things online that caught my attention this week: Why some people don't like Colonial Williamsburg Should Power Four schools stay in the NCAA? What would James Madison and John Marshall say about Trumo's tariffs? The rift in American socialism Paul Lakeland reviews John Gehrig, Reclaiming American Catholicism: Faith, Politics and the Future of the Catholic Church The…

Sunday night odds and ends

A few things online that caught my attention this week: Why some people don't like Colonial Williamsburg Should Power Four schools stay in the NCAA? What would James Madison and John Marshall say about Trumo's tariffs? The rift in American socialism Paul Lakeland reviews…

What happened to that Eric Metaxas talk show? Remember when Eric Metaxas tried to start a late-night talk show? Watch: What happened to the show? Adam Gabbatt of The Guardian did some digging. Here is a taste of his piece: A group of conservat…

“I Helped Eric Metaxas Dream Up a Talk Show in 2008. I Hardly Recognize Him Now“ thewayofimprovement.blog/2025/10/09/w...

Does Doug Wilson think that Ross Douthat is going to heaven? I started my recent piece on Doug Wilson’s use of American history with the sentence: “Idaho pastor Doug Wilson is having a moment.” Read it here. Over at The New York Times, the …

Ross Douthat to Doug Wilson: "So, simple question: Do you think I’m going to hell?" thewayofimprovement.blog/2025/10/09/d...

Who was Eliza Schuyler? The Atlantic’s “Unfinished Revolution” issue is a veritable feast! Check out historian Jane Kamensky’s review of Amanda Vaill’s Pride and Pleasure: The Schuyler Sister…

"Staking a claim not just to the significance of her protagonists but also to her own stature as a portraitist in the grand manner, Vaill builds on some of the most compelling writing about women in early America": thewayofimprovement.blog/2025/10/10/w...

Should a university provide a platform for “every perspective”? Davidson College sociologist Gerardo Marti reflects on Donald Trump’s “compact” with higher education institutions. Here is a taste of his piece at Inside Higher Education: &#8230…

"No university can present every possible outlook in equal measure, nor should it." thewayofimprovement.blog/2025/10/10/s...

Weekly Roundup: Oct. 10 Here’s the weekly roundup from A Public Witness. This week we celebrated the launch of a new book, highlighted a podcast conversation with Angela Parker, and reported on an upcoming execution of a man...

Our latest news roundup features insights from @jackjenkins.me, @tiffanystanley.bsky.social, @arianabaio.bsky.social, @liamodell.com, @ffrf.org, @friendlyatheist.com, @johnfea1.bsky.social, @julietterihl.bsky.social, @barnraiser.bsky.social, @jennymcdevitt.bsky.social, and more!

Should a university provide a platform for “every perspective”? Davidson College sociologist Gerardo Marti reflects on Donald Trump's "compact" with higher education institutions. Here is a taste of his piece at Inside Higher Education: ...a proposed “compact” with higher education institutions would seek to condition federal funding on requirements that colleges ensure a “broad spectrum of viewpoints” in each academic department and that they abolish “institutional units that purposefully punish, belittle, and even spark violence against conservative ideas.”

Should a university provide a platform for “every perspective”?

Davidson College sociologist Gerardo Marti reflects on Donald Trump's "compact" with higher education institutions. Here is a taste of his piece at Inside Higher Education: ...a proposed “compact” with higher education…

Who was Eliza Schuyler? The Atlantic's "Unfinished Revolution" issue is a veritable feast! Check out historian Jane Kamensky's review of Amanda Vaill's Pride and Pleasure: The Schuyler Sisters in an Age of Revolution. The subtitle: "She lived 97 years. Only 24 of them were with Alexander Hamilton." A taste: Washington, Adams, Hamilton, Jefferson, Franklin; rinse and repeat: A new life of one of the Revolution’s male heroes appears in bookstores most years around Father’s Day.

Who was Eliza Schuyler?

The Atlantic's "Unfinished Revolution" issue is a veritable feast! Check out historian Jane Kamensky's review of Amanda Vaill's Pride and Pleasure: The Schuyler Sisters in an Age of Revolution. The subtitle: "She lived 97 years. Only 24 of them were with Alexander…

Most popular posts of the last week Here are the most popular posts of the last week at The Way of Improvement Leads Home: Salem Radio “eliminates” the Eric Metaxas Show AI Charlie Kirk “speaks” from beyond the grave Smith: Doug Wilson’s offer to buy Christianity Today was a “publicity stunt” Thomas Chatterton Williams: “MAGA has found its George Floyd” Today at ARC Magazine: My piece on how Doug Wilson uses American history…

Most popular posts of the last week

Here are the most popular posts of the last week at The Way of Improvement Leads Home: Salem Radio “eliminates” the Eric Metaxas Show AI Charlie Kirk “speaks” from beyond the grave Smith: Doug Wilson’s offer to buy Christianity Today was a “publicity stunt”…

Did Jefferson really intend that his phrase “all men are created equal” to be applied to everyone? Historian Annette Gordon-Reed helps us sort this out. Here is a taste of her piece at The Atlantic: "Whose Independence?": ...Jefferson formulated the Declaration’s second paragraph, with language that has become its most quotable passage: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and 

Did Jefferson really intend that his phrase “all men are created equal” to be applied to everyone?

Historian Annette Gordon-Reed helps us sort this out. Here is a taste of her piece at The Atlantic: "Whose Independence?": ...Jefferson formulated the Declaration’s second paragraph, with language…

Does Doug Wilson think that Ross Douthat is going to heaven? I started my recent piece on Doug Wilson's use of American history with the sentence: "Idaho pastor Doug Wilson is having a moment." Read it here. Over at The New York Times, the moment continues. Ross Douthat's interview with Wilson got right to the point: Douthat: So let’s start off with a pretty basic question. We are both Christians.

Does Doug Wilson think that Ross Douthat is going to heaven?

I started my recent piece on Doug Wilson's use of American history with the sentence: "Idaho pastor Doug Wilson is having a moment." Read it here. Over at The New York Times, the moment continues. Ross Douthat's interview with Wilson got…

What happened to that Eric Metaxas talk show? Remember when Eric Metaxas tried to start a late-night talk show? Watch: What happened to the show? Adam Gabbatt of The Guardian did some digging. Here is a taste of his piece: A group of conservative donors spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to develop a rightwing version of late-night talkshows like the Tonight Show and the Late Show, leaked documents reveal, in a further indication of the right’s ongoing efforts to overhaul American culture.

What happened to that Eric Metaxas talk show?

Remember when Eric Metaxas tried to start a late-night talk show? Watch: What happened to the show? Adam Gabbatt of The Guardian did some digging. Here is a taste of his piece: A group of conservative donors spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to…

Commonplace Book #375

Are the recent political failures of the American left due, as we are so often told, exclusively to the failure to offer and attractive economic and political vision of the future--a public project that appeals to worker solidarity and materially liberates labor from…

What are the humanities? Here is a helpful post from the Humanities Indicators Project of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences: The Humanities Indicators Project takes an expansive view of the humanities that encompasses the knowledge, skills, and activities that help people interpret and engage with language, culture, history, and the ongoing search for meaning and connection in human life. This includes: reading and creative writing;

What are the humanities?

Here is a helpful post from the Humanities Indicators Project of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences: The Humanities Indicators Project takes an expansive view of the humanities that encompasses the knowledge, skills, and activities that help people interpret and…

Marco Rubio said “No one has died” because of Trump cuts to USAID. A Myanmar father says that “is a lie” Here is a tase of reporter Kristen Gelineau's article at the Associated Press: MAE SOT, Thailand (AP) — Mohammed Taher clutched the lifeless body of his 2-year-old son and wept. Ever since his family’s food rations stopped arriving at their internment camp in Myanmar in April, the father had watched helplessly as his once-vibrant baby boy weakened, suffering from diarrhea and begging for food.

Marco Rubio said “No one has died” because of Trump cuts to USAID. A Myanmar father says that “is a lie”

Here is a tase of reporter Kristen Gelineau's article at the Associated Press: MAE SOT, Thailand (AP) — Mohammed Taher clutched the lifeless body of his 2-year-old son and wept. Ever since his…

America’s 250th is almost here. Let’s set something up Part of my work at the Lumen Center here in Madison, Wisconsin frees me up to do some public lecturing and teaching. I am currently offering lectures as part of the Organization of American Historians (OAH) Distinguished Lectures Program, but I am also very open to creating a lecture on the Revolutionary-era that might fit the needs of your group, whether large or small.

America’s 250th is almost here. Let’s set something up

Part of my work at the Lumen Center here in Madison, Wisconsin frees me up to do some public lecturing and teaching. I am currently offering lectures as part of the Organization of American Historians (OAH) Distinguished Lectures Program, but…

Historians of the Midwest will gather for the “Lost Region Recovery Project Conference” This looks like a really interesting conference to be held November 15, 2025 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Speakers include Patricia Limerick, Peter Colcanis, Susan Matt, Samuel Young, Kristy Nabhan-Warren, Paul Putz, Bradley Birzer, and Wilfred McClay. That is an eclectic mix of scholars! Here is some info from the website: The Lost Region Recovery Project Conference represents a pivotal moment for Midwestern studies.

Historians of the Midwest will gather for the “Lost Region Recovery Project Conference”

This looks like a really interesting conference to be held November 15, 2025 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Speakers include Patricia Limerick, Peter Colcanis, Susan Matt, Samuel Young, Kristy Nabhan-Warren,…

“The Unfinished Revolution” at The Atlantic Today The Atlantic website is filled with articles from its November 2025 issue on the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution. Here are some of the essays included: Jeffrey Goldberg, "The American Experiment" Caity Weaver, "What It Takes to Be a Revolutionary War Reenactor" Ken Burns, Sarah Botstein, and David Schmidt, "What We Learned Filming…

“The Unfinished Revolution” at The Atlantic

Today The Atlantic website is filled with articles from its November 2025 issue on the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution. Here are some of the essays included: Jeffrey Goldberg, "The American Experiment" Caity Weaver, "What It Takes to Be a…

Commonplace Book #374

...Trump won the popular vote. While some have seen this as a worrying sign that people are voting for style over content, the reality may be even worse: they are voting against leftist style. This would mean that, in addition to the myriad of factors cited above, left…

Madison Miscellany: October 8, 2025 We have now lived in downtown Madison for just about two months and are really enjoying it. Joy and I are settling into our work here at the Stephen & Laurel Brown Foundation (Joy as Director of Upper House Commons and me as a Lumen Center fellow). Here's the latest: Since our arrival we have been engaged in that time-worn Protestant practice of "church shopping." So far we have visited an Evangelical Free church, a non-denominational church, a Christian Reformed church, and an Anglican church.

Madison Miscellany: October 8, 2025

We have now lived in downtown Madison for just about two months and are really enjoying it. Joy and I are settling into our work here at the Stephen & Laurel Brown Foundation (Joy as Director of Upper House Commons and me as a Lumen Center fellow). Here's the…

Today at ARC Magazine: My piece on how Doug Wilson uses American history Here is a taste of my piece, “The Christian Nationalist Rewriting American History.” Idaho pastor Douglas Wilson is having a moment. The 72-year-old Christian nationalist was recently t…

"Scholarship on the role of religion in the American Revolution is so robust that no historian with a Ph.D. from one of the universities Wilson despises could get away with claiming that all the Founding Fathers were deists...." thewayofimprovement.blog/2025/10/06/t...

Episode 125: “Black and Evangelical” Is American evangelicalism a white people’s movement? In this episode, we are joined by Wheaton College professor Vincent Bacote to talk about the history of 20th-century Black Protestants wh…

Is American evangelicalism a white people’s movement? In this episode, we are joined by Wheaton College professor Vincent Bacote to talk about the history of 20th-century Black Protestants who identified as “evangelical.” thewayofimprovement.blog/2025/10/07/e...

Salem Radio “eliminates” the Eric Metaxas Show Eric Metaxas, one of Donald Trump’s court evangelicals, had a message for his newsletter subscribers this morning: As you may know, for ten years now I’ve hosted a daily two-hour program…

"But my important announcement today is that for a number of reasons Salem has needed to eliminate some of their programs, and mine is among them." thewayofimprovement.blog/2025/10/07/s...

Commonplace Book #373 [Andrew] Jackson had the affection of the people. Their ardor transcended any single issue. When his opponents mocked him as an unlettered would-be tyrant, a backwoods poseur whose acres were tille…

"Their swelling enthusiasm confirmed that perverse law of charismatic appeal that applied again and again in American history: the more Jackson appalled his critics, especially the “respectable” ones, the more attractive he became." --Molly Worthen thewayofimprovement.blog/2025/10/07/c...

A well-educated “non-historian” attends the annual meeting of the American Historical Association Podcaster (“The History of the Americans”) and Substack writer (“Just Spitballing!”) Jack Henneman writes, “It should be said up front that I am a retired corporate la…

He went to the meeting to learn more about the past, and all he came home with was a "Scholar-Activist" button. thewayofimprovement.blog/2025/10/07/a...

A well-educated “non-historian” attends the annual meeting of the American Historical Association Podcaster ("The History of the Americans") and Substack writer ("Just Spitballing!") Jack Henneman writes, "It should be said up front that I am a retired corporate lawyer and executive, not a historian. I am, however, the son of a professor of history, grew up in a house lined with history books, and have done my share of reading over the years." …

A well-educated “non-historian” attends the annual meeting of the American Historical Association

Podcaster ("The History of the Americans") and Substack writer ("Just Spitballing!") Jack Henneman writes, "It should be said up front that I am a retired corporate lawyer and executive, not a…

Commonplace Book #373

Jackson had the affection of the people. Their ardor transcended any single issue. When his opponents mocked him as an unlettered would-be tyrant, a backwoods poseur whose acres were tilled by slaves, the people declared him their tyrant, the hero who channeled their…

Salem Radio “eliminates” the Eric Metaxas Show Eric Metaxas, one of Donald Trump's court evangelicals, had a message for his newsletter subscribers this morning: As you may know, for ten years now I’ve hosted a daily two-hour program on the Salem Radio Network. Many of you have listened to me there. But my important announcement today is that for a number of reasons Salem has needed to eliminate some of their programs, and mine is among them.

Salem Radio “eliminates” the Eric Metaxas Show

Eric Metaxas, one of Donald Trump's court evangelicals, had a message for his newsletter subscribers this morning: As you may know, for ten years now I’ve hosted a daily two-hour program on the Salem Radio Network. Many of you have listened to me…

Episode 125: “Black and Evangelical” Is American evangelicalism a white people's movement? In this episode, we are joined by Wheaton College professor Vincent Bacote to talk about the history of 20th-century Black Protestants who identified as "evangelical." Bacote is the co-creator and host of the new documentary titled "Black + Evangelical." Here's a teaser: Listen to the entire episode at: Apple Podcasts Stitcher…

Episode 125: “Black and Evangelical”

Is American evangelicalism a white people's movement? In this episode, we are joined by Wheaton College professor Vincent Bacote to talk about the history of 20th-century Black Protestants who identified as "evangelical." Bacote is the co-creator and host of…

Episode 124: “Christian Capitalism in Early America” In this episode we talk with Wesleyan University historian Joseph Slaughter, author of Faith in Markets: Christian Capitalism in Early America. He offers a new account of the interplay between religion and capitalism in early American history by focusing on 19th-century Protestant entrepreneurs and how they infused faith into their business and, in turn, how those businesses shaped our capitalist economy today.

Episode 124: “Christian Capitalism in Early America”

In this episode we talk with Wesleyan University historian Joseph Slaughter, author of Faith in Markets: Christian Capitalism in Early America. He offers a new account of the interplay between religion and capitalism in early American history by…