Day: October 3, 2025

This week: The culture war over Texas history / A controversial vision for the U.S. military / The history of ‘woke’ / Is this the golden age of biography? / The landline is back / The Gibson Girl lives on

Most of these items come from my social media networks. Follow me on BlueSky, Instagram, Tumblr, LinkedIn, and Facebook for more fascinating videos, photos, articles, essays, and criticism. Learn more about my academic background here and about me here.

1. Through their eyes: Donald Trump and his actions, as seen by leaders from around the world
By Jennifer Peltz | Associated Press | September 2025
“Here’s a sampling of quotes by leaders and luminaries from around the world this past week at the United Nations talking about Trump and his administration — positive, negative and in between.”

2. Trump and Hegseth spark alarm about domestic use of military
By Blaise Malley | Salon | September 2025
“At an unprecedented gathering of the nation’s top military brass, Trump and Hegseth spoke of using force in America”
Also see, from NPR: Trump defends use of the U.S. military against the ‘enemy within’
Also see, from The Atlantic: Hundreds of Generals Try to Keep a Straight Face
Also see, from The Washington Post: Hegseth wants to return the military to 1990 — a dark time in its history

3. The federal government has shut down. Here’s what will be affected across the country
By Caitlyn Kim | NPR | October 2025
Air travel, mail delivery, safety net programs, paychecks, and FEMA funding may be impacted.

4. An Annual Blast of Pacific Cold Water Did Not Occur, Alarming Scientists
By Sachi Kitajima Mulkey | The New York Times | September 2025
“The cold water upwell, which is vital to marine life, did not materialize for the first time on record. Researchers are trying to figure out why.”

5. How ‘woke’ went from an expression in Black culture to a conservative criticism
By Terry Tang | Associated Press | September 2025
“‘Wokeness’ originated decades ago as African American cultural slang for having awareness and enlightenment around racism, injustice, privilege or threats of white supremacist violence.”

6. This Diplomat Saw the Fall of the Shah Coming. Jimmy Carter Ignored Him.
By Scott Anderson | Politico Magazine | August 2025
“The Carter administration overlooked a dissenting voice on Iran. It almost cost him his life.”

7. With ‘One Battle After Another,’ Paul Thomas Anderson Captures the Shortcomings of His Generation
By Richard Newby | The Hollywood Reporter | September 2025
“Though Leonardo DiCaprio’s Bob, Anderson explores limits and frustrations of a revolutionary in an America where the disenfranchisement of Black and Latino populations has grown beyond his generation’s ability to combat.”

8. The Pueblo Revolt of 1680
By Christopher Rose, Joan Neuberger and Henry Wiencek | 15 Minute History :: UT Department of History | 2014-2020
Also see: The Succession to Muhammad | Darwinism and the Scopes Monkey Trial | Monumental Sculpture of Preclassic Mesoamerica | Ezra and the Compilation of the Pentateuch

9. The Kennedy Films of Robert Drew & Associates: Capturing the Kennedys
By Thom Powers | The Criterion Collection | April 2016
“Around the world, other nonfiction filmmakers were also experimenting with handheld styles, from those in England s Free Cinema movement to the members of the National Film Board of Canada. In New York City, the motivation to get out on the streets was felt strongly among the nascent community of independent filmmakers, a loose group whose interests spanned fiction, documentary, and experimental work.”

10. How Scholars Lost the Culture War over Texas History
By Ty Cashion | Texas Observer | September 2025
“And how they could still start winning it.”

11. Citizen historians document Smithsonian exhibits under White House scrutiny
By Jeffrey Brown | PBS News Hour | September 2025
“The Smithsonian Institution is the world’s largest museum, education and research complex. It’s a public-private trust that has long operated at arm’s length from the White House, but now finds itself under unprecedented scrutiny from the Trump administration. “

12. Are We Entering a New Golden Age of Biography?
By Megan Marshall | LitHub | September 2025
“As I enter my fifth decade in the genre, I’m happy to number the brilliant younger biographers whose careers I’m following in the dozens. Nicholas Boggs, Francesca Wade, and Lance Richardson are just three who happen to be stepping out in the same season with sumptuous new biographies of 20th-century literary giants: James Baldwin, Gertrude Stein, and Peter Matthiessen.”

13. What Happens When a Bad-Tempered, Distractible Doofus Runs an Empire?
By Miranda Carter | The New Yorker | June 2018
“Some of Trump’s critics suppose that these escalating crises might cause him to loosen, or even lose, his grip on the Presidency. The real lesson of Kaiser Wilhelm II, however, may be that Trump’s leaving office might not be the end of the problems he may bring on or exacerbate—it may be only the beginning.”

14. How to future-proof your knees
By David Cox | BBC News | September 2025
“Our knees are arguably one of our most important joints, but also one of the most poorly looked after. Science tells us putting in some work now pays dividends later.”

15. Parents are bringing back the landline
By Caitlin Gibson | The Washington Post | September 2025
“Looking to steer kids away from screens and social media, more families are going analog.”

16. A friend’s advice to cut my tortured prose unlocked my career as a novelist
By Andrew Martin | The Guardian | September 2025
“What he said was simple, but it achieved a kind of sorcery. For the first time, my dream of becoming a writer seemed possible”

17. Queering the museum
By M. Quechol | Ojala | September 2025
“In early 2003, Peruvian philosopher, drag performer, and activist Giuseppe Campuzano created the Travesti Museum of Peru. For the next ten years, Campuzano carried this deliberately mobile project in suitcases and public spaces, leaving a legacy of a defiantly impermanent museum. A living counter-archive.”

18. How Originalism Killed the Constitution
By Jill Lepore | The Atlantic | September 2025
“A radical legal philosophy has undermined the process of constitutional evolution.”

19. The Undimmed Appeal Of The Gibson Girl
By Agnes Rogers | American Heritage | Summer 2025
“She was forever a girl — forever young and beautiful, feminine without being (in today’s terms) sexy.”

20. The Almoravid Empire
By Melvyn Bragg | In Our Time :: BBC 4 | 2015-2018
Also see: Circadian Rhythms | The Empire of Mali | The Battle of Lepanto | The Salem Witch Trials