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For your viewing pleasure: the gang and me on Hamilton

It’s finally up, for your full viewing pleasure: the session at the recent Society for Historians of the Early American Republic (SHEAR) on Hamilton, starring R.B. Bernstein, Benjamin Carp, Nancy Isenberg, Heather Nathans, and yours truly, as taped by C-SPAN-3 (perhaps C-SPAN’s equivalent of ESPN The Ocho?). You should watch the whole thing, but for the […]

Now available: Instructor’s Guide to Fighting over the Founders

For anyone who might be thinking about teaching Fighting over the Founders, NYU Press has now made available a wonderful instructor’s guide, downloadable from the Press’s website, or if you want a sneak peak, below the fold here. A big shout-out to friend, scholar, and politico John Craig Hammond for putting it together. And, yes, the paperback […]

Half-right, in a bad way: David Brooks and the founders’ ugly racial legacy

In his Feb. 26 column, “The Governing Cancer of Our Time,” New York Times columnist David Brooks praised the founding fathers in contrast to today’s tea partiers and other zealots for favoring politics over brute force, and compromise over intransigence. He’s partly right in that solving social conflict through politics and compromise is one of […]

Question on George Washington’s Birthday: Would He Be a Good Candidate Today?

There’s nothing like celebrating February 22, George Washington’s birthday, during a presidential campaign year. Mount Vernon, the historical site comprising George Washington’s home and plantation (oh, and the home of 300+ people legally owned by him and his wife, Martha), has been having fun this election cycle, with a tongue-in-cheek “George Washington for President” website, […]