Laura F. Edwards, A Legal History of the Civil War and Reconstruction: A Nation of Rights (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2015).
Both whites and African Americans understood such efforts for what they were: over challenges to the existing legal order—now a crumbling legal order that had supported slavery and, in turn, had been constituted by it. That legal order locked enslaved people into positions of extreme subordination.” (128)
Erik Mathisen, The Loyal Republic: Traitors, Slaves, and the Remaking of Citizenship in Civil War America (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2018).
“Though it possessed revolutionary potential to reshape the republic and set the nation on a very different course, volitional citizenship would be set to one side. The parameters of citizenship wold be narrowed; birthright and not individual action would matter. But in a revolutionary moment, loyalty held out the possibility of far-reaching change. Out of that struggle—to claim rights as loyal citizens or explain away treasonous acts—would come many of the tensions of modern American citizenship.” (175)
Gregory Ablavsky, Federal Ground: Governing Property and Violence in the First U.S. Territories (New York: Oxford University Press, 2021).
Leslie A. Schwalm, A Hard Fight For We: Women’s Transition from Slavery to Freedom in South Carolina (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1997).
Adam Fairclouth, The Revolution that Failed: Reconstruction in Natchitoches (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2018).
Mark E. Neely, Jr., "Guerrilla Warfare, Slavery, and the Hopes of the Confederacy," Journal of the Civil War Era 6, no. 3 (September, 2016), 376-412.
Daniel E. Sutherland, A Savage Conflict: The Decisive Role of Guerrillas in the American Civil War (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2009)
Daniel E. Sutherland, "Guerrilla Warfare, Democracy, and the Fate of the Confederacy," Journal of Southern History 68, no. 2 (May, 2002), 259-92.
Lorien Foote, "Rethinking the Confederate Home Front," Journal of the Civil War Era 7, no. 3 (September, 2017), 446-65
Sotirios Barber, Stephen Macedo, and James Fleming, “The Constitution, the Common Good, and the Ambition of Adrian Vermeule,” The Constitutionalist, January 26, 2021.
Anonymous [Joe Klein], Primary Colors: A Novel of Politics (New York: Random House, 1996).
Jacob Hacker, The Road to Nowhere: The Genesis of President Clinton’s Plan for Health Security (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997).
Renee C. Romano and Claire Bond Potter, Historians on Hamilton: How a Blockbuster Musical is Restaging America’s Past (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2018).
Garrett Felber, Those Who Know Don’t Say: The Nation of Islam, the Black Freedom Movement, and the Carceral State (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2019)
Aaaand finally the fun stuff! Less fun stuff than usual because, well, I had less fun. But here’s my first ever newsletter recipe, as promised on @gautham_cooks on instagram!
Brian Ng, “Comfort Me with Chopsticks,” Vittles, February 12, 2021,
James Pearce and Mark Carey, “The Clock is Ticking but ‘Naby Lad’ Keita Can Still Make Up for Lost Time at Liverpool,” The Athletic, February 16, 2021.
James Pearce, “Curtis Jones is No Longer Liverpool’s Future. He’s Their Present,” The Athletic, February 17, 2021.
Lentil and Mushroom Bourginon
NB. this recipe requires time, patience, and an instant pot. I guess you could try it without an instant pot but it would take even longer.
1 cup dried black lentils (French green work too)
2 lbs mushrooms, cleaned
1 cup red wine
8 cups veg stock (or beef stock if you are cool with that) (*save mushroom stems to use for next batch of stock)
2 medium yellow onions, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
5 carrots, peeled and chopped into 1 inch pieces
4 cloves garlic, diced
8 roma tomatoes, peeled (or a big can of whole peeled tomato)
tbsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped
tbsp thyme, finely chopped
1/2 cup tomato paste
2 tbsp parsley, chopped
1 tbsp butter
1/4 cup olive oil
salt, pepper
1/2 cup brandy (optional)
Cook the lentils. If you are using the instant pot, which you should, then manual pressure for 15 minutes is enough.
Heat up the broth and add the rosemary and thyme.
in many batches, sear the mushrooms. I like to have two cast iron pans going at the same time and I stagger the addition of mushrooms so that I’m constantly turning one or the other batch. Make sure to keep the heat nice and high. It is ok if they scorch a little. Set aside once they are done.
Deglaze the mushroom pans with the hot stock and set aside. This step is crucial.
Set Instant pot sauté function on high and wait until it is hot. Add olive oil and butter and wait until things get foamy. (Sorry for using that word.) Add onion and salt/pepper them* and sauté until translucent. Add celery and cook until soft. Add carrots and sauté for about 5 minutes. Add mushrooms, lentils and sauté until things come together. (*don’t over-salt because the flavors will concentrate in the instant pot!!! You can always correct for flavor later).
This step is entirely optional. It is also dangerous.* Transfer the entire thing to a creuset or something like it and heat it until it is sizzling. Dump in the brandy and light it with a match. Once the flame dies away, transfer back to the Instant pot. (*the last time I did this I singed my pandemic bangs, which in all honesty do not work at all with my current late-college-years-Brandon-Walsh hairstyle, which may have worked on Lucinda Nicholson but is widely viewed as unflattering in my house)
Add the tomato, tomato paste and deglazed mushroom thing. Once the tomato paste cooks down a bit add the stock and wine.
Bring to a boil in the instant pot. Let it boil for at least a few minutes to cook off the booze (unless you like your family and/or guests a bit sauced). Seal and set the manual function for 5 minutes. Once it is done turn it off and let the pressure dissipate naturally.
Adjust salt and pepper. Serve with parsley as garnish. I like a healthy tablespoon of Indian chili powder in my bowl but people seem to think this is strange. Makes a nice stroganoff-style-pasta if you toss with egg noodles.
Notes: sometimes, depending on the tomatoes, a pinch of sugar in step 7 can help the flavor. Freezes very nicely.