by Benjamin L. Carp Publishing in this issue of the William and Mary Quarterly felt like a homecoming for me. When John Demos taught “The Social History of the American Revolution” during my junior year, he assigned Alfred F. Young’s award-winning 1981 article on the shoemaker George Robert Twelves Hewes. Young included a few lines about Hewes’s apparent… Read More
The Omohundro Institute’s colloquium series resumes February 7 with a presentation by Greta LaFleur (Yale University) entitled “The Complexion of Sodomy.” The OI’s colloquium series convenes up to six times per semester to discuss projects in progress. Papers are pre-circulated and available by request. Although only postdoctoral work is presented, graduate students at all levels are warmly encouraged… Read More
Today’s post comes courtesy of Gabriel Cervantes, author of “Learning from Stephen Burroughs: Republication and the Making of a Literary Book in the Early United States” in the October 2016 issue of the William and Mary Quarterly. by Gabriel Cervantes When I first started working on Stephen Burroughs’s Memoirs, I realized that the narrative uses poetry in clever ways. Read More
Today’s post is from Josh Piker, Editor of the William and Mary Quarterly. There are certain little things about the Quarterly that I will never be able to change. Some of those—like the journal’s cover—I wouldn’t change if I could. Of course, Karin Wulf has made it very clear that, forced to choose between the journal’s cover and its Editor,… Read More
Today’s post comes from Christopher Heaney, Assistant Professor, Penn State, 2016-2018 Barra Postdoctoral Fellow, McNeil Center for Early American Studies, and WMQ author (October). “Do we really need a ‘Peruvian Atlantic’ … ?” asked Reader B. For the sake of my argument, I couldn’t help but agree. The original subtitle of what became my essay in this fall’s issue of the… Read More
Some Reflections on Vastness and the Word Count by Samuel Fisher, WMQ author (October 2016) I suppose it’s safe to say that the vastness of early America is a bit of a preoccupation in these parts. Big, expansive frameworks are the norm now; that much we know. The hard part comes when we try to actually put them to… Read More
I have been Editor for over two years, and I’ve yet to publish my first issue. I don’t like to rush into things. April 2016’s issue has been out for over five months now, but that wasn’t my first issue. For those of you in the northern hemisphere, July 2016’s issue arrived in your mailbox just as the heady… Read More
In today’s post, WMQ author Michael D. Breidenbach (July 2016) reflects on the beginning and end of historical writing. by Michael D. Breidenbach An unavoidable task in historical writing is beginning and ending within particular time periods, dates, or moments. But while a published article denotes its end—the publication date—historical writing often does not admit of a beginning. The genesis of an… Read More
by Kirsten Fischer In today’s post, WMQ author Kirsten Fischer (July 2016) delves into her relationship with Reader D and how their interaction ultimately influenced her piece. Powerful intellectual opposition to one’s ideas is a disturbing, provoking, and very useful thing. That’s what I learned from Reader D, the anonymous reviewer who went to great lengths to refute the arguments… Read More
by Josh Piker There’s good news and bad news. The good news is that the evidence suggests that potential authors of William and Mary Quarterly articles read my posts and take seriously what I say there. The bad news is that, because of the good news, what I said in one particular post is no longer accurate. Last July,… Read More
The 2nd annual Omohundro Institute Scholars’ Workshop began July 5. As last year, six untenured scholars are gathered at the OI for two weeks of intensive discussion, editing and meetings with the OI’s publications team. Each scholar also has the option to stay in Williamsburg and continue to work for up to two weeks after the workshop ends. Read More
by WMQ Editor Josh Piker At the risk of invoking one of my many least favorite Tom Cruise movies—or, as a quick Google search informs me, what looks to be a more recent (but even more uninspired) movie based on a video game—I’d like to talk for a minute about the need for speed. Last year, I blogged about my… Read More