Category: American History & Studies

Douglass and the Daguerreotype–a Guest Post by Marcy J. Dinius

02/20/2012

In time, Douglass became so interested in the connection between the visual arts, imagination, humanity, and progress toward liberty and justice that he wrote and delivered a set of lectures on the subject between 1861 and 1865. He began both the earlier and the later versions of his “Lecture on Pictures” with an extended consideration of the daguerreotype. After being daguerreotyped multiple times in the 1840s and 1850s, the former slave had become a man in his daguerreian portrait. His lectures suggest that if his audiences were to look at his or any other African American’s image and reflect on its likeness to their own, the daguerreotype would show them the reality of blacks’ humanity and awaken them to their own.

Seneca Possessed–Now in Paperback

02/09/2012

Seneca Possessed: Indians, Witchcraft, and Power in the Early American Republic Matthew Dennis 328 pages | 6 x 9 | 16 illus. Cloth 2010 | ISBN 978-0-8122-4226-3 | $45.00 |… READ MORE

Bachmann Is Back: A Guest Blog Post by Kirsten Marie Delegard

01/25/2012

On Sunday, the anniversary of the Roe vs. Wade decision, U.S. Representative Michele Bachmann made her first public appearance since pulling out of the presidential race on January 4. At a protest against abortion at the Minnesota State Capitol, the conservative congresswoman was in her element as she rallied the faithful.
Bachmann’s last-place finish in the Iowa caucuses and subsequent withdrawal from the presidential running had undoubtedly disappointed that audience.
Outside of those circles, many observers viewed Bachmann’s candidacy as a manifestation of our collective political dysfunction. Yet any relief at her poor showing needs to be tempered by caution.

The Worst Regulation in History? Jeffrey Friedman and Wladimir Kraus on the Recourse Rule

01/05/2012

It may seem, then, that the Recourse Rule offers us no lessons. It failed only because of unavoidable human ignorance. The regulators did not anticipate a nationwide housing bubble. Prescience about the bubble was rare, and nobody can be blamed for lack of omniscience. Testifying before the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, former FDIC Chair Sheila Bair expressed regret for the Recourse Rule and admitted that regulators had not understood the risks. Neither had most investors.
However, the danger of a fallible regulator is much greater than the danger of a fallible investor.
A prudent response to our fallibility is to spread our bets. The Recourse Rule contradicted this principle by encouraging all banks to invest in one category of “safe” assets. Herd behavior is always a danger in markets, but this particular herd was corralled by the regulators.

Winter Meeting Wonderlands

12/23/2011

The Penn Campus is relatively quiet now that classes are over, but winter break doesn't mean that things cool down at Penn Press. Some of the biggest humanities and social… READ MORE

My Storm–Now Available

12/22/2011

My Storm: Managing the Recovery of New Orleans in the Wake of Katrina Edward J. Blakely. Foreword by Henry Cisneros 208 pages | 6 x 9 | 8 illus. Cloth… READ MORE