Co-Executive Editor, Public Seminar and Professor of History, The New School for Social Research

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#OprahMeghanHarry

The mother of popular antiracism presents these retired royals, and their pain, as a lesson to us all

March 11, 2021 • by Claire Potter

_____ Is it surprising that Their Royal Highnesses, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex (otherwise known as Harry and Meghan) chose to make their first public statement about their decision to become private citizens on an Oprah Winfrey special? No: it is predictable. Any American who believes they have anything important to ...

Feminism

Women’s History, An Origin Story

In 1975, Carroll Smith-Rosenberg published “The Female World of Love and Ritual, and changed how my generation of feminists understood the practice of history

March 1, 2021 • by Claire Potter

I first encountered Carroll Smith-Rosenberg’s “The Female World of Love and Ritual” in 1978. I was twenty and a junior at Yale. A teaching assistant passed it on to me when I met with her after class: a paper was due and my mind was empty. She said that there ...

Feminism

Why #MeToo Isn’t Enough

The Morning Show wrestles with the ambiguities of workplace sexual harassment—and how complicated the truth really is

February 25, 2021 • by Claire Potter

"Can the word “rape” describe the experience of a woman who submits to sex, but only because she is so frightened she lost her capacity to move or speak?"...

History

Collars, Cuffs, and History Collaborations

With Welcome to Your Fantasy, a well-known history podcasting team takes on the Chippendales dancers

February 10, 2021 • by Claire Potter, Nicole Hemmer, Neil J. Young and Natalia Mehlman Petrzela

"with that, this interview is history."...

Collars, Cuffs, and History Collaborations

Event

How to Publish a Journal Article

Join a FREE webinar on Feb. 9

February 8, 2021 • by Claire Potter

Join the FREE webinar focused on “How to Publish a Journal Article,” on Tuesday, February 9, 2021, 7 p.m. EST, as part of the Society for U.S. Intellectual History’s 2020-2021 annual meeting. Bring your questions for journal editors and authors! Registration is FREE but it is required, just click here. The process of writing, revising, and, ...

Education

What You Learn When You Talk to Conservative Students

College professors and college administrations have to do better–we are losing these kids to extremism

February 3, 2021 • by Claire Potter

"We have a tough job in the next four years as we try to rebuild a more inclusive and truly democratic national conversation." - Claire Potter...

What You Learn When You Talk to Conservative Students

Feminism

How Black Women Fight for Our Democracy

A conversation about Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All

January 17, 2021 • by Martha S. Jones and Claire Potter

A legal and cultural historian, Martha Jones has dedicated herself to telling the story of how Black Americans have shaped American democracy, even – or especially – when they were formally excluded from the democratic process itself. Jones’s most recent contribution is Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and ...

Democracy

Donald Trump’s Lies

Why presidential falsehoods are part of United States political history

December 8, 2020 • by Eric Alterman and Claire Potter

Do Americans think presidential lying no longer matters? Perhaps a better question, journalist and historian Eric Alterman asks in his new book, Lying in State: Why Presidents Lie—and Why Trump is Worse (Basic Books, 2020), is whether it ever mattered to voters. Following in the tradition of Isadore F. “Izzy” ...

Democracy

Yes, Democracy Can Survive Trump

When conservative officeholders and judges had to choose between party and country, some chose our country

December 3, 2020 • by Claire Potter

The day after Thanksgiving, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals pulled yet another rug out from under Donald Trump’s serial attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. Judge Stephanos Bibas rejected the claims made in the campaign’s brief as specious and excoriated ongoing attempts to exclude legitimate votes from ...

Exiles on 12th Street

Habitat

Exiles on 12th Street, Episode Nine

November 18, 2020 • by Claire Potter

This is the ninth episode of Public Seminar’s podcast, Exiles on 12th Street. If you like it, go to iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts and subscribe. The future of New York has been thrown into question by COVID-19, as the pandemic has taken a massive physical and economic toll on ...

Democracy

Why Polls Can’t Satisfy Us

What we want from this troubled industry may be impossible: the ability to know our political future

November 12, 2020 • by Claire Potter

That wasn’t what the polls were saying – but could the polls be wrong? Outlier Quinnipiac had Gideon up by 14. The poll that came closest to what I was hearing was the Bangor Daily News, which had her in a statistical toss-up that Gideon would win with ranked-choice voting. Most gave ...

Democracy

The Foiled Confederate Coup of 1861

An interview with historian Ted Widmer about his new book, “Lincoln on the Verge”

October 8, 2020 • by Claire Potter and Ted Widmer

_____ As Americans anxiously count down the days to November 3, 2020, President Donald Trump has been evasive about whether, should he lose, he would accept the results of the election. Commentators have rightly deplored this, arguing that the peaceful transfer of power has always been a cornerstone of American democracy. But ...

Claire Potter

#OprahMeghanHarry

The mother of popular antiracism presents these retired royals, and their pain, as a lesson to us all

Women’s History, An Origin Story

In 1975, Carroll Smith-Rosenberg published “The Female World of Love and Ritual, and changed how my generation of feminists understood the practice of history

Why #MeToo Isn’t Enough

The Morning Show wrestles with the ambiguities of workplace sexual harassment—and how complicated the truth really is

Collars, Cuffs, and History Collaborations

With Welcome to Your Fantasy, a well-known history podcasting team takes on the Chippendales dancers

How to Publish a Journal Article

Join a FREE webinar on Feb. 9

What You Learn When You Talk to Conservative Students

College professors and college administrations have to do better–we are losing these kids to extremism

Donald Trump’s Lies

Why presidential falsehoods are part of United States political history

Yes, Democracy Can Survive Trump

When conservative officeholders and judges had to choose between party and country, some chose our country

Habitat

Exiles on 12th Street, Episode Nine

Why Polls Can’t Satisfy Us

What we want from this troubled industry may be impossible: the ability to know our political future

The Foiled Confederate Coup of 1861

An interview with historian Ted Widmer about his new book, “Lincoln on the Verge”

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