essays & reviews
On the study of slave songs: “The Sorrow Songs” (2022) [note on sources]
On Louis Menand: “Whatever Works” (2021)
On David Bell’s Men on Horseback: “Charismatic Models” (2020)
On history and the coronavirus: “Made by History” (2020)
On Jill Lepore’s These Truths: "These Truths" (2018)
On Leon Kass’s Leading a Worthy Life: "Potentially Much Better" (2018)
On David Armitage’s Civil Wars: "War, Civil War, or Revolution?" (2017)
On the history of American history: "Conflict and Consensus" (2017)
On James Turner’s Philology: "Casaubon's Humanities" (2014)
On David Brion Davis and slavery: "The Problem of Slavery" (2014)
On Jill Lepore’s The Mansion of Happiness: "The Mansion of Happiness" (2012)
On Andrew Delbanco’s College: "Higher Education?" (2012)
On Michael Kazin’s American Dreamers: "American Dreamers" (2011)
On Daniel Rodgers’s Age of Fracture: "Splinters" (2011)
On Gordon Wood and the American Revolution: "Revolutionary History" (2010)
academic articles
On fellowships for women in higher education: "Institutional Limits" (2012)
On general education at UNC: "The Establishment of the General College at the University of North Carolina" (2007)