Senior New York Times writer David Leonhardt recently quoted Dr. Carol Anderson in a piece titled “‘A Crisis Coming’: The Twin Threats to American Democracy.” Leonhardt describes these threats as: first, the growing movement within the Republican party to refuse to accept electoral defeat and, second, the increasing disconnect between public opinion and governmental policy. Leonhardt cites Anderson’s work on voter suppression in his examination of these crises. Read an excerpt below along with the full article: “‘A Crisis Coming’: The Twin Threats to American Democracy.”

Still, many experts point out that it is still not clear how the country will escape a larger crisis, such as an overturned election, at some point in the coming decade. “This is not politics as usual,” said Carol Anderson, a professor at Emory University and the author of the book, “One Person, No Vote,” about voter suppression. “Be afraid.”

Dr. Joseph Crespino, Jimmy Carter Professor of History, was recently interviewed on the show “Letters and Politics,” produced by the historic California community radio station 94.1 KPFA. Drawing on his most recent book, Atticus Finch: A Biography (Basic Books, 2018), Crespino discussed the seemingly-discrete representations of the American cultural icon Finch in Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird and Go Set a Watchman, which was released in 2015. Listen to the conversation here: “The Two Sides of Atticus Finch.”

Dr. Patrick Allitt, Cahoon Family Professor of American History, recently authored a piece for the Emory News Center reflecting on the life and legacy of Queen Elizabeth II, who died in September. At Emory Allitt teaches courses on American intellectual, environmental, and religious history, on Victorian Britain, and on the Great Books. He was born and raised in Britain. Read an excerpt from the piece below along with the full article: “Reflecting on the life and legacy of Queen Elizabeth II.”

I was born and raised in Britain so I’ve been hearing about the queen since early childhood. When I was five, at school for the first time, my class followed her route on a big map of North America as she traveled across Canada on an official visit. We were told that the queen was good, and that she headed the British Empire, which was also good. That was 1961.

Now I teach American history to American students. Nothing about America surprised me more when I first came here, in the 1970s, than discovering the American love affair with the British monarchy. After all, the United States fought a revolutionary war to get away from Britain; the second half of the Declaration of Independence is a detailed denunciation of King George III.

Patrick Allitt, “Reflecting on the life and legacy of Queen Elizabeth II,” Emory News Center, September 8, 2022.

Dr. Daniel LaChance, Winship Distinguished Research Professor in History, 2020-23, and Associate Professor of History, was quoted in an article in The Oklahoman about media coverage of the last meals that people sentenced to death request. The piece comes as the state of Oklahoma has scheduled an unprecedented number of executions between 2022 and 2024. LaChance discusses how the custom affects popular perceptions and policy of the death penalty, specifically, and crime and punishment more broadly. LaChance is the author of Executing Freedom: The Cultural Life of Capital Punishment in the United States (University of Chicago Press, 2016) and, most recently, Crimesploitation (Stanford University Press, 2022), co-written with Paul Kaplan. Read an excerpt from the piece in The Oklahoman below along with the full article: “‘When they stop serving last meals, we’ll stop reporting it.’ Oklahoma death row custom stirs debate.“

The humanizing element of the last meal ritual might contribute to the state’s justification of executions and public support for the practice, one researcher said.

“It represents a kind of way making the violence of the state look more virtuous, more civilized, more humane and not the kind of dirty violence of the murderers the state is punishing,” Daniel LaChance, a history professor at Emory University in Atlanta, said.

While condemned individuals become institutionalized and forgotten by the public as real people with unique personalities, their choice of last meal reveals something of their character, from simply eating what is on the prison menu that day, to requesting extravagant feasts.

LaChance argues the act of choosing also portrays a condemned person as an autonomous agent, capable of decision-making, which has the effect of showing him to the public, without regard to his upbringing, socio-economic status and mental health, as a free moral agent who willfully committed his gruesome crime.

“There’s a way in which by highlighting the last meal and last words, the irony is it serves a retributive purpose,” LaChance said. “It shows the public this person is very much alive and has something to lose. They are losing their lives and the ability to do things people do — plan for the future and consume food according to their taste. And the state engages in these rituals to remind us these are people who deserve what they are getting.”

Josh Dulaney, “‘When they stop serving last meals, we’ll stop reporting it.’ Oklahoma death row custom stirs debate.” The Oklahoman, August 14, 2022.