Woodrow Wilson was Even Worse Than You Think

Woodrow Wilson, one of the primary subjects of my new book, Union: The Struggle to Forge the Story of United States Nationhood, has just been shoved into the media spotlight after Princeton finally announced Saturday that it was striking his name from the school of public policy. The move -- which follows the trustee's refusal to do the same after protests against Wilson's true legacy four years ago - is leading other institutions and programs to reconsider their association with the former president.

And as well they should, as I argue in this essay posted yesterday afternoon over at Talking Points Memo. A taste:

"Son of the Confederacy’s leading cleric, apologist for the Klan, friend of the country’s most prominent racist demagogues, and architect and defender of an apartheid international racial order, the amazing thing is that Wilson’s name was ever associated with idealism or respectable statesmanship. In fact, delving deeply into his life to write “Union” — a book on the battle over whether the United States was to be defined by adherence to “natural rights” ideals contained in the Declaration of Independence, or to Anglo-Saxon bloodlines — I came away wondering how any institution would have wanted to be associated with his name at all, even in the 1920s or 1940s."

His role in the battle to shape the United States's identity is profoundly awful, and I hope those putting him on trial will add Union to the prosecutor's brief.

David Blight reviews UNION in the Washington Post

If I were to have created a wish list of eminent people who might be assigned to review my new book, David W. Blight, dean of Frederick Douglass biographers and historian of the implications of Reconstruction's collapse, would have been at the top. So I'm extremely excited that his review of Union: The Struggle to Forge the Story of United States Nationhood appears in today's print edition of the Washington Post. 

Blight, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his biography, Frederick Douglass, writes Union makes "visions of history into a kind of human drama... with a storyteller’s pace and vividness." In conclusion:

"The subtext for this book, like so much else these days, is Woodard’s fear that the 19th-century belief in an American ethno-state (meaning white) not only survived into our own time but is reascendant in Trumpism’s assault on “liberal civic nationalism.” As Woodard warns, only fools or the ignorant will think this battle will ever really end, even when President Trump and his own profane myth are banished."

Also, on Friday I joined Jefferson Public Radio, which serves the abortive State of Jefferson in southern Oregon and northern California, to talk about the book. That interview is here.

And finally, thanks again to Politics & Prose and NPR's Tom Gjelten for holding an excellent and enjoyable virtual book event this afternoon. That interview-and-audience questions session is now up via YouTube.

Talking with NPR's Tom Gjelten via Politics and Prose, June 28

COVID-19 has forced book tours have gone virtual, and my next stop for Union: The Struggle to Forge the Story of United States Nationhood is tomorrow, June 28, and it's a very cool one.

It's hosted by Washington, DC's famed bookstore, Politics & Prose, which uses an interview-and-audience-questions format via ZOOM. I'm delighted that Tom Gjelten -- of NPR fame, author of a great book on the effects of the 1965 immigration act, and fellow former Balkans-in-the-1990s correspondent -- is serving in the role of interviewer.

The event kicks off at 1pm. You can register for the Zoom-driven event here, and can also order books directly from the store's website. I'll be signing bookplates for them to add to those who want them.

Hope to see friends from DC and beyond there. [Update, 6/28/20: Thanks to Tom and P&P for a great event. The proceedings are now up on YouTube for your viewing pleasure.]

For some early reviews of Union, check out this post (Library Journal, American Scholar) and this one (Kirkus, Booklist) and reviews in The Christian Science Monitor (which also named the book to their Top Ten Books for June list) and the Washington Post (by none other than David Blight, renowned scholar of Douglass and the rolling back of the civil rights gains of the Civil War.)

Christian Science Monitor on UNION

Thanks to the Christian Science Monitor, which this week first named Union to their list of the Top Ten June Books, and now has this excellent review from Steve Donoghue.

The review concludes with:

"Woodard describes facets of “an intellectual battle of the highest possible stakes” that raged over the rough century his book chronicles. The stakes are nothing short of determining how a nation thinks about itself, how it teaches posterity about itself. In “Union,” that battle sprawls out of the narrow confines of academia and embroils the entire country – and the fight is ongoing."

Spot on.

For some prepub reviews of Union, check out this post (Library Journal, American Scholar) and this one (Kirkus, Booklist.)

My next virtual book event is June 28 with Politics and Prose (and NPR's Tom Gjelten interviewing me) from Washington. Details here. (I got to know Gjelten after reviewing his excellent book on the ramifications of the 1965 Immigration Act, A Nation of Nations, in the Washington Post.)

Speaking on UNION virtually with Gibson's Bookstore of Concord, NH June 24

On account of the pandemic, book tours have gone virtual, and my next stop for Union: The Struggle to Forge the Story of United States Nationhood is tomorrow, June 24, via Gibson's, the legendary Concord, New Hampshire bookstore founded in 1898.

You can register for the Zoom-driven event here, and can also order books directly from the store's website. I'll be signing bookplates for them to add to those who want them.

I'll talk a little about the book and how I came to write it, open up to questions from all of you.

For some prepub reviews of Union, check out this post (Library Journal, American Scholar) and this one (Kirkus, Booklist.) The Christian Science Monitor also named it to their Top Ten Books for June list.

My next event is June 28 with Politics and Prose (and NPR's Tom Gjelten) from Washington.

Talking UNION with WNYC's "All Of It"

This afternoon I had the pleasure of speaking with Alison Stewart -- late of MTV and CBS News -- about Union: The Struggle to Forge the Story of United States Nationhood on her WNYC program, "All of It." The program, which aired lived on the station -- New York City's NPR affiliate -- is available to listen to here.

Union went on sale in stores across North America last week and I have two virtual events coming up over the next week including one sponsored by Gibson's in Concord, New Hampshire at 6pm on June 6th and with Washington D.C.'s Politics and Prose on June 28, where author and NPR veteran reporter Tom Gjelten will be interviewing me about Union (register here.)

Talking UNION with Iowa Public Radio's "River to River"

This has been the launch week of my new book, Union: The Struggle to Forge the Story of United States Nationhood, and, it being a pandemic year and all, I've spent a lot of my spare time doing radio interviews, including with some of our country's excellent public radio stations.

One of my favorites was with Iowa Public Radio's statewide hour-long interview program "River to River," which you can hear here.

I've been lucky enough to appear on the show a few times in the past, including to talk with them about American Nations and about American Character, the precursors to Union.

Union went on sale in stores across North America Tuesday. I have virtual events coming up over the next week or so, including one sponsored by Gibson's in Concord, New Hampshire at 6pm on June 6th and with Washington D.C.'s Politics & Prose on June 28, where author and NPR veteran reporter Tom Gjelten will be interviewing me about Union (register here.)

Talking Union with Wisconsin Public Radio's "Central Time"

Today is the birthday of my new book, Union: The Struggle to Forge the Story of United States Nationhood, and I was pleased to be able to share it with radio audiences around the county as part of Penguin's radio book tour, the ultimate in socially distanced book promotion.

Some of the shows were taped for future broadcast, but this evening's interview with Wisconsin Public Radio's statewide interview and call-in program, "Central Time" ran live, and it was a pleasure to be able to share the new book with residents of one of its central character's home state (Frederick Jackson Turner, late of Portage and Madison.)

You can hear the full show online here.

Union went on sale in stores across North America this morning and, in a few minutes, I'll be joining
Maine's own Longfellow Books and the Maine Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance for a virtual launch event and signing (at 7pm.) If you happen to see this post in the moments after I post it, register for the Zoom-driven event here.

Other virtual events to follow, including with Washington D.C.'s Politics & Prose on June 28, where author and NPR veteran reporter Tom Gjelten will be interviewing me about Union (register here.)

Talking Union with Maine Public radio's "Maine Calling"

On the eve of the launch of Union: The Struggle to Forge the Story of United States Nationhood, it was a pleasure to be the guest on Maine Public radio's statewide interview and call-in program, "Maine Calling." I was the program's inaugural guest when it launched in 2011, when Keith Shortall and I talked about what was then my new book, American Nations.

You can hear the full show -- with host Jennifer Rooks -- online here. Thanks to all those who called in. I also spoke with local "Morning Edition" host Irwin Gratz earlier that morning.

Union goes on sale in stores across North America this morning, and I'll be the guest on a dozen radio shows across the United States, including Iowa Public Radio's "River to River" program at 9 Central, southern Louisiana NPR affiliate WKRF's "Talk Louisiana" at 9:45 Central, and Wisconsin Public Radio's Central Time" from 4 to 4:30 Central.

At 7pm, Maine's own Longfellow Books and the Maine Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance are hosting a virtual talk and signing at 7pm. You can register for the Zoom-driven event here, and can also order books in advance (or in real time) from Longfellow, now the city's oldest indie bookstore.

Other virtual events to follow, including with Washington D.C.'s Politics & Prose on June 28, where author and NPR veteran reporter Tom Gjelten will be interviewing me about Union (register here.)

Two developments I covered in recent days regarding the pandemic here in Maine.

In this week's Maine Sunday Telegram, I revisited the issue of Maine's Covid-19 testing capacity and strategy in light of this past week's announcement by Gov. Janet Mills that the state lab would soon be quadrupling its capacity. The good news: experts say the new capacity (and the testing strategy associated with it) will put Maine in a very good position as it tries to keep ahead of the disease during the phased reopening of the economy. This was very much not the case when I reported on this issue a month ago.

My weekly update on Covid-19 hospitalizations-by-hospital was in Saturday's Portland Press Herald and contained more good news: hospitalizations remain flat or declining across Maine, including at Maine Medical Center and the hospitals in hard-hit Androscoggin County, suggesting many people who were infected by the coronavirus two or three weeks earlier have not been acutely affected.

In unrelated news, my sixth book, Union: The Struggle to Forge the Story of United States Nationhood, goes on sale tomorrow, Tuesday, June 16. For details on the (now virtual) launch event and signing here in Maine and other virtual events and radio appearances, see this post.

Launching UNION virtually June 16 with Longfellow Books and MWPA

Despite the pandemic, my new book, Union: The Struggle to Forge the Story of United States Nationhood, goes on sale this coming Tuesday, June 16 and the good folks at Longfellow Books up here in Portland, Maine and the Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance are hosting a virtual talk and signing at 7pm that evening.

You can register for the Zoom-driven event here, and can also order books in advance (or in real time) from Longfellow, now the city's oldest indie bookstore.

I'll talk a little about the book and how I came to write it, open up to questions from all of you, and (afterward) sign and/or personalize copies from anyone who purchases them. (The store will them ship them to you.)

For some prepub reviews of Union, check out this post (Library Journal, American Scholar) and this one (Kirkus, Booklist.)

I'll also be doing virtual events with Gibson's Bookstore of Concord, New Hampshire on June 24 (at 6pm, details here) and with Washington D.C.'s Politics and Prose on June 28, where author and NPR veteran reporter Tom Gjelten will be interviewing me about Union (register here.)

A few additional programming notes to kick off next week:

Mainers: I'll also be your guest Monday, June 15 on Maine Public radio's "Maine Calling," from 1 to 2pm Eastern.

Iowans: Catch me on Iowa Public Radio's "River to River" on June 16 from 9 to 9:30 Central.

Louisiana peeps: I'm on Baton Rouge NPR affiliate WKRF's "Talk Louisiana" at 9:45 Central on June 16

Wisconsiners: I'll be your guest on Wisconsin Public Radio's "Central Time" from 4 to 4:30 pm that same day, June 16.

Library Journal and the American Scholar on Union, my forthcoming book

Amazingly, the calendar says its just nine days until my new book, Union: The Struggle to Forge the Story of United States Nationhood, goes in sale. Book tour, as conventionally understood, has been largely cancelled by the ongoing pandemic, though there will be several virtual events and maybe even a couple of socially distanced outdoor in person ones. But there are some more early reviews.

Library Journal -- the trade publication of American libraries founded by Melil Dewey of Dewey decimal system fame -- gave Union a starred review, my first from them since my first book, Ocean's End, twenty years ago. Reviewer Michael Farrell writes: "Woodard is a gifted historiographer, and this excellent work will be appreciated by anyone interested in American history and how it came to be written." The review is currently not paywalled and found here.

In The American Scholar -- the magazine of the Phi Beta Kappa Society -- Jill Levoy of the USC Annenberg Center on Communication Leadership & Policy wrote the first feature length review of the book, and it's one that's made my publisher very happy. "Beginning with the simplicity of fable, Union quickly builds into a surprisingly complex work of intellectual history," Levoy writes. "Woodard... shows just how powerful a form popular nonfiction can be in the hands of a disciplined writer who won’t tolerate generality or abstraction. Union moves quickly, skipping from one anecdote to the next. The lens is narrow. Physical detail is prominent. The writing is relentlessly accessible." Unfortunately, it's currently paywalled, unless you subscribe.

Union is available at socially distanced bookstores everywhere June 16.

Maine pandemic: zip-code data released; hospitalizations, testing updates

In this week of civil rights protests, police violence, and militarized deployments in major cities it's been hard to remember there's a deadly, once-in-a-century pandemic going on, but amazingly there is.

Here are a few developments I covered this week on the pandemic here in Maine.

Wednesday morning I reported on how Maine remains the only state in the country unable to compile negative testing data (and, thus, the positivity rate) each day, and why this is a problem. (It's an issue we've been covering for weeks.) Good news: later that day, the agency quietly updated its cumulative testing data for second day running - making it possible to subtract cases from the day before and calculate the rate. It also updated it Thursday and Friday, so it looks like it may have made good on promises to start reporting the data every day, though its not archived on their website and prior data hasn't yet been broken out by day. Stay tuned for a story on this.

Wednesday evening, the agency began reporting cumulative case counts by zip code for some parts of the state. My analysis was up at the Press Herald Thursday morning and notes that a zip code in Lewiston has the highest number of cases, one in downtown Portland has the highest prevalence; that Portland as a whole has the most cases, but only the fifth highest per capita load, and that the northern Maine town of Medway, of all places, has the highest per capita load of any municipality.

Our weekly update on Covid-19 hospitalizations-by-hospital was up on Friday and showed inpatient levels generally flat, except at the state's largest hospital, Maine Medical Center, where they fell dramatically from pandemic peak levels (c. 35/day) to 10, the lowest since March 24, when the crisis was just beginning in Maine. Story discusses why this is and updates recent county-level new case trends in southern Maine.

More to come. Thanks for reading, and if you value what this pretty small newspaper does, consider supporting it, so it can continue.