All posts by Joshua Claybourn
The Paradox Principle of Bob Knight
The passing of Bob Knight invites us to navigate the intricate labyrinth of a legacy, replete with towering achievements and troubling missteps. Here was a man who commanded both the basketball court and the cultural conversation with a blend of brazen certainty and complicated human frailty. He was, in essence, a vivid embodiment of the…
‘Abraham Lincoln’s Wilderness Years’ Published
Abraham Lincoln spent a quarter of his life—from 1816 to 1830, ages 7 to 21—learning and growing in southwestern Indiana. Despite the importance of these formative years, Lincoln rarely discussed this period, and with his sudden, untimely death in 1865, mysterious gaps appear in recorded history. In Abraham Lincoln’s Wilderness Years, Joshua Claybourn collects and…
‘Hoosier Emergency Powers’ Published
The Indiana Law Review published a new article co-authored by me and Abby DeMare titled “Hoosier Emergency Powers.” We explore the history of emergencies affecting checks and balances, provide an overview of modern emergency powers, and suggest reforms to current Indiana emergency power laws.
Lincoln: Divided We Stand
I’m pleased to take part as a featured expert in LINCOLN: DIVIDED WE STAND, a six-part CNN original series about Abraham Lincoln. Through a mix of expert interviews, cinematic recreations, rare artifacts, and never before broadcast photos and letters, LINCOLN: DIVIDED WE STAND will take viewers on a transcendent journey into the life and times…
Lincoln Log Podcast Launched
The Abraham Lincoln Association launched a new podcast titled Lincoln Log featuring conversations with leading historians and other officials about their stories, research, and wisdom. I will frequently serve as host, including as host of three initial episodes with David Blight, Michael Burlingame, and Allen Guelzo. Here’s a trailer for the new podcast.
ALA Lincoln Birthday Events
The Decay of Collective Memory
As a historian and Beatle fanatic this headline immediately caught my attention: “How We’ll Forget John Lennon.” In the story by Kevin Berger, he reports on fascinating paper by Cesar Hidalgo titled “The universal decay of collective memory and attention.” Hidalgo attempts to measure the way our cultural memory—for instance, the way a hit song…
Constitution Making in Indiana
In 1851 Indiana held a constitutional convention and the delegates wrote a totally new constitution to replace the one adopted in 1816 when Indiana became a state. This drastic step was made necessary because the earlier document prohibited piecemeal revision. The new document, ratified by voters in 1852, did allow for future amendment. However, only…
The Return of North & South Magazine
North & South is back. The magazine (“The Official Magazine of the Civil War Society”) previously operated from 1997 to 2013 as a staple in the Civil War historical community. Founder and editor Keith Poulter explained the return: With the disappearance of Blue & Gray magazine, I have been inundated with letters and phone calls…
Review: Identity by Francis Fukuyama
Historians and political scientists love to view history as cyclical, helping give rise to the old maxim that “history repeats itself.” But in 1989 Francis Fukuyama challenged that approach when he famously proclaimed that Western-style liberal democracy’s victory in the Cold War marked “the end point of mankind’s ideological evolution” and “the end of history.”…