Blog

Most of What I Thought about Confederate Statues Is Wrong

August 22, 2021 By Erik Curren

In which the author confesses to being a Yankee who was fooled for years by the myth of the Lost Cause of the Confederacy and offers a satirical but educational video as an antidote to fellow sufferers.

Climate Denial and Election Denial: Big Oil’s Role in Enabling the Capitol Insurrection

August 5, 2021 By Erik Curren

After the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, Republicans scrambled to downplay and even justify the insurrection. Help came from a surprising source: infamous climate science deniers.

My 5 Top Picks for New Books on the Climate Crisis

July 28, 2021 By Erik Curren

Out-of-control wildfires, heatwaves, and storms show that we all need to care about climate. We already have enough books about science. Here are some about people, conflict, and power.

Four Stories Compete to Rule America. We Need them All.

July 19, 2021 By Erik Curren

If your hero is Ronald Reagan, then you’re in Free America. But if you admire Elon Musk, you’re in Smart America. Just America rejects heroes, but likes BLM. And Real America, bless their souls, is still all in for Trump. Can we at least agree on something?

Why Liberals Think Spanking the Past Will Help — and Why They’re Wrong

June 28, 2021 By Erik Curren

In a new article, historian Matthew Karp offers the best take I’ve seen so far on the history wars. Conservatives’ fear of inconvenient facts is bad. But liberals’ anger at the past turns out to be worse.

Chicago Can’t Tell the Difference between a Confederate General and an American Hero

June 11, 2021 By Erik Curren

As Confederate statues are rightly coming down across the South, the quintessentially northern city of Chicago is wrongly targeting for removal statues of the men who saved America from those same Confederates.