A Lucid, Accessible Antidote

Letters From An American by Heather Cox Richardson

Too few academics live their intellectual lives in the public sphere, but Heather Cox Richardson, a history professor at Boston College, has committed herself to writing a brief, daily "Letter to Americans" that summarizes, analyzes, and comments on the news of the day. Her prose is lucid, accessible, and engaging, and she scrupulously provides her sources at the end of each piece. A product of independent schools herself, Professor Richardson models for us how academic study can serve the public good as she commits herself to fact-based analysis as an antidote to the disinformation that abounds around us. For any citizen, but especially for educators who want to enable their students to stay informed and clear-eyed, Professor Richardson provides daily information that helps us to stay current and to see our politics with a more nuanced understanding of how events in the past have led to the dramatic and unnerving history through which we are living. Additionally, Professor Richardson offers live chats via Facebook where she answers questions and explains to laypeople the history and mechanics of, for example, the electoral college. We owe a debt of gratitude to her for her lived commitment as a historian and her effort to clarify and deepen the collective understanding of our own historical moment.