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October 2023

Why the HR Office Works for the Boss
And more on how the first "Big Men on Campus," Herbert Hoover and friends, kept charge in the university, in the workplace, and on the national stage
 • 
Charles Petersen
1
How MIT's Football-Loving President Beat Back Socialism by Reinventing Entrepreneurship
And other tales from the fin de siècle struggle over the future of capitalism
 • 
Charles Petersen
2
Why Generational Thinking Isn't Bullshit
Reflections on Pavement, Nirvana, the very meaning of history, and the end of neoliberalism — plus, this week's links!
 • 
Charles Petersen
2
Why Does Harvard Have a Football Team?
More on "leadership," Woodrow Wilson's campaign against socialism, and what the faculty star system has in common with the world of college football…
 • 
Charles Petersen
5
On "Brutal" Book Reviews and Other Matters
The replication crisis in history, plus this week's links
 • 
Charles Petersen
1

September 2023

Strikes: A Necessary Good
Dear friends, I’m so excited to be joining the Making History team! I’m a historian and a writer; I teach in the History & Science undergraduate…
 • 
Erik Baker
The Birth of the 'Meritocratic' Nepo Baby
What Even Is Leadership? Part Three
 • 
Charles Petersen
What Even Is Leadership? Part Two
The university as national social club
 • 
Charles Petersen
What Even Is "Leadership"?
And Why Won't All the Worst People Stop Talking About It?
 • 
Charles Petersen

March 2023

Everything We Know about the History of Diversity Is Wrong
And Historians Aren't Exactly Helping in the Harvard Case Currently Before the Supreme Court
 • 
Charles Petersen

August 2021

How I Discovered Stanford's Jewish Quota
Stumbling my way through the admissions archives
 • 
Charles Petersen
2
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