*Note: This video was not the planned introduction to the Doctoral Diaries. It is extremely rough, the audio is not great, and the video is even worse. As you will notice, the video is somewhat obstructed due to something on the lens.
And yet, with all that in mind, it seems the perfect first installment for this new addition to the content that makes up History Killers. As I walked around the National Mall in Washington, DC, I decided—quite spontaneously—to pull out my phone and make this the flagship post for this news ongoing series. The reason is because learning to navigate, being capable of spontanaity, and appreciating the value of instinct three (among many) important aspects of moving forward with an ambitious new project.
In due time, The Doctoral Diaries will include better video, and probably better audio for that matter, but it will never be about producing high-level, professional videos. No one should ever expect this to be the aim of these installments. Definitely not. Instead, though an increase in basic audio/visual value will be aimed for, the ultimate point of these installments will be about the substance of what is discussed in each and every piece.
I was moved, by the history all around me, to begin this new HIstory Killers series by sharing the monuments, architecture, and landscape that surround me as a HIstory PhD student at George Washington University here in Washington, DC. If you might find this of interest, please subscribe to History Killers if you have not done so already.
As discussed in this brief video, if you are particularly a fan of the written content of this publication, articles and essays will continue to be featured. That said, if your interest in historical content in simply insatiable, please consider becoming a free or paying subscriber to my new academic history journal, History is Human: A Journal of American Intellectual History, available here. It is a publication that seeks to explore history, and all of its complexities, with an approach that is non-partisan and which seeks to be neither cynical nor utopian. Help us make history!
Thank you so much for joining me on this incredible journey through history and the academic world.
[James M. Masnov is a Columbian Distinguished Fellow at George Washington University. He is a writer, historian, and lecturer. He has been a contributor at Past Tense, Pure Insights, the Brownstone Institute, Armstrong Journal of History, the Oregon Encyclopedia, and other publications. His newest book, Rights Reign Supreme: An Intellectual History of Judicial Review and the Supreme Court, is available here. His first book, History Killers and Other Essays by an Intellectual Historian, is available here.]
