Joshua A. Claybourn's Blog

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...

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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...

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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.

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...

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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.

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.

The Abraham Lincoln Association‘s annual event celebrating Abraham Lincoln’s birthday has come to a close. The Benjamin P. Thomas Symposium featured Carl Guarneri, Manisha Sinha, and Jason Emerson. I was honored to join my colleague Bill Bartelt for the Dr. Thomas F. Schwartz Luncheon and Lecture where we presented on our book, Abe’s Youth: Shaping the Future President. Following lunch we participated in a roundtable discussion with all five speakers moderated by Prof. Michael Burlingame. The...

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 or artist lingers, or doesn’t—into a mathematical formula for measuring the way our collective memory fades. The results are remarkable with far-reachi...

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...

Read More