Working with Lexington Books

I’m happy to announce that I have received a book contract from Lexington Books for my long-term project on Philadelphia history, “White Laboring Men and the Transformation of Popular Culture in Philadelphia, 1785-1850.” The deadline for completing a full manuscript is two years away on July 1, 2024 and I am eager to resume writing. I delivered papers at both a political science conference and a popular culture conference last spring and was on the verge of thinking that doing the conferences was a waste of time. But Lexington Books contacted me at almost the same time that I was giving my paper and things moved quickly from there as I rewrote my book proposal and waited for Lexington Books to decide. Things were finalized this Thursday and I’ll continue to work on my chapter on the blackface bands of the 1840’s. At the same time, I’ll also continue blogging about politics. I still don’t believe I’ve found my voice for this blog but I feel like I have all kinds of worthwhile ideas about current politics and culture and can’t help but keep working on them. Anyway, the plan is to keep doing what I’m doing as I finish my book project.