@JaneSShaw

Chair, Martin Center for Academic Renewal. Worked at PERC and Business Week. Was married to the late Richard L. Stroup. Has a history M.A. from NC State.

 Raleigh, NC
janetakesonhistory.org
Joined September 2009
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  • Followers174
388Media
You might want to keep an eye on the conservation part of the Farm Bill. I had a look. thedailyeconomy.org/article/…

When Conservationists Join the Farm Lobby | The Daily Economy

An unlikely alliance between farmers and conservationists illustrates how government subsidies create political constituencies that lobby to preserve them.

thedailyeconomy.org
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Food for thought: I explore a couple of surprising papers about the USDA and conservation. You might even be amused. independent.org/article/2026…

Puzzling Results at the USDA: News Article - Independent Institute

The Department of Agriculture (USDA) is a giant agency with a $481 billion budget, 65 percent of which goes to the food stamp program. As the 2026 farm

independent.org
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Eli Steele has just brought out a documentary based on the book "White Guilt," written by his father, Shelby Steele. I haven't seen the movie, but the book is one of the most insightful books about race I have ever read. I explain why here: janetakesonhistory.org/2021/…

Shelby Steele Knows How We Got to Critical Race Theory | Jane Takes On History

'White guilt' has caused whites to frantically dissociate themselves from racism, rather than treat nonwhites equally.

janetakesonhistory.org
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First World conversation: "It takes a long time for my television to get started." "Yeah, I have to wait 30 or 40 seconds."
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These days, as we see new revelations about the Covid-19 backstory, this article about what some Gen Z youth went through is not only newsworthy but also haunting. johnlocke.org/reflections-fr…

Reflections from North Carolina’s Covid Generation

Reflecting on the formative experiences of North Carolina youth during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic and its societal shifts.

johnlocke.org
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Perhaps the recent Manhattan Statement on Higher Education goes too far. theunpopulist.net/p/a-manhat…

A Manhattan Institute Manifesto Would Give this President Sweeping Power to Force University...

The statement is selling a naked ideological agenda as a defense of campus free speech

theunpopulist.net
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historyfacts.com/world-histo… "Were Medieval people always dirty?" Apparently not, says Tony Dunnell on Historyfacts. Some fun examples—e.g, they brushed their teeth.

Were Medieval People Always Dirty? 

Were medieval people always dirty? Discover the truth about hygiene in the Middle Ages, including their surprising bathing and teeth-brushing habits.

historyfacts.com
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Let's Not Blame Jane Jacobs janetakesonhistory.org/2025/… via @JaneSShaw. Here's what she wanted.
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Just read this (jocular) statement "The temperatures are rising, and you know what that means: riot season is here!" Yes, riots usually take place in warm weather. But it seems in the past the riots started earlier, maybe April. Does that mean the climate is getting colder?
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imprimis.hillsdale.edu/tarif… John Steele Gordon presents a fascinating, objective history of American tariffs, beginning with Alexander Hamilton's. Thank you, Hillsdale.

Tariffs in American History

When Alexander Hamilton became the nation’s first Secretary of the Treasury, he immediately began to prepare a schedule of tariffs, along with excise taxes on such commodities as alcohol and tobacco....

imprimis.hillsdale.edu
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How the Barbarians Won janetakesonhistory.org/2025/… via @JaneSShaw
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History Is Stubborn: The "Reading Wars" janetakesonhistory.org/2025/… via @JaneSShaw Can you believe there is still a war over phonics? It may be ending, though . . .

History Is Stubborn: The “Reading Wars” | Jane Takes On History

For nearly 200 years there has been a controversy in the United States over how to teach reading. In colonial days the New England Primer and, later, McGuffey's Reader had an “alphabetic column.” It...

janetakesonhistory.org
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Booker T. Washington Goes to Europe janetakesonhistory.org/2025/… via @JaneSShaw . . . and compares the life of the poorest to that of blacks in the American South (circa 1910).

Booker T. Washington Goes to Europe | Jane Takes On History

Booker T. Washington (1856–1915) was the most prominent black American at the beginning of the twentieth century. He began and ran the Tuskegee Institute, an innovative industrial school for blacks,...

janetakesonhistory.org
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Saving America's Forests? janetakesonhistory.org/2024/… via @JaneSShaw Did George Vanderbilt's Biltmore Forest start the U.S. Forest? And if so, why?

Saving America’s Forests? | Jane Takes On History

It makes a good story. In the late 1800s demand for wood was insatiable—for houses, for ships, for fuel, for railroad ties. Americans were logging trees all over the country, then moving on to...

janetakesonhistory.org
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Could you have predicted World War I? The Civil War? I (and commenters) muse on whether historic events were predictable. janetakesonhistory.org/2024/…

History: Has It Ever Been Predictable? | Jane Takes On History

The American public recently watched a surprising event: After months of saying that he would stay in the presidential race, Joe Biden dropped out. What interested me most was the predictions that...

janetakesonhistory.org
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History: Has It Ever Been Predictable? janetakesonhistory.org/2024/… via @JaneSShaw
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Is State History Dull? Not in Real Life janetakesonhistory.org/2024/… via @JaneSShaw

Is State History Dull? Not in Real Life | Jane Takes On History

If you grew up in the United States, you probably took a course in your state’s history—but may have learned little. Yet there is much to be said for state history.

janetakesonhistory.org
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There were riots over reading the Bible (King James version) in Phiadelphia in 1844. I explain. janetakesonhistory.org/2024/…

Riots over the Bible? Yes. In Philadelphia. | Jane Takes On History

Most of us assume that the United States has followed a policy of free religious expression. That is not true. Consider the “Philadelphia Bible Riots of 1844.”

janetakesonhistory.org
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Charlotte Hawkins Brown, teacher under Jim Crow janetakesonhistory.org/2024/…
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janetakesonhistory.org/2024/…
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