"If the Study of History Teaches Anything, It Teaches Us the Limitations of Life"

"Professor Wood distilled what he found exceptional in the Revolutionary period in 'The Radicalism of the American Revolution.' 'To base a society on the commonplace behavior of ordinary people,' he wrote, 'may be obvious and understandable to us today, but it was momentously radical in the long sweep of world history up to that time.'"

At The New York Times, David Stout, Alex Traub, and Ash Wu write an obituary for Gordon S. Wood.

And David Waldstreicher at The New Republic writes an appreciation.

"He Refuses to 'Let Defeatism Have the Last Word'"

"Later, he said he wouldn't have found his way into philosophy and social theory if he hadn't experienced confronting the reality of Nazi crimes as a young man. He recalled that 'you saw suddenly that it was a politically criminal system in which you had lived'." 

At The Guardian, Donna Ferguson and Philip Oltermann report the death of Jürgen Habermas.

And God Created Bardot

The Guardian reports the death of Brigitte Bardot.

"And Yes, We Now Know, Republican Extremism as We Have Known It Can Become Far Worse"

"So the devil we thought we knew, the man whose saturnine image chilled many a liberal heart during his years in power, pointed at this new devil and suggested new depths of power-hungry mendacity were coming into sight. Perhaps Dick Cheney knowingly lied about Iraq possessing weapons of mass destruction in the run-up to the U.S. invasion in 2003, or perhaps he was self-deluded. And maybe Cheney and George W. Bush swept into office in an election even more disputed than that of 2020. But they relied on the U.S. Supreme Court to consummate their victory, not a mob invading the U.S. Capitol."

Ed Kilgore at New York reacts to the death of Dick Cheney.

"Had I Planned This, I Would've Failed"

"He knew he was onto something when he got a surprise check for $1,000 for photos he had turned over for one of Dick Clark's Rock and Roll Years specials at ABC in the early 1970s. 'I gave him the stuff for nothing, expected nothing,' he said. 'I thought, hmm - this could be a business here. Then I began to take it real seriously and started fanatically trying to find as many photos as I could.'"

Mike Barnes at The Hollywood Reporter writes an obituary for archivist Michael Ochs.

California Sons

At Variety, Chris Morris offers obituaries for Sly Stone and Brian Wilson.

David Bauder of the Associated Press makes the connection.

And Alexis Petridis at The Guardian writes appreciations.

"The 'Man From the End of the World'"

"The papacy has for centuries brought with it a place on the world stage. Francis, who from the off gave the impression of being a man in a hurry, was determined to use that platform to push a bottom-up agenda for the world. He insisted that Catholicism would henceforth be 'a poor church for the poor', and returned time and again in his pronouncements to the need to close the economic gap between developed and developing nations."

Peter Standord at The Guardian writes an obituary for Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Pope Francis.

"A Better Ex-President Than President"

"Businessman, Navy officer, evangelist, politician, negotiator, author, woodworker, citizen of the world--Carter forged a path that still challenges political assumptions and stands out among the 45 men who reached the nation's highest office. The 39th president leveraged his ambition with a keen intellect, deep religious faith and prodigious work ethic, conducting diplomatic missions into his 80s and building houses for the poor well into his 90s."

Bill Barrow of the Associated Press reports the death of former U.S. president Jimmy Carter.

Jos Joseph at The Hill writes that "Jimmy Carter was the Christian most politicians pretend to be."

Lindsay M. Chervinsky at The Bulwark adds that "Jimmy Carter redefined his legacy after his presidency."

But Jonathan Schlefer at The Nation contends that by "[t]urning sharply toward neoliberalism (before that term was commonplace) and weaponizing markets, [Carter] set the US economy on its path toward lousy working-class wages and steeper financial crises."

"So It Goes"

"At the very least, we can learn from Kissinger, who unhesitatingly supported Gulf War One and Gulf War Two, and every war between and since, that the two defining concepts of United States foreign policy—realism and idealism—aren't necessarily opposing values; rather, they reinforce each other. Idealism gets us into the quagmire of the moment; realism keeps us there while promising to get us out; and then idealism returns anew both to justify the realism and to overcome it in the next round."

Greg Grandin at The Nation provides "A People's Obituary of Henry Kissinger."

The Guitarist's Guitarist

"Throughout his tenure with the Yardbirds, Beck seemed as interested in the sonic possibilities of new technology as he did in demonstrating his instrumental prowess, 'making all the weirdest noise I could'. The result was a succession of tracks that propelled the Yardbirds to the forefront of pop's avant garde: Over Under Sideways Down, Lost Woman, Hot House of Omagararshid, He's Always There. When Jimmy Page joined, briefly creating a lineup with two lead guitarists, their sound got more extreme still. The single that coupled Happenings Ten Years Time Ago and Psycho Daisies was impossibly potent and sinister, so far-out even by the standards of 1966 that it succeeded in alienating their fans–it barely scraped the charts in the UK–and the critics, one of whom derided it as an 'excuse for music'."

Alexis Petridis at The Guardian writes an appreciation of Jeff Beck.

"Wasn't Just Read, However. It Was Devoured"

"'When you judge the work of somebody, it's what the work itself did, the ways it makes us think differently,' said historian William Deverell, director of the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West. 'Equally important: How many ships did it launch? And "City of Quartz" launched so many ships—whether it's dissertations or conferences or articles.'"

Carolina A. Miranda at the Los Angeles Times writes an obituary for Mike Davis.

"Family Rules Included 'Never Cross a Picket Line and Never Vote Republican'"

"She also said she was born and raised into atheism 'by people who had derived their own atheism from a proud tradition of working-class rejection of authority in all its forms, whether vested in bosses or priests, gods or demons.' She was a student activist, was educated as a scientist—she studied physics at Reed College and earned a PhD in cellular biology from Rockefeller University in 1968—but trained as a teacher and reporter.

"After getting her doctorate, she joined a group of activists trying to improve healthcare for poor New Yorkers, which cemented her love of reporting and writing. 'Health seemed related to biology,' she told the Washington Post in 2005."

Nardine Saad and Dorany Pineda at the Los Angeles Times report the death of Barbara Ehrenreich.

"The Passing of an Era"

"And yet he also came across as a man of genuinely good will, in a way that didn’t feel like an act—just as it didn't feel like an act when he told New Times editor Yevgenia Albats in 2016 that his creed was, 'No blood,' or that he was ultimately 'a man of freedom': 'Freedom of choice, freedom of religion, freedom of speech; freedom, freedom—let them shoot me but I’m not going to renounce that.' Or when he wrote a warm letter to Bonner on her 85th birthday, expressing the hope that their shared ideals—'a democratic Russia, the rule of law, a more just world'—would someday be realized."

Cathy Young at The Bulwark marks the death of Mikhail Gorbachev.

And in a 2019 Foreign Policy article, Paul Musgrave tells the story of Gorbachev's Pizza Hut commercial.

The "Chartologist"

"When artists came to Milwaukee to do shows, Whitburn would be there to present them with copies of his books backstage, from Paul McCartney to Sting. When Elton John came through… well, you can probably guess the punchline. 'I was going to give Elton John a book, and he said, "I've got all of your books."'"

Chris Willman at Variety reports the death of Joel Whitburn.

"Charged with Intensity"

"Gitlin remained politically involved after the '60s, but also clashed at times with fellow liberals. In the 1990s, he was critical of some of the academic debates over the literary canon and the predominance of male white writers. In his 1995 book 'The Twilight of Common Dreams: Why America Is Wracked by Culture Wars,' he alleged that the focus on what he and others called 'identity politics' was weakening the left overall, writing that while Republicans were gaining power in Washington, the left has been 'marching on the English department.'"

The Albany Times Union reports the death of Todd Gitlin.

And John Halpin at The Liberal Patriot looks back to Gitlin's 1995 book, The Twilight of Common Dreams: Why America Is Wrecked by Culture Wars.

Different Drummer

"It was an entirely deserved and correct rewriting of history, that belatedly gave Nesmith the acclaim due to him. Maybe it altered his view of the band that kickstarted his career and that had, after all, provided a home for a succession of fabulous examples of his skill as a songwriter: not just his early country-rock experiments, but Papa Gene's Blues; Mary, Mary; You Just May Be The One and Circle Sky, the latter his ferocious contribution to the soundtrack of the cult film Head. Certainly, at the end of his life, Papa Nez, as he styled himself, sounded like a man who had made his peace with his past."

Alexis Petridis at The Guardian writes an appreciation of Mike Nesmith.

And A. D. Amorisi at Variety adds some music videos.

"His Biggest Political Battle of His Life with Weapons That no Longer Worked"

"Four years later, Michael Dukakis declared that 'this election is not about ideology, it is about competence.' In the next cycle, Bill Clinton declared himself 'a different kind of Democrat' and jettisoned some of his party's positions about crime and welfare. Al Gore began his political life as a centrist, much in the model of Clinton."

Jeff Greenfield at Politico calls Walter Mondale "The Last Old-School Democrat."

The First Tycoon of Teen

"Spector cracked the top 20 in 1962 with the Crystals' 'There's No Other (Like My Baby)' and 'Uptown' but vaulted to No. 1 with the ode to teen outlawry 'He's a Rebel'—recorded with a then-background singer, Darlene Love of the Blossoms, on lead vocals, but released under the Crystals' name. By the time 'He's a Rebel' hit the apex, Spector had bought out Sill's interest in Philles and established his signature production sound—immense, percussive, densely orchestrated (usually by arranger Jack Nitzsche) and over-the-top." 

Chris Morris at Variety writes an obituary of Phil Spector.

And Chris Willman wrestles with Spector's legacy.

"And Then You Have All the Rest"

"Fleming initially doubted the casting of Connery, remarking, 'I'm looking for Commander Bond and not an overgrown stuntman,' adding that the muscular 6ft 2in Scot was 'unrefined'. Fleming saw David Niven as Bond, an ultra-smooth gentleman spy, equally at ease in five-star restaurants and torture chambers, knowing instinctively which fork and which weapon to use. Connery’s Bond was a rougher diamond, but blessed with a wry sense of humour that diffused the violence, inviting the audience in on the joke."

At The Guardian, Ronald Bergen writes an obituary for Sean Connery.

"Like Someone Stuffing Jimmy Page and Andrés Segovia into a Blender with a Bunch of Everclear and Hawaiian Punch"

"By that time Eddie Van Halen's playing was already well on its way to becoming the definitive guitar-solo style of 1980s pop, rock, and even rap radio hits. It wasn't until grunge that this started to shift, usually in ways that either de-emphasized the centrality of the solo as a compositional showpiece altogether, or saw guitar gods turning into masters of texture and soundscape (à la Tom Morello and Jonny Greenwood) rather than blazing gunslingers. It was almost as if there wasn't anywhere left to go in Eddie's wake, his abilities so singular that all that was left was homage."

Jack Hamilton at Slate assesses Eddie Van Halen, upon the guitarist's death.