Blog of the Week, Vol.1, No. 5

     For this Blog of the Week feature I want to visit one of my favorite historical eras, the American Revolution. Really, there just are not enough high quality blogs dealing with the Revolution or Early Republic. This week's featured blog is one of the highest quality academic blogs covering the period that can be found on the Internet. I mentioned one of the features several weeks ago, The Junto's March Madness Tournament. So with that, let use examine The Junto at http://earlyamericanists.com/.

     First of all, the academic quality of this blog is first rate. It should be considering the contributors are graduate level students of history, many of whom are nearing the end of the doctoral programs. The work is original, cutting edge, and well researched. Many of them have gone on into the world of academia and are currently toiling in the bowels of the academic machine. Their blog is really an interesting look at the history of this period from a relatively unjaded eye. In many ways, this brings up comparisons to previous efforts made by other groups in the past whose work resulted in advancing the historiography of the American Revolution.

     The Junto launched on December 10, 2012. They have ran three of their March Madness Tournaments and feature Junto podcasts. They also participate in the History Carousel. The title of blog references a group led by Benjamin Franklin who began in Philadelphia in 1727. They were a group of diverse people of various occupations who engaged in discourse over natural philosophy, morals, politics, and business affairs. They also set up a public library of their own books.
 
     Today's modern The Junto is a group blog made up of junior early Americanists dedicated to providing content of general interest to other early Americanists and those interested in early American history, as well as a forum for discussion of relevant historical and academic topics to use their own self-introduction. I find their blog engaging. They have guest bloggers and that helps spread out the academic ideas. That is one issue with some blogs in that the point of view is limited to one or several individuals. A group project like The Junto allows for a far more diverse look at history which is refreshing.

      Members of The Junto have participated in several academic conferences. One in particular was the American Revolution Reborn concept. The contributors can be found publishing in other blogs and have an active Twitter presence both as a blog and individually. I highly recommend this blog to anyone interested in American history from 1750-1820. They will not be disappointed. They are hosted on WordPress using what I believe to be the Quintus theme.