The rise of Athens in the late 6th century and early 5th century BCE not only ushered in the Classical Age, but it went on to influence European and Western culture for for thousands of years. This rise occurred in… Read More ›
Month: April 2018
Max Beckmann: The Faces of World War I
From Circulating Now by Ginny A. Roth: Max Beckmann, 1884–1950, was a painter and print-maker, primarily known for his self-portraits. Although Beckmann railed against being tagged as belonging to any art movement, he is most commonly classified as an Expressionist… Read More ›
What do we really know about Joseph Stalin?
From the JSTOR Daily by Matthew Willis: Joseph Stalin died sixty-five years ago this month. But it wasn’t until Mikhail Gorbachev’s glasnost and perestroika in the late 1980s, and then the breakup of the USSR, that the state archives were opened and the full… Read More ›
Supreme Court case tests weight of old Native American treaties in 21st century
From The Conversation by Monte Mills: On April 18, the United States Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Washington v. United States, which pits the state of Washington against the United States and 21 Indian tribes. The main question in… Read More ›
R.E.M.’s Lifes Rich Pageant and the First Shadows of the Reagan Dusk
From Tropics of Meta by Jason Tebbe: We often tend to mistakenly think of the 1980s in ways that paint it as uniformly conforming to certain trends consistently throughout the decade. If you look into the cultural and political history… Read More ›
Solving a Medical Mystery with Oral History Traditions
From JSTOR Daily by James MacDonald: In 1993, in the four corners region of New Mexico, young healthy people began suffering generic flu-like symptoms. Within an eight-week period, ten people had died, their lungs filled with fluid. Many of the… Read More ›
How did the Reformation change Christianity?
The Reformation was quite possibly the biggest epoch in Christian history. As the name of the movement suggests, the Reformation was an effort to reform the Catholic Church. Though most view this as a mere attempt to rid the Church… Read More ›
Book Review: The Treaty of Versailles: A Concise History
The Treaty of Versailles: A Concise History by Michael S. Neiberg (New York: Oxford University Press, 2017) offers a detailed account of the players, events, and political environment that contributed to the drafting of arguably the most significant document of the… Read More ›
What Were the Beliefs of the Samurai?
The medieval Japanese warriors known as the samurai have been a source of fascination for people throughout the world for several centuries, and for good reason – they were among the most elite warriors in human history. The samurai are… Read More ›
Napoleon as Emperor was an ill-tempered megalomanic who hobbled France
From History Extra by Philip Mansel author of The Eagle in Splendour: Inside the Court of Napoleon (IB Tauris, 2015): The French Revolution appears to have been a search for liberty, equality and fraternity. In reality it had been an interlude caused… Read More ›
How did Vatican II change the Catholic Church?
In 1959 Pope John XXIII called for an ecumenical council of the Catholic Church that would later be known at Vatican II. As a result of this council, the Catholic Church would dramatically change or reconsider its stance towards the… Read More ›
The Sad, Sad Story of Laika, the Space Dog, and Her One-Way Trip into Orbit
From Smithsonian.com by Alice George: With a pounding heart and rapid breath, Laika rode a rocket into Earth orbit, 2,000 miles above Moscow streets she knew. Overheated, cramped, frightened, and probably hungry, the space dog gave her life for her… Read More ›
Textbook Racism: How scholars sustained white supremacy
From The Chronicle of Higher Education by Donald Yacovone: There it sat on a library cart with 50 other elementary, grammar, and high-school history textbooks, its bright red spine reaching out through time and space. As I opened the book’s… Read More ›
Nixon, China and the Power of Ping Pong Diplomacy
From We’re History by Sarah Katherine Mergel: In April 1971, table tennis teams from around the globe traveled to Nagoya, Japan, for the World Table Tennis Championships. Amid the games and other events, American player Glenn Cowan somehow found himself… Read More ›
When did the First Heart Transplant take place?
When Christiaan Barnard performed the first heart transplant in 1967, it was initially seen as remarkable scientific achievement, but overtime both the medical community and the general public were forced to re-evaluate heart transplants. The medical community quickly realized that… Read More ›
Joking Aside, Rube Goldberg Got Tech Right
From Collectors Weekly by Ben Marks: Every day, exciting new technologies and inventions designed to make our lives better make us crazy instead—if we’re lucky. A document you’ve been working on all day disappears from your computer, having been saved… Read More ›
Millions of Russians and eastern Europeans now believe that they were better off under communism. What does this mean?
From Aeon by Kristen R. Ghodsee author of Red Hangover: Legacies of 20th Century-Communism and Scott Sehon author of Free Will and Action Explanation: A Non-Causal, Compatibilist Account: The public memory of 20th-century communism is a battleground. Two ideological armies stare at each… Read More ›
The Party of Hubert Humphrey
From The Atlantic by James Traub: Seventy years ago, on the night of July 14, 1948, Hubert Humphrey, speaking at the Democratic convention in the Philadelphia Convention Hall, changed the course of the Democratic Party, and of post-war American politics…. Read More ›
5 of the most dangerous spy plane missions in US history
From Business Insider by Brad Howard: Since the United States entered World War II, the Department of Defense has engaged in the systematic surveillance of other nations by air to glean valuable intelligence on weapons capabilities and military movements. These… Read More ›
Seizing the Initiative: the Origins of Direct Democracy in the US
From Process: A Blog for American History by Nick Johnson author of Grass Roots: A History of Cannabis in the American West: On April 3, Wisconsin voters decided the future of the office of state treasurer as part of a special referendum. This… Read More ›