Author Archives
I have a PhD in United States History and I am a legal refugee. I run a history wiki called DailyHistory.org and the blog Dailyhistoryblog.com.
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Great Online Resources for History Teachers
DailyHistory.org is currently developing an online teaching resource. The current list highlights a ton of stuff including an outstanding online free United States History textbook, government resources, history blogs, and numerous organizations focused on helping teachers find primary source… Read More ›
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Top Ten Booklist on Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin was one of bloodiest dictators in world history and one of the most significant people of the 20th Century. He was the absolute ruler of the Soviet Union and the Communist Bloc of Eastern Europe. He killed millions… Read More ›
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How did Joseph Stalin react to the German invasion during WWII?
Joseph Stalin reacted extremely slowly to the invasion of his country by German forces in 1940. Indeed, not only did he react slowly, but he also ignored warnings that the Germans planned to attack his country. Stalin’s response to the… Read More ›
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How Did Enlightenment Ideas Influence Modern Economics?
The Enlightenment was a period in world history that roughly corresponds with the eighteenth century, originating in the nations of Britain, France, and the German-speaking kingdoms and then spreading to the rest of Europe and the European colonies. It was… Read More ›
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Did Midas Really Have the Golden Touch?
Most people today are somewhat familiar with the legend of King Midas and that he was said to have the “golden touch.” The legend has been turned into a familiar pop culture meme seen on cartoons and even adopted by… Read More ›
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How Did Nebuchadnezzar Impact Ancient Near Eastern History?
Nebuchadnezzar II (ruled 604-562 BC), the second king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, most commonly known just as “Nebuchadnezzar” in modern times, is one of the most important but also one of the most misunderstood leaders of the ancient world. Depicted… Read More ›
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Why was Nikita Khrushchev deposed as the leader of the USSR?
Nikita Khrushchev assumed leadership of the Soviet Union during the period following the death of Joseph Stalin in 1953. Khrushchev served as a General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, and as a… Read More ›
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The Visible Saints – Book Review
The Visible Saints: The History of a Puritan Idea by Edward S Morgan. Publisher: Martino Fine Books (November 6, 2013), 174 pages. This book is based on a set of lectures that Morgan gave as the Anson G Phelps Lectures… Read More ›
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Was Historian Eric Hobsbawm a dangerous Communist?
The historian Eric Hobsbawm, who was born in 1917, the year of the Russian Revolution, and died in 2012 at the age of 95, was widely regarded as an unrepentant Stalinist, a man who, unlike other Marxist historians such as EP Thompson and Christopher… Read More ›
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A War of Frontier and Empire: The Philippine-American War, 1899-1902 – Book Review
David Silbey’s A War of Frontier Empire is a narrative history of the complexity and shifting definitions of the war between the U.S. and the Philippines in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Silbey weaves the threads of impact together, arguing… Read More ›
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What was the First Wave Feminist Movement?
While there is no clear consensus as to when ‘first wave’ feminism occurred, most accept that in the 19th century, as industrialization progressed, First Wave feminism emerged. The term itself was only coined in 1968 by Martha Lear, who also… Read More ›
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The Surprisingly Complex Link Between Prohibition and Women’s Rights
On Jan. 16, 1919, Nebraska became the 36th state to ratify the 18th Amendment, banning “the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors.” Though Congress would spend the next year figuring out the technicalities before the guidelines for policing and enforcing… Read More ›
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Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England – Book Review
Since the mid-1980s, William Cronon’s contributions to environmental history remain pivotal. Nature’s Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West (1992) combined environmental, ecological, and economic histories to explore the effects of the Midwest’s largest city on the region and surrounding lands. Likewise, Cronon’s… Read More ›
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How Was Science Practiced in Ancient Babylon?
Click here to go “How Was Science Practiced in Ancient Babylon?” at DailyHistory.org
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New Nixon and Youth Politics, 1968
By Seth Blumenthal from processhistory.org Running for president in 1968, Richard Nixon offered a flattering view of the nation’s youth, those Americans born during or after World War II. “They are more socially conscious, more politically aware, and much better educated… Read More ›
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Why was South Vietnam’s President Ngo Dinh Diem assassinated in 1963?
As 1960 drew to a close, Ngo Dinh Diem remained the president of South Vietnam. He had successfully thwarted a coup attempt against his government. The United States, at least publicly, supported the Diem presidency. It was seen as the… Read More ›
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Understanding Reconstruction – A Historiography
As the United States entered the 20th century, Reconstruction slowly receded into popular memory. Historians began to debate its results. William Dunning and John W. Burgess led the first group to offer a coherent and structured argument. Along with their… Read More ›
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What are the Origins of the Abolitionist Movement?
The movement toward the abolition of the system of enslavement has been remembered as one of the great humanitarian initiatives in modern history. Occurring as it did in a world that was rent by the slaveholding republics and empires of… Read More ›
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What were the causes of the Witch Craze in Europe, 1550-1700?
The early modern period in Europe is often characterized as a period of reason when great strides were made in science and culture. However, it was also a period of religious intolerance and mass hysteria, and this is exemplified in… Read More ›
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Why Did Babylon Collapse in the Late Bronze Age?
Among all of the great cities of the ancient world, Babylon has one of the longest and most storied histories. Slowing rising from an insignificant settlement in Bronze Age Mesopotamia, it grew until it became the home of conquerors, scholars,… Read More ›
