Are Wars Rational?
August 8, 2023
Michael Mann— Most wars have been irrational in terms of means or ends or both together. This is because choices for war are influenced by emotions, ideologies, domestic politics, and… READ MORE
Yale University Press Blog
“Out of Sight, Out of Mind”
August 7, 2023
Sean M. Kelley— You’ve probably never heard of William Vernon, a lifelong resident of Newport, Rhode Island, but he was one of the biggest slave owners in American history. According… READ MORE
The Curious Bibliography of Empire
August 3, 2023
Kirsten Schultz— A “bibliographic curiosity.” That was how the Brazilian writer, diplomat, and bibliophile Manoel de Oliveira Lima (1867-1928) described a manuscript that he acquired in 1897 at the auction… READ MORE
A Darkly Radiant Vision: The Black Social Gospel in the Shadow of MLK
August 2, 2023
Gary Dorrien— The Black social gospel tradition remains what Black historian Vincent Harding luminously called “a darkly radiant vision of America’s truth.”1 It began with Black churches that were born… READ MORE
Metamorphoses of a Figure
John Noël Dillon— All consideration of history presumes a point of view rooted in the present, and this “point of observation” can change over the course of someone’s life. The… READ MORE
Ep. 117 —What Do The Beatles and Measurement Have in Common?
July 28, 2023
This episode of the podcast features a conversation with renowned physicist Piero Martin about his new book, The Seven Measures of the World. In the podcast, Martin talks about how The Beatles are connected… READ MORE
Close Enough to Touch
July 26, 2023
Brooks Lamb— It’s 1999, and I’m five years old. I’m with my family in the long patch by the road, just a few hundred feet away from the four-way stop…. READ MORE
Reviving the Idea of a “Usable Past”
July 25, 2023
Eeva-Liisa Pelkonen— While we often think that being modern means aspiring to leave the past behind with every tick of the clock, reflecting on history is an integral aspect of… READ MORE
The Lake District and Atlantic Slavery
July 24, 2023
Nicholas Radburn— If you think about locations transformed by the transatlantic slave trade, you’ll likely recall American plantations or former slaving forts on the coast of West Africa. You are… READ MORE
A Resistant Model of Peoplehood
July 20, 2023
Tamara Cohn Eskenazi— A Brief Overview of Ezra-Nehemiah My fascination with Ezra-Nehemiah was initially sparked by my teacher, mentor, and friend Kent H. Richards, whose seminar on the subject I… READ MORE
Ep. 120—A Global History of Wars