Fear and Financial Crisis
February 12, 2020
Ben S. Bernanke, Timothy F. Geithner, Henry M. Paulson Jr.— The crisis of 2008 was a classic financial panic, a staple of economic history at least since the Dutch tulip… READ MORE
Category: Current Affairs
A Personal Canon: K. L. H. Wells on Five Influential Texts
February 11, 2020
My development as an art historian has been profoundly shaped by the legacy of modernism and its relationship to decoration, craft, and design. In chronological order, here are five books… READ MORE
France and the Self
James Livesey— The history of the self is vitally important, and the contrast between the French and British histories is highly instructive. The self, or at least the version of… READ MORE
Frontier Feminism in the Twenty-First Century
February 10, 2020
Karen R. Jones— “I figure if a girl wants to be a legend, she should just go ahead and be one.” This phrase, popularly attributed to Calamity Jane, is… READ MORE
Coronavirus and Autocracy
February 5, 2020
Frank M. Snowden— Some features of “Wuhan virus” are now apparent. In early December it began its career as a human disease after a “spillover” from its natural animal reservoir—possibly… READ MORE
How Ethnic Conflict Happens
February 4, 2020
Pascal Boyer— Nations are often based on ethnicity, but ethnicity itself is a mystery, or it should be. Ethnicity is the notion that a certain group of people share common… READ MORE
Indigenous Agency and the Contingency of Empire
January 31, 2020
Kate Fullagar— December 10, 1776: one day—three vastly distant corners of the world. In the southern-most peaks of the American Appalachians, a Cherokee warrior called Ostenaco sits before the fire… READ MORE
Donald Trump and the Discourse of Lynching
January 30, 2020
Ashraf H. A. Rushdy— Many politicians before Donald Trump have abused decorum, shown bad taste, and wholly misunderstood history when they used the metaphor of lynching to describe whatever political… READ MORE
Magic: The Ambivalence of Sir Walter Scott
January 29, 2020
Michael Hunter— Sir Walter Scott was second to none in his use of supernatural stories and allusions in a fictional setting. In Rob Roy, for instance, he speaks of fairies as… READ MORE
Lessons from the Civil War for America’s Fractured Present: Part Two
January 28, 2020
Timothy William Waters— Why Remembering the Civil War Matters: Talking about Belonging in America How we remember the Civil War matters for thinking about our increasingly fragile union today—how we… READ MORE
From 9/11 to 9/11: The Widening of the Atlantic