History

"Hegel was right when he said that we learn from history that man can never learn anything from history." — George Bernard Shaw

The Diasporic Worlds of Panama’s West Indian Women: On Joan Flores-Villalobos’s “The Silver Women”
Nicolle Alzamora reviews Joan Flores-Villalobos’s “The Silver Women: How Black Women’s Labor Made the Panama Canal.”
Nicolle AlzamoraOct 19, 2023
- History
Who Gets to Set the Research Agenda for the Planet? On Lorraine Daston’s “Rivals”
Deborah Coen pushes back against one part of Lorraine Daston’s “Rivals: How Scientists Learned to Cooperate” by arguing that what constitutes “success” is a matter of who is part of the scientific conversation (and who is not)—and thus a matter of standpoint.
Deborah R. CoenOct 17, 2023
Where Sables Roam: On Vladimir Arsenyev’s “Dersu Uzala” Trilogy
Noah Sparkes writes about Valdimir Arsenyev’s “Dersu Uzala” trilogy.
Noah SparkesOct 15, 2023
- History
After the Party: A Walking Tour of Manchester with Andy Spinoza
Chandler Dandridge takes a tour of Manchester with Andy Spinoza, author of “Manchester Unspun: Pop, Property, and Power in the Original Modern City.”
Chandler DandridgeOct 10, 2023
- History
- Music
Crony Capitalism, 16th-Century Style: On Philip J. Stern’s “Empire, Incorporated”
Dinyar Patel reviews Philip J. Stern’s “Empire, Incorporated: The Corporations That Built British Colonialism.”
Dinyar PatelOct 7, 2023
- Economics and Finance
- History
The Struggle Continues: On Vincent Bevins’s “If We Burn”
Tyler McBrien reviews Vincent Bevins’s “If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and the Missing Revolution.”
Tyler McBrienOct 3, 2023
Ostalgie: Revisiting East Germany
Does nostalgia for the old East Berlin come from a deeper longing for socialism?
Matthew LongoOct 1, 2023
The Law-Breaking Supreme Court: On Stephen Vladeck’s “The Shadow Docket”
Andrew Koppelman reviews Stephen Vladeck’s “The Shadow Docket: How the Supreme Court Uses Stealth Rulings to Amass Power and Undermine the Republic.”
Andrew KoppelmanSep 27, 2023
The Chinese Restaurant on Main Street, USA: On Zai Liang’s “From Chinatown to Every Town”
Weiling Deng considers Zai Liang’s “From Chinatown to Every Town: How Chinese Immigrants Have Expanded the Restaurant Business in the United States.”
Weiling DengSep 23, 2023
A Fireball in the Marshall Islands: How a Nuclear Test Changed the World
Émile P. Torres describes how it was not the dropping of the atom bombs in 1945 but the testing of a nuclear bomb is the Marshall Islands in 1954 that marked the moment when people became preoccupied with human extinction.
Émile P. TorresSep 20, 2023
Globalizing China or Sinicizing the Global? On Alexander Statman’s “A Global Enlightenment” and Ali Humayun Akhtar’s “1368”
Gianamar Giovannetti-Singh reviews Alexander Statman’s “A Global Enlightenment: Western Progress and Chinese Science” and Ali Humayun Akhtar’s “1368: China and the Making of the Modern World.”
Gianamar Giovannetti-SinghSep 17, 2023
- History
Weaponized Plumbing: On Henry Farrell and Abraham L. Newman’s “Underground Empire”
Krzysztof Pelc mostly agrees with Henry Farrell and Abraham L. Newman’s “Underground Empire: How America Weaponized the World Economy” but quibbles that it’s hard to draw the line between the peculiarly 21st-century type of influence they describe—which flows from fiber-optic cables, data centers, and dollar clearinghouses—and more conventional types of power.
Krzysztof PelcSep 13, 2023