History

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

Memory Work: Reading and Writing Japanese American Incarceration
Following the 80th anniversary of Executive Order 9066, Erin Aoyama reflects on the uses of Japanese American memory work.
Erin AoyamaJun 9, 2022
- History
Brutal Island: On Jarrod Shanahan’s “Captives: How Rikers Island Took New York City Hostage”
Abby Cunniff reviews Jarrod Shanahan’s “Captives: How Rikers Island Took New York City Hostage,” a look at brutality on New York City’s penal colony.
Abby CunniffMay 17, 2022
- History
Who Is Haitian?
A new history of Haiti should be read as philosophy.
Adolf AlzupharApr 29, 2022
- History
“Which Stranger Are You?”: On Gregg Mitman’s “Empire of Rubber: Firestone’s Scramble for Land and Power in Liberia”
Tom Zoellner reviews the new book by Gregg Mitman, "Empire of Rubber: Firestone’s Scramble for Land and Power in Liberia."
Tom ZoellnerApr 28, 2022
- History
Shedding Light in the Darkness of Our Historical Imaginations
Eleanor Janega writes light into the “Dark Ages,” which weren’t all that dark, in a review of Matthew Gabriele and David M. Perry’s latest historical production.
Eleanor JanegaApr 24, 2022
- History
Ordinary People’s History: On Laura Carter’s “Histories of Everyday Life: The Making of Popular Social History in Britain, 1918–1979”
Carter’s book is a reminder that the quotidian can be both exciting and also key to understanding the lived reality of the past.
Thomas J. SojkaApr 12, 2022
- History
“London Has Burst into Bloom”: On John Davis’s “Waterloo Sunrise: London from the Sixties to Thatcher”
An oddly conceived but solidly researched study of 1960s and ’70s London.
Geoff NicholsonApr 11, 2022
- History
Another World: On Ada Ferrer’s “Cuba: An American History”
Esther Allen explores the braided tale of “Cuba: An American History” by Ada Ferrer.
Esther AllenMar 18, 2022
- History
Willing Executioners: On Grant T. Harward’s “Romania’s Holy War”
Exposing the depths of Romania’s ideological commitment to its crusade against “Judeo-Communism.”
Philip Ó CeallaighMar 17, 2022
- History
No Walk in the Park
A history of the beginning of the United States’s signature national park, told through the stories of three men with different visions.
Craig LancasterMar 17, 2022
- History
Roads to Everywhere
Two books reveal the hidden lives of Los Angeles thoroughfares.
Tom ZoellnerMar 11, 2022
- History
A People’s Guide to Orange County: Real People, Real Stories, and the Shaping of Local History
An unconventional guidebook to Orange County points to locations of forgotten history.
Tryphena YeboahMar 7, 2022
- History