History

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

War-Making and Crime-Fighting in a Punitive Society
Paul M. Renfro examines "The Punitive Turn in American Life," the new book by Michael S. Sherry.
Paul M. RenfroDec 30, 2020
- History
- Politics
Treating Epidemics in a Nazi Ghetto
In Theresienstadt, a Nazi ghetto, efficiently managing epidemics was how the Jewish inmates maintained some semblance of a livable society.
Anna Hájková, Michael BeckermanDec 29, 2020
ON LOS ANGELES: Part I: A Downtown in Downtown: Los Angeles’s Manifest Destiny
DTLA 2040 is an ambitious and comprehensive plan to guide the development of greater downtown.
Joseph GiovanniniDec 27, 2020
- History
- Politics
Paul R. Williams in Los Angeles: A Conversation with Janna Ireland
Janna Ireland discusses her new book of photos of L.A. buildings designed by a major Black architect.
Erin KaplanDec 22, 2020
- Art & Architecture
- History
Stars, Bars, and Memoirs
A West Point brigadier general takes aim at the Army’s history of coddling Confederate iconography.
Charles DunstDec 18, 2020
The Puritans Are Alright
Do Puritans get a bad rap? Ed Simon reviews Michael P. Winship's "Hot Protestants."
Ed SimonDec 16, 2020
- History
- Religion
The Battlefield of Memory: On Rana Mitter’s “China’s Good War”
Through Rana Mitter’s book “China’s Good War,” Yangyang Cheng reflects on government control of the memory, legacy, and meaning of World War II in China.
Yangyang ChengDec 15, 2020
Reclaiming Black Beaches: On Alison Rose Jefferson’s “Living the California Dream”
Eisa Nefertari Ulen considers "Living the California Dream: African American Leisure Sites during the Jim Crow Era" by Alison Rose Jefferson.
Eisa Nefertari UlenDec 15, 2020
- History
The Past Is Now: On Amin Samman’s “History in Financial Times”
John Macintosh charts "History in Financial Times," the new book by Amin Samman.
John MacintoshDec 9, 2020
The Original Sin: On Barnes Carr’s “The Lenin Plot” and Jonathan Schneer’s “The Lockhart Plot”
Douglas Smith investigates two recent books on foreign intervention in the Russian Civil War.
Douglas SmithDec 7, 2020
The Ghosts of Cambridge
Alex Langstaff reviews Jill Lepore’s “If Then” about the Cold War origins of computational data mining and its seedy alliance with behavioral psychology.
Alex LangstaffDec 7, 2020
Performance Anxiety: How Cold War Men’s Adventure Magazines Shaped Soldiers’ (Mis)Understandings of the Vietnam War
Cheap magazine stories may have fueled the way we fought the Vietnam War.
Nicholas UtzigDec 5, 2020