History

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

Our Story Is the American Story: A Conversation with Renee Tajima-Peña and Geeta Gandbhir
The producers of “Asian Americans” reflect on the making of their groundbreaking documentary series.
Anouk YehJul 23, 2020
Screwing Up Is What We Do
Dave Mandl examines Tom Phillips’s book “Humans,” which details the many ways we’ve screwed up.
Dave MandlJul 22, 2020
- History
- Science & Technology
Always Dying, Yet Never Dead: An Interview with Francesco Boldizzoni
Robin Kaiser-Schatzlein talks to Francesco Boldizzoni about when capitalism will actually end.
Robin Kaiser-SchatzleinJul 22, 2020
Recovering Queer Identities
Samuel Huneke explores Jen Manion’s “Female Husbands: A Trans History” and the ways in which we identify queer folx from the past.
Samuel Clowes HunekeJul 18, 2020
- Gender & Sexuality
- History
The Art of Dissent
A documentary filmmaker and historian discusses his new film about Czech dissidents under the communist regime.
James Dean Le SueurJul 11, 2020
Bending Toward the Storm: On Andy Horowitz’s “Katrina: A History, 1915–2015”
Scott Stern reviews a new book that unpacks New Orleans’s history of mishandling storm readiness.
Scott W. SternJul 10, 2020
- History
- Science & Technology
The Only One Left: A Conversation with James Lloydovich Patterson About Grigori Aleksandrov’s “Circus”
Sasha Razor interviews James Lloydovich Patterson, the son of an African American father and a Soviet mother who became a Soviet actor and author.
Sasha RazorJul 7, 2020
A Constitution, If You Can Keep It
Stephen Rohde looks at Ellis Cose’s “Democracy, If We Can Keep It: The ACLU’s 100-Year Fight for Rights in America.”
Stephen RohdeJul 5, 2020
Bauhaus STEAMpunks and a Crisis-Based Humanities
Justus Nieland looks at two recent books on László Moholy-Nagy and György Kepes.
Justus NielandJun 27, 2020
- Art & Architecture
- History
Cinema’s First Epidemic: From Contagious Twitching to Convulsive Laughter
Maggie Hennefeld explores epidemics in early slapstick: as subject, as context, and as commodity.
Maggie HennefeldJun 23, 2020
Her Sentimental Properties
White women have trafficked in Black women’s milk.
Sarah MesleJun 22, 2020
A Technology of Manifest Destiny: Sam Colt’s Revolver
Historian of technology Lee Vinsel reviews Jim Rasenberger’s new book, “Revolver: Sam Colt and the Six-Shooter That Changed America.”
Lee VinselJun 22, 2020
- History
- Science & Technology