History

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

What We Know About Hurricanes: On Eric Jay Dolin’s “A Furious Sky”
The astonishing spectacle of hurricanes shows us how much we know and don’t know about the natural world.
Lyn MillnerAug 20, 2020
Wyatt Earp Does Not Rest in Peace
A pair of new books about US Marshal Wyatt Earp are now out. Only one of them shoots straight.
Allen BarraAug 19, 2020
- Biography & Autobiography
- History
Upending the Travelogue: A Conversation with Sophy Roberts
Sophy Roberts goes on an untraditional quest.
Alana Marie Levinson-LaBrosseAug 18, 2020
Beats and All
Loren Glass reviews "The Beats: A Literary History," a new book by Steven Belletto.
Loren GlassAug 17, 2020
Like Flies to Honey: On Eric H. Cline’s “Digging Up Armageddon: The Search for the Lost City of Solomon”
Lydia Pyne reviews Eric H. Cline’s recent book, "Digging Up Armageddon: The Search for the Lost City of Solomon
Lydia PyneAug 16, 2020
- History
- Science & Technology
Double Lives: On Louise Brooks’s “Thirteen Women in Films”
Maya Cantu puts actress Louise Brooks’s unpublished manuscript “Thirteen Women in Films” in conversation with the recent documentary “Silent and Forgotten.”
Maya CantuAug 15, 2020
Suicide Missions
Historian Michael D. Gordin reviews several books in order to tackle the problem of deferred solutions — the fact that we seem rigged to defer suffering.
Michael D. GordinAug 12, 2020
The World as a Problem Never Fully Solved
The improvised life (and afterlife) of the British art rock group Henry Cow.
Stathis GourgourisAug 9, 2020
New York City and the Staging of Disaster
From the Dreamland amusement park to the modern disaster movie, New York has always thrived at the edge of catastrophe.
Andy ReischlingAug 9, 2020
- Art & Architecture
- History
America’s “Mein Kampf”: Francis Parker Yockey and “Imperium”
A shadowy fascist, the late Francis P. Yockey (1917–1960) has followers today.
Anthony MostromAug 8, 2020
- History
- Politics
Racism and Capitalism in St. Louis
A new history of St. Louis shows it again as a national microcosm, though not in flattering ways.
David RoedigerAug 8, 2020
- History
- Politics
A Darker View of the Renaissance
A new book explores the ugly underside of the Italian Renaissance.
John T. ScottAug 6, 2020