Ep. 3 – Understanding Russia
Russia expert David Satter talks about the fall of Yeltsin, the rise of Putin, and what lies ahead for Russia and the United States. (This episode originally aired 5/26/2016)
Disraeli, de Rothschild, and the Struggle to Admit Jews to Parliament
Rosemary Ashton— What was it like to live in London through one of the hottest summers on record, with the River Thames emitting a sickening smell as a result of the sewage of over two million inhabitants being discharged into the river and floating up and down with the tide, never
Ep. 6 – The Founders’ Case for an Activist Government
The long-held belief that the Declaration of Independence calls for a small government may not be an accurate assessment. Historian Steve Pincus discusses the meaning of this seminal document as well as its continuing influence in modern politics and American life. (This episode originally ran 10/20/2016)
Pride Month Bookshelf: LGBTQIA+ History, Cultural Studies, and Literature Beyond June
Presenting our Yale University Press Pride Month reading list—because celebrating #Pride2017, learning from the history of the movement, championing stories and contributions of LGBTQIA+ individuals, and working each day to insist on equal and fair treatment of queer communities should extend far beyond June. Homintern: How Gay Culture Liberated the Modern World by Gregory
“It’s the Climate, Stupid.”
Geoffrey Parker— Once upon a time, climate change was a hot topic. In 1979 the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the United Nations Environment Programme, the National Science Foundation, the Ford Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation paid for 250 historians, geographers, archaeologists and climatologists from thirty countries to share their expertise
The All-American History of Fake News
Richard D. Brown— After Time asked “Is Truth Dead?” the digital giants Google and Facebook stepped up efforts to help readers distinguish genuine news information from unsubstantiated assertions and fabrications. This is encouraging. But the challenges of fake news, like misleading and erroneous journalism, are nothing new. Over 200 years ago, when
The Idea of Yugoslavia: Translating Miljenko Jergović’s “The Walnut Mansion”
The Walnut Mansion by Miljenko Jergović—translated by Stephen M. Dickey with Janja Pavetic-Dickey—is a grand novel that encompasses nearly all of Yugoslavia’s tumultuous twentieth century, from the decline of the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires through two world wars, the rise and fall of communism, the breakup of the nation, and
A Maya Child’s Tale: The Origin of the Sun
Oswaldo Chinchilla Mazariegos— In his field diary entry of October 30, 1960, ethnographer Marcelo Díaz de Salas wrote down a brief story that he’d been told by Miguelito, a young boy about 11 years old, in the Tzotzil Maya village of Venustiano Carranza (located in the highlands of Chiapas, Mexico):
Early American Honor Culture and the United States Congress
Joanne B. Freeman— On Saturday, July 18, 1795, an angry crowd stood gathered before Federal Hall in New York City, eager to protest the Jay Treaty, which eased ongoing tensions between Great Britain and the United States. Convinced that the treaty was too favorable to the British, leading Republicans had
The Legacy of Jane Austen and the Industry of “Jane Austen”
Fiona Stafford– When Jane Austen spoke of being “in love with” Clarkson, in a private letter of 1813, she was referring to the indefatigable antislavery campaigner Thomas Clarkson and his splendid History, which charted the progress of the abolitionist movement. Two hundred years later, the name of Clarkson would be