Andrew Pettegree— In 1704 the English writer Daniel Defoe embarked on the publication of a political journal: the Weekly Review of the Affairs of France. This was not yet the Defoe made famous by his great novel Robinson Crusoe; he would discover his vocation as a novelist only late in life. Up to
Monique Laney— In recent years, high-tech industry CEOs have become increasingly vocal about their desire for immigration reform. Most of them argue that they cannot find enough native workers with the right skill set for the jobs their companies have to offer, so they want to see changes in immigration policies
Lorri Glover— This Father’s Day, Vice President Joe Biden will doubtless endure the fresh pain of having so recently buried his son, Beau Biden. The nation mourned with him, all the more so when reminded that this was not the first time he faced the grievous burden of attending a
Rory Muir— The Duke of Wellington felt far from triumphant after defeating Napoleon at Waterloo, famously remarking that “I don’t know what it is to lose a battle, but certainly nothing can be more painful than to gain one with the loss of so many of one’s friends.” A few
We are deeply saddened by esteemed historian Peter Gay’s passing. A Sterling Professor of History Emeritus at Yale University and former director of the New York Public Library Center for Scholars and Writers, his eminent scholarship on the Enlightenment, Freud, and a wide range of additional topics in European history
The Dirty War was a campaign by the government of Argentina to suppress left-wing political opponents. It is estimated that during the period from 1976 to 1983, 10,000 to 30,000 citizens were killed or taken by the government and never heard from again. It was against this backdrop of violence
Many of us here at Yale University Press are avid cyclists. In honor of May being National Bike Month, historian and bicycle expert David V. Herlihy takes a look at America’s first cycling champion. David V. Herlihy— Florentines are immensely proud of the fact that their fabled city staged Italy’s first
Michael Satlow— Imagine Jesus as a boy. Growing up with his brothers and sisters in a Jewish home in the sleepy town of Nazareth, in lower Galilee, he almost certainly would have been circumcised, followed Jewish dietary rules (kashrut), and observed the Jewish Sabbath and festivals. He would have grown
Michael Coogan— In 2001, Roy Moore, the Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, installed a massive monument featuring the Ten Commandments in the courthouse rotunda. When ordered by a federal judge to have it taken away because it violated the establishment clause of the U. S. Constitution, Moore refused, and
More than three-and-a-half million men served in the British Army during the Second World War, the vast majority of them civilians who had never expected to become soldiers and had little idea what military life, with all its strange rituals, discomforts and dangers, might entail. Alan Allport, author of Browned Off and