“The Battle Hymn of the Republic” sings “As he died to make men holy/Let us die to make men free,” about American hero John Brown. Brown’s Raid at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia, although unsuccessful on many accounts, has provided fodder for conversations about freedom for decades. John Brown failed to capture
For the third year running, the Yale Press Log is covering American History in November, bringing you books and news from scholars and writers invested in the telling of our nation’s past; their aim most often to better illuminate lessons for our future and reconsider lost truths for our present.
Robert Louis Wilken is the William R. Kenan Professor of the History of Christianity Emeritus at University of Virginia. His work focuses on the Bible and the way it has influenced culture throughout the history. Wilken is a truly prolific writer, authoring ten books, including The Land Called Holy: Palestine
How do you write a biography with only one source of information? Such is the challenge for Yair Zakovitch, author of Jacob: Unexpected Patriarch,who takes on the role of biblical biographer and, consequently, literary archaeologist. Rather than dig deep in the earth for clues of the past, Zakovitch dives into
Earlier this year, we introduced John Lynch’s book, New Worlds: A Religious History of Latin America, which charts the development of religion in Latin America from the colonial period up to modern times. While we focused then on the challenges faced by missionaries during the early colonization efforts, a substantial
Yesterday, October 21, 2012, former U.S. Congressman and Presidential candidate, George Stanley McGovern, passed away at age 90. Here, Joshua M. Glasser, author of The Eighteen-Day Running Mate: McGovern, Eagleton, and a Campaign in Crisis, eulogizes McGovern using insight from the candidate’s own notes. Joshua M. Glasser— Twenty years after
When one hears the term dress code, images come to mind of the French teenage media darlings of last winter, fighting for their right to wear skimpier clothes to school. A new school rule had stated that inappropriate clothing choices like short skirts, piercings, board shorts, and clothing with holes
It is 1919, the First World War has just ended, and people are at a genuine loss— but in Bedford, a group of middle-class English women have a solution: they form a new religion. They choose Mabel Barltrop, a widow recently released from the asylum, as their leader. They name
As with other elections in the years past, next month’s contest between Obama and Romney will be influenced by vexed issues relating to religion. Health care and citizens’ access to contraception; same-sex marriage; hate speech; the list goes on. The election is furthermore complicated by the two candidates’ religious beliefs
Follow @yaleSCIbooks When we speak of the “Buddha” in the West today, are we really referring to the one born 2,500 years ago, or are we just invoking a more recent, Westernized incarnation of him? In his latest book, The Scientific Buddha: His Short and Happy Life, Donald S. Lopez,