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What was Plato's academy and why did it influence Western thought?
The Academy, founded by the philosopher Plato in the early 4th century BCE, was perhaps one of the earliest institutions of higher learning. While it was not like a university where people would enroll and obtain advanced degrees, it functioned as one of the first places for dedicated research into scientific and philosophical questions, at least in Europe, took place by gathered scholars. Its main function was to teach Plato's philosophical understanding, but it also challenged its scholars to develop a new understanding of our universe. Read more...
The Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798: Interview with Terri Halperin
The Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 were four laws that were passed by the predominantly Federalist Congress and signed by John Adams to strengthen the national security of the United States. These acts not only restricted the ability of an immigrant to become a citizen, but made it easier to deport non-citizens who were either deemed dangerous or were citizens of hostile countries. Perhaps the most contentious aspect of the new laws criminalized the printing or speaking allegedly false statements about the federal government. Not surprisingly, these laws were incredibly controversial and strongly opposed by Thomas Jefferson's opposition Democratic-Republican party.Read more...
Thomas Jefferson, the Founding Fathers and Christianity: Interview with Sam Haselby
Recently on Twitter, a debate broke out between Annette Gordon-Reed, Sam Haselby, and John Fea on the nature of Thomas Jefferson's religious beliefs. Instead of recreating the debate, it made more sense to contact one of the participants, Sam Haselby, whose recent book The Origins of American Religious Nationalism (published by Oxford University Press) examines how a conflict with Protestantism, in the decades following US independence transformed American national identity.Read more...
Engineering Victory during the Civil War: Interview with Thomas F. Army, Jr.
Logistics win wars. Logistics is the coordination of complex operations such as moving, housing and supplying troops and their equipment. War is the ultimate test of any logistician. During the Civil War, the Union troops fought almost the entire war in the South. Thomas F. Army, Jr. argues in his new book Engineering Victory: How Technology Won the Civil War published by Johns Hopkins University Press that the Union's engineering prowess during Civil War gave it an distinct advantage over the Confederacy.Read more...
Shantytown, USA: Interview with Lisa Goff
The Harvard University Press recently published Lisa Goff's new book Shantytown, USA: Forgotten Landscapes of the Working Poor. There's a chance that one of your American ancestors lived in an American shantytown. While we may not realize it now, shantytowns were a common feature of 19th century America. Goff's book explores not only how shantytowns became a prominent feature of America's towns and cities, but why middle class Americans eventually turned on them and their residents. Read more...
The Mysterious Illness of Jim Bowie: How Did He Contribute to His Own Decline?
Directly or indirectly, Jim Bowie’s enigmatic illness resulted from his own actions. A hearty man of six feet in height, Bowie was a walking contradiction; a slave trader who fought for freedom, a generous and congenial man who called out his thunderous temper on a whim, and a commanding leader who was prone to binges of sloppy drunkenness. Read more...
Why did Operation Market Garden in 1944 fail?
Operation Market Garden, launched in September 1944, was an unsuccessful Allied offensive mainly, fought in the Netherlands. It was the largest airborne operation in history up to that time. The operation was a daring one and it was the brainchild of the British General Bernard Montgomery. His intended the airborne offensive to allow the allies to break into the German heartland and to end the war, quickly. Read more...
Alexander the Great Top Ten Booklist
Creating a top ten list for books on Alexander the Great is not easy, since few ancient historical figures have been written about as much. Everything from his complex personality and his sexual life to his military and logistical tactics have been analyzed by historians. Alexander, simply put, stands out as unique among ancient historical figures for having so much detailed assessment made on his life and times. Read more...
Was the Destruction Perpetrated by Lincoln, Grant, and Sherman Necessary to End the Civil War?
January 1, 1863 marked a pivotal moment in the American Civil War. On this date the Emancipation Proclamation, the preliminary of which was issued by President Lincoln on September 22, 1862, took full and permanent effect, thus changing the Union’s ultimate war goal. Once the aim of the war changed for the Union, so too did its leaders. The harsh and unpopular actions that were necessary to prevent the prolonged bloody carnage of continual war were tasked to three men: Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, and William T. Sherman. Read more...
What Factors Led to the Creation of the First Cities?
The rise of cities in the ancient Near East during the fourth millennium BC (4000-3000 BC) is a key event in the history of the world, as urban patterns that first arose there became patterns inherited in many societies, including in the West. Cities in the ancient Near East were the first to develop major temples, palaces, large urban dwelling areas, city walls, governments, and religious authorities that become features seen in later cities. Read more...
Why was France defeated in 1940?
In September 1939, the Nazi War Machine invaded Poland and World War II began. France and its Britain declared against Nazi Germany in 1939. The French army was in theory as strong as the Germanys and it had a vast Empire and a sophisticated arms industry. It had also established a series of fortifications in the east of the country, known as the Maginot Line. The Line was designed to keep German forces out of France. Read more...
Hodges' Scout: Interview with Len Travers
Johns Hopkins University Press has recently published Len Traver's new book Hodges' Scout: A Lost Patrol of the French and Indian War. Travers' book examines a group of colonial scouts who were ambushed on a patrol in upstate New York by French and Native American soldiers during the French and Indian War. Travers uses this massacre to explore the lives of the colonists who fought, died and even survived this massacre. Read more...
Angels of the Underground: Interview with Theresa Kaminski
The Oxford University Press recently published Theresa Kaminski's Angels of the Underground: The American Women who Resisted the Japanese in the Philippines in World War II. Kaminski's book follows the lives of four American women who were stranded in the Philippines after Japan invaded during World War II. Publishers Weekly described her book as a "fast-paced true story" that documents how these women resisted Japanese occupation. Read more...
Articles
Here are some of our most recently created and edited articles.
- Why did the United States start the Mexican American War
- What Caused The Economic Panic Of 1837
- Why did Andrew Jackson want to destroy the Bank of the United States
- Why did the United States begin directly electing Senators in 1913
- How did Mussolini Rise to Power as the Dictator of Italy
- Why did Germany lose the Battle of Stalingrad
- What were Joseph Stalin's goals as World War Two ended
- How historically accurate is the Gladiator
Interviews
These are our interviews with historians discussing their new books.
- Make It Rain: Interview with Kristine C. Harper
- American Girls in Red Russia: Interview with Julia Mickenberg
- Inventing the Pinkertons: Interview with Paul O'Hara
- Primed for Violence in Interwar Poland: Interview with Paul Brykczynski
- American Surveillance: Interview with Anthony Gregory
- Privateering during the War of 1812: Interview with Faye M. Kert
- Nature's Path: Interview with Susan E. Cayleff
Booklists
Includes our most recent Expert and User created Top Ten History Booklists.
- Top Ten Books on Napoleon Bonaparte
- Top Ten Books on Los Angeles History
- Top Ten Books on the History of Reconstruction
- Top Ten Books on the Bubonic Plague
- Top Ten Books on The Medici Family during the Renaissance
- Top Ten Books on Julius Caesar
- Top Ten Books from the Oxford Battle Series
- Top Ten Booklist on Joseph Stalin
- Great Gifts for History Lovers 2018
- Top Ten History of Voting Rights Booklist
- New Kingdom Ancient Egypt Top Ten Booklist
- Ancient Egypt’s Third Intermediate and Late Periods Top Ten Booklist
- Top Ten War Books that were turned into Movies
- Great Gifts for History Lovers 2017
- Ten Essential Books Pertaining to the Holocaust
Blog Roll
Here are some links to our Favorite History and Academic Publisher Blogs
- Tropics of Meta
- Nursing Clio
- The Junto
- Points: The Blog of the Alcohol and Drugs History Society
- Process: A Blog for American History
- Legal History Blog
- Balkinization
- Cooking in the Archives
- We're History
- Real Clear History
- History News Network
- National Museum of American History
- Oxford University Press Blog
- Johns Hopkins University Press Blog
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