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Buildings along a waterfront in China

China and Africa: Historical Perspectives on a Rising Power

… new influence, building on Cold War relationships first forged during an earlier era of Sino-American competition. Yet looking at Chinese engagement in Africa … the last 50 years reveals that increased power has transformed Beijing’s foreign policies and strained its global …
Cover of "Our Hemisphere"? The United States in Latin America, from 1776 to the Twenty-First Century by Britta H. Crandall and Russell C. Crandall.

Episodes of Ambivalent Empire

Review of “Our Hemisphere”? The United States in Latin America, from 1776 to the Twenty-First Century by : Britta H. Crandall and Russell C. Crandall (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2021)
… when asked about the U.S. administration’s vocal support for the beleaguered opposition to the Venezuelan government, … century, officials sometimes demonstrated a broad commitment to republican and democratic principles. For … , not only Presidents and Secretaries of State but also newspapermen and common citizens effused sympathy for the …
The Rodina crew. Left to right: Polina Osipenko, Valentina Grizodubova, and Marina Raskova.

The Rodina Flight

The Remarkable Story of the Women’s Non-Stop Long-Distance Flight Record
American soldiers land near Algiers

Torch: The Allied Invasion of French North Africa, 1942

… On November 8, 1942, American and British forces invaded beaches and ports across French North Africa. … the Axis, operation Torch constituted the biggest and most complex amphibious landing to that point in world history.  … Africa, however, was never a foregone conclusion. America’s commitment to the Allied war effort after Pearl Harbor …
 Cover of Chivalry in Medieval England by Nigel Saul

Knighthood As It Was, Not As We Wish It Were

Review of Chivalry in Medieval England, by Nigel Saul (Harvard University Press, 416 pp, 2011, ISBN 978-0-674-06368-6)
… wished that things could just be like they used to be. A common sentiment, it is actually responsible for distorting the realities of our collective past because … only to attend the nearest Renaissance fair or turn on the latest movie depicting medieval warfare to see just how …
A rhino standing on the beach

The Sixth Extinction and Our Unraveling World

… over-exploitation of resources increasingly dominate the news, there may be an even larger threat on the horizon. By … event of our own making? And if so, what will this mean for humanity and what can we do about it? Listen in as hosts … have reshaped ecosystems in the past, their consequences for animal and plant diversity, and what this may mean for
Artist representation of data security and privacy. Large eye peeks through an open window.

These Machines Know Too Damn Much

… scare you. The part where, like other privacy scholars, I inform or at least remind you, with a sweep of bleak Orwellian … narrative says technology is to blame—that after mainframe computers burst onto the scene in the middle of the … they don’t, change is much more likely. We can, in effect, buy our way to a more private society. We’re not there yet, …

Dry Days Down Under: Australia and the World Water Crisis

… Australia has water troubles. For at least the past nine years, the people "down under" … is a self-reinforcing event. How, we should ask, has it come to all this? Australia's water woes are, in part, a … parts of Australia every few years and major droughts come at least once per generation. The Big Dry is one in a …
Judas kissing Jesus

The Gospel of Judas: The Rediscovery of the Earliest Gnostic Gospel

… Professor of History and Director, Goldberg Center for Excellence in Teaching at The Ohio State University. … Nicholas Breyfogle Hello, and welcome to The Gospel of Judas: The Rediscovery of the Earliest … was a big deal. You had to, you know, hire someone and buy the paper they have to do you know, it's a skill and so …
Suffragists with signs: "Votes for Women"

The Myth of the Women's Voting Bloc (Prologued, Season 1, Trailer)

… Prologued is a serial podcast from Origins that performs in depth discussions of historical roots that have … the history of a major issue society is facing, in an effort to not only explain how we got here, but to reveal a path forward.  Season 1 will analyze the myth of the women's …
Abraham Lincoln

Top Ten Origins: The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln

… a strong hold on the imagination of the American public. To commemorate “Honest Abe,” Origins offers ten of the most … , and John F. Kennedy(1963). JFK’s murder was a touchstone for anyone who was alive at that moment. Lincoln’s passing … with the biggest questions himself, leaving a few glancing comments about such landmarks as the Emancipation …
Here, a bus broadcasts the anti-apartheid message to Londoners in 1989.

Inequality After Apartheid

Review of Apartheid Guns and Money: A Tale of Profit, by Hennie van Vuuren (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019)
… In societies that have undergone major political transformations—away from systems of oppression and towards … politicians, arms dealers, and bureaucrats, among others, committed heretofore underappreciated crimes in the waning … proposal dressed up as public diplomacy” in 1985 and who visited the country the following year. When approached in …
Collage: On the left, a group of men emptying liquor bottles during Prohibition. On the right, a field of marijuana plants

Hooked: Drugs, Prohibition, and American Cities

… millions of individuals, and stigmatized inner city communities--all without appearing to have produced a … crisis” of the 1980s and drugs, race, and disparities in enforcement. In each segment, they consider why drugs were … fight is worth the cost, and what insights history may have for addressing drug use in America today. ( Prohibition …
An artist's rendering of the Tunguska event

The 1908 Tunguska Event and the Threats of Tomorrow

… No disaster scenario more challenges human hopes to overcome nature’s forces than the sudden and unpredicted strike of a giant … they wanted to determine if a guest from outer space had visited. Yet their commitment to empirical research …
The U.S.-Economic Cooperation Administration created numerous posters to promote the Marshall Plan in Europe. This one, depicting the flags of various Western European countries receiving Marshall Plan aid, was produced in 1950.

The Marshall Plan

… into law on April 3, 1948. The Marshall Plan, as it’s more commonly known, was intended to revive the economies of … Italy, and West Germany, the program was an ambitious foreign aid effort and an unprecedented display of U.S. … However, in underscoring its accomplishments, the latest references to the Marshall Plan neglect its more …
One of the McMinnville UFO photographs. Skeptics have concluded that the UFO was a small model suspended by wires or string from the power lines visible at the top of the photo.

The Air Force Investigation into UFOs

… On December 17, 1969, the United States Air Force concluded Project Blue Book, its investigation into … investigating reports of UFOs. To this end it instituted a comprehensive study of UFOs.  This study, known as Project … Study of UFOs UFO Study: Condon Group Finds No Evidence of Visits from Outer Space …
NCAA Basketball championship banners.

The Big Business of “Amateur” Intercollegiate Sports

… but the game itself made no money. Men’s college basketball commenced with a similarly obscure contest.  In 1895 at … national football championship made a nifty $549 million for the teams and their conferences.  Division I men’s … by poorly compensated, short-term contract, adjunct, and visiting professors. Employees Who Don’t Get Paid For over a …

WikiLeaks, and the Past and Present of American Foreign Relations

… Arabic, European, and Persian architectural styles, the complex embodied purposefully Egypt's place at the … as the group settled down to talk. After a brief back-and-forth about Israel, Mubarak turned to Iraq. "My dear … Little was known of the man beyond the fact that he had visited a website associated with radical Islam—but his name …

Where have you gone, Holden Caulfield? Why We Aren’t ‘Alienated’ Anymore

… Over the last year, we have come to know a good deal about Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab. … a privileged upbringing. His father, a wealthy banker and former Nigerian economics minister, made sure his son had … memo and instructed its agents to play nice. You can hardly buy a doughnut these days without filling out a …
Top view of person serving themself a rice dish from a table of food

Food for Thought: Diet in History

… history.   Mark Sokolsky   Okay, great. Well, thank you all for joining us. Just to start off,we're going to just ask, … in the sense that because it's so everyday, because it's so common, historians of the past tend to overlook it in favor … the middle of winter here in Columbus, and I was able to buy avocados from Mexico, right? Apples from Chile. And so …
On August 8, 1918, 17,000 German soldiers surrendered to the Allies.

November 11, 1918: The End of World War I?

… World War . Or so the story goes. In January 1918, after forty-one months of combat, Allied troops were ready for a ceasefire, but they … been touched by death. Oftentimes, there was no grave to visit and no body upon which to perform funereal rights that …
Cover of The Blue Tattoo: The Life of Olive Oatman by Margot Mifflin.

Taking it on the Chin

Review of The Blue Tattoo: The Life of Olive Oatman, by Margot Mifflin (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2009)
… were exhausted, and all but the Oatman family opted to stay for at least a few weeks to recover.  The Oatmans, led by … Olive remade herself into a proper Victorian lady, complete with a child (the couple adopted) and a beautiful … transitions. For more information on Mifflin and her work, visit: …