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Sir Winston Churchill in 1945.

Churchill on Iraq: “Living on an Ungrateful Volcano”

… it finally granted that nation its independence. In making his case to Prime Minister David Lloyd George, … declared the Arab officials of Iraq’s British-backed King Feisal “incompetent.” He noted the gross … of his character — so much so that I keep a stern-looking bust of Sir Winston in the Oval Office.” If the …
painting - the War of 1812

The Legacy of the War of 1812 Is With Us Still

… mythology. For one thing, it was a misbegotten war. Lacking today’s fast communications, Washington didn’t learn … trade restrictions that were a major U.S. pretext for taking up arms. The war’s final battle, Andrew Jackson’s … Atlantic power. But so did a great slave power. The Cotton Kingdom of the lower South was secured by Jackson’s victory. …
Sir Christopher Wren

The Society That Started It All: The Origins of Modern Science

Review of The Royal Society and the Invention of Modern Science, by Adrian Tinniswood (New York: Basic Books, 2019.)
… John Evelyn, the Society secured a charter by order of King Charles II in 1662 that officially made them "The Royal … United Kingdom …
Senator J. William Fulbright in 1966.

Advice from the Past about Yugoslavia

… on June 10, 1963, Kennedy indicated the changes in his thinking. He said that the U.S. should seek a “genuine peace” so … know that it was Fulbright who helped lead the way in rethinking the nation’s Vietnam policy. He opposed the use of … us once again seek a world that is “safe for diversity.” Martin Halpern is Fulbright Lecturer in the Faculty of …
A scene from the 1956 Hungarian Revolution

Remembering '56: The Hungarian Revolution

… and Molotov cocktails proved remarkably effective at knocking out Soviet tanks and repelling assaults at fortified … to suppress the revolution. Imre Nagy and other top-ranking Hungarian officials who had sympathized with the … Hungarians and triggered a mass exodus of civilians seeking refuge in the West.  Today, 1956 serves as a symbol of …
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

… history of drug and alcohol regulation in America: Scott Martin on 19th century temperance and alcohol prohibition, … In our first, host Mark Sokolsky speaks with Scott Martin, of Bowling Green, on America's most concerted … the handicaps that it labored under that we've just been talking about. For example, by all accounts, when statisticians …
battle scene of men with axes fighting men on horseback

1066: The Normans Conquer England

The Battle of Hastings, which took place on October 14, 1066 was a pivotal moment in the invasion from across the English Channel that resulted in the conquest of Anglo-Saxon England by William, the French Duke of Normandy.
… United Kingdom …
Image reading "there is no news tonight"

“No News Day” at the BBC

… that regard news as just another part of their profit-making enterprises. Newsrooms place a high priority on being … services — is any better. Political partisanship is even making its way into local news broadcasts. Reith wanted the … United Kingdom …
The Beatles arrive in 1964 to meet their new fans in America.

50 Years Ago: the Beatles, Rock, and Race in America

… 1960s, Buddy Holly had died in a plane crash, Elvis was making movies, Chuck Berry was in jail, and Jerry Lee Lewis … Englanders along the river Mersey were still seeking inspiration from rock and rolls’ increasingly forgotten … United Kingdom …
A memorial dedicated to the heroes of the Great Patriotic War (1941-45) in Yaroslavl.

From Kulikovo Field to Kursk: Russia’s Forever War

Review of Russia: The Story of War, by Gregory Carleton (Cambridge, MA and London: Belknap/Harvard University Press, 2017)
… that drive Russia’s war myth is also crucial to making sense of Russia’s behavior on the international stage … monograph for students and seasoned Russia watchers seeking to understand Russia’s war myth in its many … Harrison King …
Shakespeare For All Time, by Stanley Wells Book cover.

Shakespeare For All Time

Review of Shakespeare For All Time, by Stanley Wells (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003)
… United Kingdom …
Signing of the Treaty of Ghent, 1814

The War We Refuse to Remember

… where the Admiral of the Royal Navy James Gambier is shaking hands with the U.S. Ambassador to Russia, John Quincy … and will not commemorate its end either, and it is worth asking why. The notion that the United States had to … United Kingdom …
Cover of The Anatomy Murders by Lisa Rosner

The Anatomy Murders

Review of The Anatomy Murders, by Lisa Rosner (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2009)
… cobbler he and his mistress supplemented their income by taking in boarders.  With so many itinerant laborers moving in … with the face just in case the authorities came around asking questions. As long as the medical practitioners of … United Kingdom …
men fighting with swords and some are on horseback

The Battle of Bosworth Field

The Battle of Bosworth Field was one of the last major battles of the Wars of the Roses, a decades-long conflict between the House of York and the House of Lancaster over claims to the English throne.
… United Kingdom …
illustration of Prince George IV

Unspoken Anxiety or Vivid Metaphor?

Review of Itch, Clap, Pox: Venereal Disease in the Eighteenth-Century Imagination, by Noelle Gallagher (New Haven: Yale, 2019)
… Gallagher writes that fear of venereal infection was “lurking around every corner” in the Britain of the long 18th … races and form a basis for racial politics, frequently attacking Jews and persons of African descent as bringers of … United Kingdom …
Idi Amin addresses troops during a visit to border regions

Idi Amin's Uganda

When Idi Amin, commander of the Ugandan Army, seized power in Uganda on 25 January 1971, there was hope among many Ugandans that a new beginning beckoned.
… United Kingdom …
FDR and Churchill at the Atlantic Conference in 1941.

A New Atlantic Charter?

… denoting a special relationship between two English-speaking countries separated by an ocean but sharing a heritage … United Kingdom …
Amritsar Massacre

The Amritsar Massacre (1919)

The massacre and continued police brutality were turning points in Indian anti-colonialism.
… United Kingdom …
Omagh, Northern Ireland in 2001.

Taking the Guns Out of Irish Politics

… village of Rosslea, Northern Ireland, a plaque linking a rebellion that occurred in 1798 and the present IRA’s … United Kingdom … Taking the Guns Out of Irish Politics …
Title page of the first edition of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus, 1818.

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

… idolatry of reason and mechanistic forces by attacking the idea that man was a predictable and rationally … of a human being by unnatural means is a dangerous undertaking fraught with perils from human emotions and … a celebration of the most ambitious scientific undertakings, even though the two men who first undertake to carry …
Queen Mary’s College, opened in 1914.

A Postcard from Madras: A City Born of the Colonial Encounter

… kilometers of land, bounded by the Adyar river and the Buckingham canal in the south and north respectively, on the beach overlooking the Bay of Bengal. Madras was an odd choice for a city … busiest roads, with no pedestrian crossing to reach it! Taking a photo of the War Memorial therefore involves a swift …
How to Create the Perfect Wife: Britain’s Most Ineligible Bachelor and His Enlightened Quest to Train the Ideal Mate, by Wendy Moore Book Cover.

The Idiot’s Guide to Enlightened Matrimony

Review of How to Create the Perfect Wife: Britain’s Most Ineligible Bachelor and His Enlightened Quest to Train the Ideal Mate, by Wendy Moore (New York: Basic Books, 2013)
… Impressively researched—and by turns hilarious and heartbreaking—Moore’s book offers a wild ride through Enlightenment society by asking one simple question: what made Day’s unusual path to … they were also forced to wait on him hand and foot, cooking and cleaning even while being expected to study …