Books

Reading Peter Frankopan's Ambitious Planetary History

by Walter G. Moss

The Oxford historian's new book is a work of immense scope that succeeds in making human interaction with the environment a central character in history and argues for urgent action against the climate change that could write the final pages of that story.

How Bob Dylan Ran Afoul of the FBI

by Aaron J. Leonard

The combination of alcohol and unconsidered remarks about Lee Harvey Oswald in the wake of the Kennedy assassination helped ensure that the FBI opened a file on the singer. 

The Power of Dependency in Women's Legal Petitions in Revolutionary America (Excerpt)

by Jacqueline Beatty

It's anachronistic thinking to ask whether the American revolution improved women's status; a legal historian's new book seeks to understand change and continuity in women's status through those women's own worldview, which often involved leveraging their dependent status in specific claims. 

Carolyn Woods Eisenberg on Nixon's War Deceptions

by James Thornton Harris

A new history of Nixon and Kissinger's Vietnam policy shows a president driven by the abstract goal of credibility instead of concrete steps to conclude the conflict, at the cost of tens of thousands of American and hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese lives. 

No Blood for Oil: Examining the Movement Against the Iraq War

by Charles F. Howlett

David Cortright's history of the opposition to the Iraq War places the peace movement in the context of the underacknowledged peace movements of the American past. 

Excerpt: The March to Battle at Fort Sumter

by Bruce Chadwick

The words of Jefferson Davis, his inner circle, and his critics trace the path to war in an exerpt from a new book telling the story of the conflict through the firsthand observations of the participants.

After April 4: The 1968 Rebellions and the Unfinished Work of Civil Rights in DC

by Kyla Sommers

As Congressional controversy over DC's criminal law reforms shows, there remains significant unfinished business in the longstanding quest of DC residents to govern their city on their own terms. 

Excerpt: The Akan Forest Kingdom of Asante

by John Parker

This excerpt from a new collection of essays on the precolonial kingdoms of Africa examines the sophisticated way that the Asante integrated the political power of their ruling elite with the spiritual and ceremonial to rule. 

When World War II Pacifists "Conquered the Future"

by Eric Laursen

Daniel Akst profiles the pacifists who opposed American involvement in the Second World War and their influence on the civil rights and peace movements that followed. 

Christopher Gorham Gives the Remarkable Anna Marie Rosenberg the Bio She Deserves

by Kathryn Smith

From the New Deal's NRA to the Manhattan Project's labor needs, and from the launch of Social Security to JFK's famous birthday party featuring Marilyn Monroe, Rosenberg was a master facilitator who had a hand in many of the policies that shaped modern America, as a compelling new biography explains. 

The Pope at War: Pius XII and the Vatican's Secret Archives

by James Thornton Harris

David Kertzer's book argues that defenders of Pope Pius XII's actions during the Holocaust mistake his defense of the prerogatives of the Catholic Church for a defense of the victims of Nazi persecution and genocide. 

"The Dawn of Everything" Stretches its Evidence, But Makes Bold Arguments about Human Social Life

by Frank A. Palmeri

David Graeber and David Wengrow seek to pull less hierarchical and more egalitarian and sustainable forms of settlement and social organization out of the frame of utopia and into the narrative of human history. To the extent they succeed, they show humanity today has the choice to organize ourselves for survival. 

Martin Sherwin's "Gambling with Armageddon" Strips away the Myths of Nuclear Deterrence

by Lawrence Wittner

As Sherwin points out, “the real lesson of the Cuban missile crisis . . . is that nuclear armaments create the perils they are deployed to prevent, but are of little use in resolving them.”

Rediscovering the Lost Midwest (Excerpt)

by Jon K. Lauck

The contemporary troubles of the Midwest shouldn't blind historians and readers to the region's important history as an incubator of a democratic culture. 

James M. Scott's "Black Snow" Traces the Line from Tokyo to Hiroshima

by James Thornton Harris

"LeMay’s operation really served as an important trial balloon to see how the American public would respond to the mass killing of enemy civilians.... To the surprise of many in Washington, however, the American public voiced no real objection."

Lindsey Fitzharris on the Pioneering Facial Reconstruction Surgeon Who Remade the Faces of Great War Veterans

by James Thornton Harris

As one battlefield nurse wrote home, “the science of healing stood baffled before the science of destroying.” Dr. Harold Gillies let the effort to catch up, arguably the only lasting "victory" of the Great War. 

Isaac Sears and the Roots of America in New York

by Sam Roberts

The career of merchant and patriot Isaac Sears highlights the underappreciated role of New York City in the movement for American independence. 

Dangerous Rhythms: Jazz and the Criminal Underworld

by James Thornton Harris

T.J. English examines the relationship between jazz and organized crime in Prohibition America, and how the music moved on from the mob. 

Songs for Sale: Tin Pan Alley (Excerpt)

by Bob Stanley

American popular music didn't start with Elvis. It emerged when musical fads onstage converged with a new mass market for in-home record players to make song publishing big business. 

Inflation Opened the Door to American Neoliberalism

by Thom Hartmann

An inflationary crisis proved to be the justification for reworking the American political economy in the direction of the vast inequality we observe today.