global history

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.

Maps are the Record of Humans' Imagination of the World

by Meredith F. Small

World maps have always been made without regard for practicality. Useless for navigation or for demarcating ownership, they are imaginative and expressive of a society's view of the world—which makes them important. 

“Of the East India Breed …”: The First South Asians in British North America

by Brinda Charry

The known records of the first south Asian people in Virginia are not voluminous, but they direct our attention to the complexities of racial identity in early America and the global networks of trade and labor that would make the British Empire. 

Climate Policy Needs a Return to Land Reform

by Jo Guldi

In the immediate aftermath of the Second World War, the United Nations' international development agenda took its cues from struggles for decolonization from Ireland to India, making the redistribution of rural land a top priority. Is this the key to more effective climate change mitigation? 

Do Sanctions on Russia Portend a Return to the Interwar Order of Trade Blocs?

by Carl J. Strikwerda

The economic response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine has raised the specter of a new Cold War. But a better—and scarier—analogy might be the drastic contraction of global trade and the rise of colonial and imperial trade blocs between the World Wars. 

W.E.B. DuBois's Insight on Race and the Global American Century

by Zachariah Mampilly

Both racism and anticommunism helped to minimize the impact of DuBois's thought on international relations, contributing to significant blind spots in the liberal international order. 

What "Big History" Misses

by Ian Hesketh

"Big History" has become established in the popular media and in some academic quarters, telling global-scale narratives of human and even planetary history. After 30 years, it's time to evaluate its successes and failures. 

Black Veterans of the First World War are Often Overlooked

by Michelle Moyd

Nearly 638,000 African men fought in Africa and Europe. Some were conscripted by colonial powers and forced to fight or labor, and others hoped through service to stake claims to political rights. More global attention to their service and its relationship to colonialism is needed.

Built on the Bodies of Slaves: How Africa Was Erased from the History of the Modern World

by Howard W. French

Popular understandings of history have generally ignored the significance of Africa and Africans in the establishment of the interconnected world and modernity. 

Not Everyone Can Afford to ‘Learn to Live With’ COVID-19

by Kyle Harper

"This two-track recovery, where protection against the disease mirrors wealth and power, unfortunately reflects a historical pattern that is several centuries old. The world’s only hope lies in breaking it."

Event: A War on Global Poverty: The Lost Promise of Redistribution and the Rise of Microcredit with Joanne Meyerowitz (5/17)

Joanne Meyerowitz gives historical perspective on the rise of microcredit aimed at women as a model of international development aid as part of the National History Center's Washington History Seminar. Join on Zoom on May 17. 

Niall Ferguson Examines Disasters of the Past and Disasters Still to Come (Review)

Niall Ferguson's synthetic overview of disaster in human history is ambitious and accessible, but it makes some odd decisions, including dismissing the severity of the climate change threat to focus on less predictable potential threats. 

What Kind of Fear Is Stopping Joe Biden?

by Samuel Moyn

The course of the Biden administration's policy agenda will be determined by what Democrats are afraid of. In particular, it will matter whether they are more afraid of foreign adversaries or of domestic poverty. 

Beyond Gay Imperialism

by Samuel Huneke

Do global campaigns for LGBTQ civil rights that originate in affluent Western societies reproduce the "civilizing mission" trope of colonialism, or use the goal of antidiscrimination to buttress the influence of wealthy nations? A historian considers a new book on global gay rights.

Does Biden Really Want to End the Forever Wars?

by Jack Goldsmith and Samuel Moyn

Recent presidents, including Joe Biden, have relied on an expansive view of presidential powers under Article II of the Constitution to conduct military action outside of the framework of declared war. 

The Prosperity Hoax

A 2020 report on global poverty suggests that the problem is getting worse, directly attacking the methodologies the World Bank has used for decades to justify global capitalism as an anti-poverty program. 

Toward a Global History of White Supremacy

by Daniel Geary, Camilla Schofield, and Jennifer Sutton

We need to understand the history of global connections between white supremacists if we are to grasp what has sustained white nationalism despite global trends toward liberation and equality.

Are We Living at the "Hinge of History"?

Journalist Richard Fisher examines the argument that the present--this moment--is the most important juncture in human history because human capacity to affect the planet outstrips human wisdom to direct that capacity.

Black Lives Matter But Slavery Isn’t Our Only Narrative

by Aretha Phiri and Michelle M. Wright

"Black folks are astonishingly diverse in their cultures, histories, languages, religions, so no single definition of Blackness is going to fit everyone. When we fail to consider this, we effectively leave many Black people out of the conversation."

A New Theory of Western Civilization (Review)

"The WEIRDest People in the World" is the latest addition to the Big History category. The outstanding feature of the genre is that it wrangles all of human existence into a volume or two, starting with the first hominids to rise up on their hind legs and concluding with us, cyborg-ish occupants of a networked globe.