Category: History

November 10, 2009

A new look at the confinement of Japanese-Americans

In a recent feature on Rorotoko, Greg Robinson, author of A Tragedy of Democracy: Japanese Confinement of America, discusses his new book and how it presents the existence of Japanese internment camps in a more expansive light. Robinson’s new research...

October 6, 2009

The Tyrannical History of Military Tribunals for Civilians — A Post by Greg Robinson

The History News Network recently published an essay on U.S. military tribunals during World War II by Greg Robinson, author of A Tragedy of Democracy: Japanese Confinement in North America. In the essay Robinson looks at the implementation military rule...

October 5, 2009

Alexander Joy Cartwright and the invention of baseball

For many fans, the baseball season has come to an end, so for those whose teams did not make the playoffs but still need their baseball fix, the following is an interview with Jay Martin, author of Live All You...

September 29, 2009

The Main Course interviews Andy Smith

In an interview on Heritage Radio Network’s show The Main Course Andy Smith discusses some of the 30 turning points in American food from his book, Eating History. In the interview he touches on topics as varied as the invention...

September 9, 2009

The Nature of the Hudson, by Frances Dunwell

Amid the various celebrations of the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s historic voyage, we thought we would re-publish Frances F. Dunwell’s essays. Dunwell is the author of The Hudson: America’s River. Frances Dunwell will also be reading and discussing her...

August 28, 2009

Columbia University Press editor on the politics of Black hair

We were all very excited to see that “Black Hair, Still Tangled in Politics,” an article from yesterday’s New York Times featured a quote from our colleague Afua Adusei-Gontarz, an assistant editor Columbia University Press (pictured). The article discussed the...

August 19, 2009

The New Yorker reviews History of the Mafia

The New Yorker’s review of Salvatore Lupo’s History of the Mafia praises the book as “myth-busting” and for shedding new light on a frequently covered subject. We’ve posted the review below but for more on the book you can also...

August 10, 2009

History of the Mafia by Salvatore Lupo

The Financial Times recently reviewed Salvatore Lupo’s History of the Mafia along with Into the Heart of the Mafia: A Journey through the Italian South, by David Lane. As the review points out, both books explore the Mafia’s resilience and...

July 29, 2009

Acts of Conscience and the history of radical pacifism in the United States

Speaking of titles (see below), the excellent blog Religion in American History has been looking at two books with the same title: Acts of Conscience. More precisely, there has been essays about Columbia’s Acts of Conscience: Christian Nonviolence and Modern...

July 22, 2009

Houston Baker on the arrest of Henry Louis Gates

The following post is by Houston Baker, Distinguished University Professor at Vanderbilt University and the author of many books, most recently Betrayal: How Black Intellectuals Have Abandoned the Ideals of the Civil Rights Era. The surreal arrest of Professor Henry...

July 20, 2009

Portraits from the Cambodian genocide — Peter Maguire

The current legal proceedings against Khmer Rouge leaders is once again bringing to light the regime’s horrible atrocities. One of the most powerful archives from the Cambodian genocide are the photographs from the Tuol Sleng Prison. In an essay on...

July 16, 2009

On Russia with an open mind — Stephen Cohen

In a wide-ranging essay on thew Web site Rorotoko, Stephen Cohen discusses his recently published work Soviet Fates and Lost Alternatives: From Stalinism to the New Cold War. While Cohen has been called upon in recent days to discuss Obama...