Remembering the legacy of Henry Kissinger [reading list]
As a key architect of US foreign policy during the Nixon and Ford administrations, Henry Kissinger left an indelible mark on international relations.
Five unexpected things about medical debt
100 million Americans hold medical debt which causes people to forgo or be denied necessary medical care. Luke Messac, a historian and physician, looks at five unexpected things about medical debt.
Why global museums amassed the ancestral dead, starting in Peru
It is a time of worldwide reckoning for museums that display or contain ancestral dead. But the specific story of the collection of Andean ancestors charts a different origin for this global process, and it asks us to think with more nuance regarding what to do with the museums it created.
D.B. Cooper, Martin McNally, and the Golden Age of Skyjacking
In June 1972, Martin McNally pulled off one of the most daring airline hijackings in American history, parachuting from the aft stairs of a Boeing 727 with half a million dollars in cash.
Making sense of the Molly Maguires today
Twenty Irish mine workers were hanged in the anthracite region of Pennsylvania in the 1870s, convicted of a series of murders organized under the cover of a secret society called the Molly Maguires. Here Professor Kenny discusses 10 things that helped him answer the questions at the heart of his book, “Making Sense of the Molly Maguires.”
Minors in the military: parental rights and the Union war effort
Throughout the entirety of the American Civil War, intense battles over youth enlistment played out in courts, Congress, the military, and individual households.
The revelation of the Book of Mormon at 200 [podcast]
On today’s episode, we’re joined by two preeminent scholars on the history and theology of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to discuss with us the legacy of Joseph Smith’s Gold Plates as well as the state of academic scholarship surrounding The Book of Mormon.
Revisiting toxic masculinity and #MeToo [podcast]
On this episode of The Oxford Comment, we explore two recognizable components in contemporary conversations on gender and gendered violence: that of “toxic masculinity” and of the #MeToo movement with scholars Robert Lawson and Iqra Shagufta Cheema.
The great gun conundrum [podcast]
In this podcast episode, we discuss the history of the gun debate in the US with Robert J. Spitzer and how a reform of policing can deter gun violence with Philip J. Cook.
Privacy and the LGBT+ experience: the Victorian past and digital future [podcast]
Scholars continue to explore the role of sexuality in private lives—from the retrospective discovery of transgendered people in historical archives to present questions of identity and representation in social media—with the understanding that those who identify as LGBTQ+ have always existed and have fought tirelessly to advance their rights.
COVID-19 and consumerism: what have we learnt?
Writers often worry that someone will scoop them before they finish, or an unexpected event will undo years of research and writing. Two weeks after naturalist Rachel Carson published her first book, Under the Sea Wind, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. Despite excellent reviews, the book sold fewer than a thousand copies. The COVID-19 pandemic became my […]
10 things to know about US immigration policy in the nineteenth century
Learn 10 things about US immigration policy in the nineteenth century that give context to some of the immigration concerns we face in the US today.
Scars on the Land: Slavery and the environment in the American South [extract]
Although typically treated separately, slavery and the environment naturally intersect in complex and powerful ways, leaving lasting effects from the period of emancipation through modern-day reckonings with racial justice. David Silkenat’s Scars on the Land provides an environmental history of slavery in the American South from the colonial period to the Civil War.
The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan: the past’s resemblance to the present
From the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Elisabeth Leake walks us through how the past resembles the present 40 years on.
New perspectives on the American Civil War [reading list]
The Civil War is one of the seminal moments in US history. New research continues to illuminate how we understand both the events of the war and how its legacy continues to impact our modern world.
Six books from 2022 to add to your 2023 reading list
Here are six books from 2022 that reviewers and critics loved that you should add to your 2023 reading list.