Pandemics’ Pathways

For readers curious about the various ways contagious disease take root and spread, Sonia Shah’s Pandemic provides a persuasive set of explanations. It is an excellent introduction for academics teaching contagion globally, and for experts and administrators seeking to effect lasting public health impact on the ground.

The Roots of War

The man with The Plan: Alfred von Schlieffen In United States history, we know December 7, 1941, as the “date that will live in infamy,” due to the attack on Pearl Harbor. In the context of world history, however, the most infamous date in history is June 28, 1914. This…

The Culture of Autism

Books of this scope have been written on other medical topics, but this type of book is a first for autism, reading more like a compelling documentary script rather than a history book.

The Struggle That Decided the Course of History

In July of 1914, in a memorandum written by Helmuth von Moltke, the German Chief of Staff to Germany’s Chancellor at the time, Bethmann Hollweg, von Moltke warned of the coming conflict of World War I that “the leading nations of Europe would tear one another limb from limb ……

Fueling the American Decline

In the story of the 1970s' energy criris, historians have so far acknowledged the twin oil shocks of 1973 and 1979 as important events during the decade, but have not made them central to their analysis. Now Meg Jacobs argues that the politics of energy was in fact critical, as “the failure of the nation’s politicians to address the energy crisis contributed to the erosion of faith that Americans had in their government to solve their problems.”

Finding the Founding Father

“Most Blessed of the Patriarchs” should be required reading for a general public that deserves more than easy evasions or tired indictments, for students who deserve an honest and unflinching engagement with the historical past, and for citizens seeking solutions for the problems of a troubled legacy.

The Blue and the Blacks

Engaging seriously with the evidence on issues of crime reduction, allegations of police brutality, and unjustified lethal use of force on members of minority communities was clearly not part of Mac Donald’s purpose in writing this book. She chose instead to present a lawyer’s brief in defense of the police against charges of discriminatory treatment and over-policing of minor crime.

The Art of the Mistake

Theories of mistakes in jazz scholarship helps us understand the ways in which mistakes in jazz performance are valued by audiences and performers—and the ways in which they are not.

Battering Down Sentence

Winner of this year's Pulitzer Prize in history, Heather Ann Thompson's account of the 1971 Attica Prison revolt and its aftermath makes for a readable, interesting, and at times gripping book. Almost every page contains some revelation that the State of New York tried mightily to suppress.

The Struggle to Know

When I applied to colleges as a linguistics major in 2013, I had done virtually no research. A friend of mine had told me linguistics was about language. I was taking AP Spanish at the time and I loved speaking and listening to music in Korean, and that seemed like…

Skip to content