Category Archives: History

Preview: Military History Magazine – Oct/Nov 2024

Military History Matters 142 – The Past

MILITARY HISTORY MAGAZINE (September 12, 2024): The latest issue features ‘Napoleon At War’ – The Rise of a Military Colossus…

Napoleon: Rise of a military colossus

In our special two-part feature in this issue, Graham Goodlad explores, first, the part played by Napoleon’s generalship in his progress from unknown artillery officer to ruler of France. Then we analyses in depth two battles he fought in his…

Napoleon by numbers

Infographics: Calum Henderson

Lodi and Arcola: making the myth

Graham Goodlad analyses the clashes that made Napoleon’s name as a soldier of genius.

Hidden figures

The use of ‘native levies’ has long been a feature of foreign wars – but their employment and their sacrifice reached a peak during the British colonial era. Stephen Roberts…

Thunder in the East: Armoured warfare in South-East Asia and the Pacific, 1937-1945

From Burma to Iwo Jima, armoured fighting vehicles played a key role in some of World War II’s most challenging environments. Our military technology expert David Porter takes notes.

Culture: The American Scholar – Autumn 2024

THE AMERICAN SCHOLAR (September 10, 2024): The latest issue features ‘Queen of the Night’ – Behold the wonders of a Carolina moonflower…

Moondance

Experience the marvel that is night-blooming tobacco By Leigh Ann Henion

In western North Carolina, the mountain growing season is short, and autumn is already tossing yellow-and-red confetti against my windshield as I drive the back roads to my friend Amy’s homestead. Curve after curve, I find locust trees that are a few shades lighter than they were last week. Buckeyes also seem well on their way to change. It is now hard to tell the difference between orange leaves falling and monarch butterfly wings rising. The signs of summer and fall, all intertwining.

Thoreau’s Pencils

How might a newly discovered connection to slavery change our understanding of an abolitionist hero and his writing?

By Augustine Sedgewick

Look Out!

Why did it take so long to protect spectators of America’s favorite pastime?

By Debra Spark

Teach the Conflicts

It’s natural—and right—to foster disagreement in the classroom

By Mark Edmundson

Arts/Politics: The Atlantic Magazine – October 2024

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The Atlantic Magazine – September 9, 2024: The latest issue features Trump’s antidemocratic actions, and the Republican politicians who bent to his will

Hypocrisy, Spinelessness, and the Triumph of Donald Trump

illustration with abstract figures of yellow-haired figure in blue suit standing and extending orange hand with ring for kneeling figure in blue suit to kiss, on black background

He said Republican politicians would be easy to break. He was right.

Trump Promises a ‘Bloody Story’

His latest comments about mass deportation are a revelation about how he feels—and a troubling reminder of the sources of his appeal.

Finding Philanthropy’s Forgotten Founder

Julius Rosenwald understood that charity is not just about giving, but about fixing the inequalities that make giving necessary.

Music: Selmer Saxophones History & Craftsmanship

Insider Business (September 6, 2024) – Henri Selmer Saxophones was founded in Paris in 1885. Today, the company is synonymous with high-end saxophones. The most popular saxophone it sells, the Series II alto, starts at about $7,000, but a Selmer can cost you as much as $30,000, depending on the customization and finishes like gold plating.

John Coltrane, one of the most influential jazz musicians of all time, used Selmer saxophones in his performances. He recorded his magnum opus, “A Love Supreme,” on a Mark VI. One of his Mark VI tenor saxophones is on display at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.

Musicians are willing to pay for a Selmer for a variety of reasons: the familiar sound, the history behind the brand, the craftsmanship and attention to detail, and the playability.

Arts/History: Smithsonian Magazine – Sept/Oct 2024

Archaeologists Uncover the Real Story of How England Became England |  Smithsonian

Smithsonian Magazine (August 27, 2024) – The latest issue features ‘Douglas MacArthur’s Australian Odyssey – Following the trail of the controversial general as he plotted his dramatic World War II comeback...

Archaeologists Uncover the Real Story of How England Became England | Smithsonian

New research is revealing how the Sceptered Isle transformed from a Roman backwater to a mighty country of its own by Francine Russo

Preview: Archaeology Magazine – Sept/Oct 2024

September/October 2024 - Archaeology Magazine

Archaeology Magazine (August 9, 2024): The latest issue features ‘Egypt’s Island of Many Gods’….

Ancient DNA Revolution

How the rapidly evolving field of archaeogenetics is unlocking secrets of the past

Hunting for the Lost Temple of Artemis

After a century of searching, a chance discovery led archaeologists to one of the most important sanctuaries in the ancient Greek worldRead Article

Trees of the Sky World

Why Australia’s Indigenous Wiradjuri people carved sacred symbols into trees to mark burials of their honored dead

Medieval Italy: “Echoes Of Popes & Power” In Anagni

TRACKS – Travel Documentaries (August 6, 2024): Anagni, a medieval jewel in Italy’s crown, whispers the echoes of popes and ancient power through its storied streets and majestic cathedral. Its intricate Cosmatesque art and historical significance paint a vivid portrait of a city that has long been a beacon of spiritual and artistic heritage.

Arts/Politics: The Atlantic Magazine – September 2024

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The Atlantic Magazine – August 6, 2024: The latest issue features “Seventy Miles in the Darién Gap,” and the Impossible Path to America….

Seventy Miles in Hell

The Darién Gap was once considered impassable. Now hundreds of thousands of migrants are risking treacherous terrain, violence, hunger, and disease to travel through the jungle to the United States.

Iranian Insiders Warn That Attacking Israel Is a Trap

Some say a big war will help the country’s enemies. But is anyone listening?

The Well-Off People Who Can’t Spend Money

Tightwads drag around a phantom limb of poverty, no matter what their bank account says.

History Today Magazine – August 2024 Preview

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History Today (July 18, 2024) – The latest issue features ‘The Ethiopians who changed Rome’…

August 2024

A Dangerous Game on the Jacobean Stage

Original title page for A Game at Chess, 1624. Folger Shakespeare Library. Public Domain.

For nine days Thomas Middleton’s A Game at Chess was the greatest box office phenomenon of the English Renaissance. Then a warrant was issued for his arrest.

Japan, the West and the Treaty of Versailles

Japanese delegates to the Paris Peace Conference, 1919. Standing (left to right): Hikokichi Ijūin and Keishirō Matsui; seated (left to right): Baron Makino Nobuaki, Prince Kinmochi Saionji and Viscount Sutemi Chinda. Library of Congress. Public Domain.

At the outset of the 1919 Paris Peace Conference Japan enjoyed a seat at the top table, but the vexed issue of racial equality set it and its notional Western allies on different paths.

World Archaeology – Aug/Sept 2024 Preview

WORLD ARCHAEOLOGY (July 18, 2024): The latest issude features ‘Pompeii’ – The biggest dig in a generation; AI and Archaeology – Reconstructing ancient landscapes; Creatures of The Nile – What animals did for Ancient Egypt…

Pompeii: Unearthing Insula 10

The biggest dig at Pompeii in a generation is working to expose nearly an entire block of the ancient city. Archaeologists are making astonishing discoveries that shed powerful new light on life and death in the shadow of Vesuvius, as…

Creatures of the Nile: What animals did for ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt owed many debts to the creatures that lived in and beside the Nile. Both wild and domesticated animals offered an abundance of food, raw materials, and inspiration. But…

Artificial intelligence rethinks the past: How computers are reconstructing Etruscan and Roman landscapes

What can artificial intelligence bring to archaeology? Maurizio Forte introduces recent work dedicated to reconstructing ancient landscapes, and weighs some of the risks and rewards.

Autoarchaeology at Christiansborg Castle: Digging into ancestral connections to the transatlantic slave trade

The discovery of an unsuspected family link to Christiansborg Castle, Ghana, led to a project examining a forgotten aspect of the transatlantic slave trade. Rachel Ama Asaa Engmann introduces us…