Erstwhile’s Keith Aksel discusses the foreign policy significance of the 2015 State of the Union Address. This past January, the nation tuned in to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union Address. His discussion of foreign policy, though unsurprising overall, included one specific note of historical relevance. Along with his overtures toward global “coalition building,”…
Erstwhile blogger Caroline Grego compiles a short list of history-related news links from the past month, which may or may not be exactly from January. The Virtue of Scientific Thinking by Steven Shapin For those history of science folks out there, Shapin explores the roots of scientific thinking, tracing its meaning and how it has…
In the second installment of our alt-ac series, Erstwhile’s Alessandra Link chats with Dr. Patricia Marroquin Norby, Director of the D’Arcy McNickle Center for American Indian and Indigenous Studies at the Newberry Library in Chicago. Dr. Norby describes her position at the Center, dispels common myths about alt-ac work, and offers advice for graduate students…
Kyle Mays (Ph.D. Candidate, Department of History, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and managing editor, Native American and Indigenous Studies journal) weighs in on the recent fanfare over Rick Perlstein’s alleged plagiarism. I know everyone is still reeling from Rick Perlstein’s so-called plagiarism of Craig Shirley in his book, The Invisible Bridge: The Fall of Nixon…
Jeff Wermer (History M.A., CU Boulder, and incoming law student, Denver University) explains last week’s Grand Jury proceedings in Ferguson, Missouri, and why the jury’s verdict of No True Bill is particularly unusual. Last week, a grand jury in Ferguson, Missouri, delivered a verdict of No True Bill regarding the pursuit of charges for Officer Darren…
Erstwhile’s Alessandra Link offers up a brief meditation on Thanksgiving. For many Americans, Thanksgiving is about history. It’s a revealing, idyllic chapter of America’s past. Children across the U.S. learn about a historic feast between New England Indians and Pilgrims that took place in the fall of 1621. They cut feathers out of colored paper.…
This week, friend of the blog, Travis R. May (Ph.D. student, University of Colorado Boulder), talks Disneyland and the exoticization of the tropics. Just ahead, a rickety wooden bridge crosses a narrow stream, and the footpath beyond leads into a primitive village of wattle-and-daub buildings crowned with high thatched roofs. Tropical birdcalls and animal growls echo…
Erstwhile’s Sara Porterfield reviews a recent lecture given by Marsha Weisiger on her research-in-progress. Q: How do you know a raft guide is lying? A: His lips are moving. Boaters, professionals and recreational alike, are notorious showmen and -women who are known for their tall tales and ability to entertain a crowd. This, it turns out,…
Erstwhile blogger Caroline Grego presents a grab-bag of the most intriguing history and environmental writing from across the vasts of the Internet each month, according to her subjective and limited perspective. The Ottoman Empire’s First Map of the Newly Minted United States by Nick Danforth This remarkable map shows us how the Ottomans saw the newly birthed United States.…
Last month, Ivory Tower was released online and on DVD. The film takes a serious look at the rising cost of college education and seeks to answer questions about the future of higher education in the United States. With college debt in the U.S. now over 1 trillion dollars and the percentage of graduating students…
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