This review was originally published on the Imperial & Global Forum on May 22, 2017. By Ben Holmes (University of Exeter) What does it mean to belong to the human race? Does this belonging bring with it particular rights as well as responsibilities? What does it mean to act with humanity? These are some of […]
Jerónimo Antonio Gil and the Idea of the Spanish Enlightenment, By Kelly Donahue-Wallace (2017)
By Jorge Cañizares-Esguerra How can the life of an artisan who specialized in punchcutting and engraving help us shed light on “the idea of the Spanish Enlightenment”? Donahue-Wallace offers an illuminating perspective on the Enlightenment through the biography of an expert medal caster, Jerónimo Antonio Gil, whose career took him from provincial Zamora to Madrid […]
A History of the World in Sixteen Shipwrecks, by Stewart Gordon (2015)
By Cynthia Talbot The world’s attention was captured in 2012 by the disaster that befell the Costa Concordia, a cruise ship that ran aground off the coast of Italy leading to 32 deaths. This shipwreck is the most recent one covered in A History of the World in Sixteen Shipwrecks, whose expansive gaze covers much of […]
Philip of Spain, King of England, by Harry Kelsey (2012)
n 1554 Mary Tudor Queen of England married Prince Phillip II of Spain, uniting the two crowns for four fascinating years until Mary’s death in 1558. In Philip of Spain, King of England, Harry Kelsey explores the rise and fall of this dynastic alliance in the context of the Reformation era.
Individual Rights vs. Medical Responsibility: Human Experimentation in the Name of Science
Jonathan Celaya Alpine High School Senior Division Historical Paper Read Jonathan’s Paper Today we take vaccinations for destructive illnesses like Yellow Fever and Smallpox for granted. But what many of us don’t realize is the human toll that accompanied the discovery of these miracle drugs. Jonathan Celaya of Alpine High School wrote a research paper […]
David’s Mighty Stone: How One Slave Laborer Restored Survivors’ Rights
Kacey Manlove Rockport Fulton High School Senior Division Historical Paper Read Kacey’s Paper Here Nazi Germany was not only responsible for death and violence across Europe. The Third Reich also enslaved millions in their factories. In particular, the German industrial giant I.G. Farben, which produced the Zyklon B that murdered so many during the holocaust, […]
Seeing John Donne Speak: The New Archive (No. 14)
by Henry Wiencek Ever wish you were actually there to experience a moment in history? What would it have been like to witness British soldiers marching into Concord? Or to hear the German bombers flying over London? The Virtual Paul’s Cross Project believes it can provide that very sensation—or at least approximate it. A group […]
The British Industrial Revolution in Global Perspective, by Robert C. Allen (2009)
by Ben Weiss Robert Allen’s The British Industrial Revolution in Global Perspective constitutes an impressively holistic approach in economic history to a topic that can be infinitely multifaceted and is often severely oversimplified. Considering that the causes of British industrialization have been the subject of heavy debate for the better part of a century, if […]
Visible Empire: Botanical Expeditions and Visual Culture in the Hispanic Enlightenment, by Daniela Bleichmar (2012)
by Christina Marie Villarreal The European Enlightenment occurred as an ongoing dialogue of ideas—a discourse composed of voices from around the globe. As Daniela Bleichmar demonstrates, southern Europe, long ignored in scholarship on the Enlightenment, had a crucial voice in the conversation. In Visible Empires, Bleichmar claims that Imperial Spain, more than any other contemporary […]
The Making of Man-Midwifery: Childbirth in England 1660-1770, by Adrian Wilson (1995)
Prior to the mid-eighteenth century, childbirth, from labor to the lying-in chamber (a darkened room where the mother rested for one month after delivery) was an exclusively female space. With few exceptions, male surgeons only intervened to extract a possibly dead baby in order to save a mother’s life.