Category: Historical Topics

Historical Topics

Vampyrus Serviensis: The First Vampire Craze in the Habsburg Monarchy

Tyler Isgar “Between 1730 and 1735,” wrote Voltaire in his Dictionnaire Philosophique, “nothing was spoken about more than vampires — how they were hunted down, their hearts torn out, and their bodies burnt. They were like the martyrs of old; the more of them that they burnt, the more of them they found.” The popular culture craze for vampires from the turn of the twenty-first … Continue reading Vampyrus Serviensis: The First Vampire Craze in the Habsburg Monarchy

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Book Reviews, Historical Topics

Review of Do Not Say We Have Nothing

Jenna Marcus Madeleine Thien’s Do Not Say We Have Nothing is a stunning work of historical fiction that brings to life twentieth century China in heartfelt, thought-provoking, and beautifully devastating ways. Spanning seven decades, the story traces three generations of two interconnected families amidst the backdrop of the Chinese Civil War, Mao’s Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution, the Tiananmen Square protests, and modern-day China and Hong … Continue reading Review of Do Not Say We Have Nothing

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Historical Topics, research

The Witch of Northampton: On ancestry research and family lineage

Maddie Densmore My interest in genealogy began well before I became a historian. In fact, it began well before I fully understood what it even was. As a child, I found myself watching a documentary show with my mom from time to time — “Who Do You Think You Are.” Adapted from a British version of the same name, it follows celebrities as they team up … Continue reading The Witch of Northampton: On ancestry research and family lineage

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Historical Topics

The Past, in the Present: The Conundrum of Historical Memory

Megan Huang 2024 marks the bicentennial of the return of Gilbert du Motier, the Marquis de Lafayette, to the United States, almost fifty years after he first sailed for North America to aid the American Revolution. Lafayette had dreamed of coming back to the United States for years, but having been deeply enmeshed in the considerable turmoil and change of his home country of France, … Continue reading The Past, in the Present: The Conundrum of Historical Memory

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Historical Topics, History in Popular Culture

The Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau: A Historical Figure Caught Between Myth and Reality 

Megan Emery For those who haven’t watched American Horror Story season three, I highly recommend firing up your Hulu subscription. For those who’ve watched it, this article addresses one of the season’s most beloved and feared protagonists—the Voodoo Queen, Marie Laveau. American Horror Story frequently takes artistic liberty with real historical figures. Season three includes Madame Delphine LaLaurie, a New Orleans socialite who tortured her … Continue reading The Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau: A Historical Figure Caught Between Myth and Reality 

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Book Reviews, Historical Topics

Review of Genocide in Libya: Shar, a Hidden Colonial History

Vishnu Raghavan Note: This article contains descriptions of violence, torture, genocide, and death. After World War II, Italians associated with Mussolini and the dictatorship did not undergo criminal trials as far-reaching, prominent, or punishing as those faced by the Nazis at Nuremberg. Additionally, Italian anti-Jewish legislation emerged much later than similar laws in Nazi Germany, with the passage of the Italian Racial Laws in 1938. As a result, … Continue reading Review of Genocide in Libya: Shar, a Hidden Colonial History

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Book Reviews, Historical Topics

When We All Burn: Understanding the “Long 2010s” with “Long 1960s” U.S. in the World Historiography

Philip LaRue It was the “mass protest decade”—not the “long 1960s,” but the “long 2010s,” beginning with 2008’s global financial crisis. Journalist Vincent Bevins traveled the globe in search of lessons from the past decade’s global street revolt in 2023’s If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and the Missing Revolution. Bevins argues that “by taking a truly global approach, we can see which factors … Continue reading When We All Burn: Understanding the “Long 2010s” with “Long 1960s” U.S. in the World Historiography

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Historical Topics

Zoo 3.0: How China’s Animal Icons Are Leading the Technological Revolution

Shawn Liu Last July, I visited a robotics company in Shenzhen through a collaborative initiative by the Hong Kong Science and Technology Park and the Greater Bay Area office to explore technological innovation in China. UBTech Robots, a leading humanoid robotics firm in China, guided us through elaborate showcases and exhibition rooms dedicated to cutting-edge robotic technologies. From automated AI wheelchairs adroit at navigating obstacles … Continue reading Zoo 3.0: How China’s Animal Icons Are Leading the Technological Revolution

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Book Reviews, Historical Topics

Taking Haiti: Military Occupation and the Culture of U.S. Imperialism, 1915-1940

Jenna Marcus Mary Renda’s Taking Haiti: Military Occupation and the Culture of U.S. Imperialism, 1915-1940 examines American empire and the relationship between its center and peripheries. Using a rich array of primary sources and interdisciplinary methods, Renda illuminates the interplay between domestic culture and imperial expansion through the lens of the early twentieth century American occupation of Haiti. Placing domestic cultural attitudes at the center of U.S. … Continue reading Taking Haiti: Military Occupation and the Culture of U.S. Imperialism, 1915-1940

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Historical Topics

The Decoration of Doll Houses: Gilded Age Values on Display in a Toy

Mallory Page “Since the beginning of time, since the first little girl ever existed, there have been dolls,” Dame Hellen Mirren announces as the Narrator in Barbie.[1] While this quote may be hyperbolic, dolls are a pivotal part of many women’s childhoods. The success of Barbie this past summer points to the importance of dolls to modern culture. Long before the advent of the eponymous … Continue reading The Decoration of Doll Houses: Gilded Age Values on Display in a Toy

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