Professor Elizabeth Hennessy has written an article for the Washington Post titled “We’re trying to keep the Galapagos pristine. That might destroy them.” The piece talks about recent efforts to preserve biodiversity in the Galapagos, framing it through a lens of evolutionary history and what exactly constitutes the “pristine.” Of the Galapagos, Hennessy says, “When we …
Alumnus Gregory Jones-Katz (Ph.D. 2016), has published an article in the journal Rethinking History. The article rereads French philosopher Jacques Derrida’s 1988 Critical Inquiry essay on literary critic and literary theorist Paul de Man’s collaborationist articles and his postwar silence. During his time at UW–Madison, Jones-Katz was advised by Professor Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen, who specializes in U.S. intellectual …
Professor Patrick Iber has published a review essay of historian Alexander Zevin’s new book Liberalism at Large: The World According to the Economist in The New Republic. Professor Iber is a contributing editor for that magazine, and writes frequently for its Books & the Arts section. He is also an editorial board member of Dissent magazine, where …
Alumna Karen Spierling (Ph.D. 2001), an Associate Professor of History at Denison University, has written a piece for the Chronicle of Higher Education titled “The Humanities Must Go on the Offensive.” In the article, Spierling presents an argument that “there is no functioning, stable, globalized world of the future without the humanities.” Spierling currently teaches …
David Sorkin, a historian of Jewish and European history, has published a new book titled Jewish Emancipation: A History Across Five Centuries (Princeton University Press, 2019). Sorkin is a Professor Emeritus of our department and currently the Lucy G. Moses Professor of Modern Jewish History at Yale University. He specializes in the intersection of Jewish …
This past Sunday, December 8th, Professor Elizabeth Lapina was interviewed on Wisconsin Public Radio for a segment titled “Knightly Culture and the Crusades.” The host was Norman Gilliland, who co-produces the weekly WPR program “University of the Air.” Lapina delved into the questions about how the crusades began, what the crusaders were trying to achieve, …
Danielle Wendricks, a History major also studying Community and Nonprofit Leadership and Educational Policy at UW–Madison, took Horticulture 120 this semester with her grandparents, who audited the class as part of UW’s Senior Guest Auditor Program. The Senior Guest Auditor program allows Wisconsin residents 60 years of age and older to audit classes at the …
Professor Gloria Whiting recently published an article in Slavery & Abolition titled “Emancipation without the courts or constitution: the case of Revolutionary Massachusetts.” The essay rethinks the process by which freedom was inaugurated in Massachusetts, suggesting that slavery petered out before the constitution declared all men “free and equal.” Therefore, though historians have long believed …
Professor Elizabeth Hennessy, whose book On the Backs of Tortoises: Darwin, the Galapagos, and the Fate of an Evolutionary Eden (Yale University Press) was published this year, is on the longlist for the PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award! This award is given for a book that “exemplifies literary excellence on the subject of the …
History Newsletter 2019-20 (pdf) Chair’s Welcome History Welcomes New Members ARCHIVE in NYC The Digital City, Migration, and You Faculty/Staff/Emeritus News and more… This issue and past copies of the newsletter can also be found on the History Newsletter page.