Professor Francine Hirsch is a historian of modern Europe with a specialization in Russia and the Soviet Union whose areas of expertise include comparative empires, the history of human rights, and Russian-American engagement. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began back in February of 2022, Professor Hirsch has continued to publish widely on the human rights …
This weekend, thousands of Badgers will earn their degrees at UW–Madison Commencement. In anticipation of the commencement proceedings, UW–Madison highlighted several graduates with unique accomplishments to share, and three of them will be receiving their degrees in History. The first is Susan Kay Baker. Susan is a returning student earning her bachelor’s degree in history following …
Professor Judd Kinzley has a new article out in The American Historical Review (the official publication of the American Historical Association), titled “Wartime Dollars and the Crowning of China’s Hog Bristle King: The Dubious Legacies of American Aid, 1938-1949.” “US war mobilization efforts in the early 1940s helped create demand for a vast assortment of …
Professor Francine Hirsch has co-authored a new op-ed for the Los Angeles Times titled “Lessons from the Soviets on how to hold Russia accountable for war crimes.” Evidence of Russian violence against Ukrainian citizens continues to emerge, and Professor Francine Hirsch suggests Ukraine needs “a dedicated state commission to collect, systematize and analyze evidence of …
This Saturday, April 30th, Professor Emeritus William Cronon will be back on the UW–Madison campus to participate in “Common Places: Keywords for a More Than Human World,” a day-long conference organized by his former PhD students that will double as a belated retirement celebration. As part of the conference, Cronon will deliver a keynote address titled, “Looking …
Congratulations to alumnus Russell King (BA 2002) on the publication of his new book, Rajneeshpuram: Inside the Cult of Bhagwan and Its Failed American Utopia, out this month from the Chicago Review Press. “In 1981, ambitious young Ma Anand Sheela transported the Indian guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh to the United States to fulfill his dream of …
The submission period is now open for the George L. Mosse First Book Prize! The prize was established in 2020 to honor George L. Mosse’s commitment to scholarship and to mentoring new generations of historians. Winning books are published as part of the George L. Mosse Series in the History of European Culture, Sexuality, and Ideas with the University of …
Congratulations to alumnus Mark Solovey (PhD, 1996) on the publication of his newest book, Social Science for What? Battles Over Public Funding for the “Other Sciences” at the National Science Foundation (MIT Press, 2020). “In the early Cold War years, the U.S. government established the National Science Foundation (NSF), a civilian agency that soon became …
On February 14th, Professor Ashley Brown was interviewed by her former student Ethan Bacon for a Big Ten Network feature on George Coleman Poage, first African-American athlete to win an Olympic medal and a UW–Madison History alumnus. Poage was born in Hannibal, Missouri in 1880 and moved with his family to La Crosse, Wisconsin at a …
Professor Francine Hirsch has published an article with Lawfare titled “Putin’s Memory Laws Set the Stage for His War in Ukraine.” The piece discusses Russian President Vladimir Putin’s use of specific language as propaganda to rally Russians behind his war against Ukraine. According to Hirsch, “Putin in 2022, like Stalin in 1939, is attempting to …