All posts tagged: Historian

Historian Jill Lepore says Silicon Valley misreads science fiction and undermines democracy

Historian Jill Lepore says Silicon Valley misreads science fiction and undermines democracy

Published by skeptic

In her upcoming book “The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State,” Jill Lepore warns that tech companies are increasingly replacing the functions of democratic government. This shift, she said, marks “a return to tyranny and mystification in the form of rule by algorithms, corporations, machines.” On the latest episode of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, I spoke to Lepore — a Harvard historian and New Yorker staff writer who recently won a Pulitzer Prize for her history of the U.S. Constitution — about the development of what she described as “the idea that we should live under an artificial state or government by machines.” “I’m not anti-technologist,” Lepore insisted. Instead, she said, “My beef is the ways in which private corporations have increasingly taken on the functions of the state.” While Lepore’s book examines technocratic philosophies that go back centuries, she argued that many of Silicon Valley’s “charismatic or not-so-charismatic leaders” — especially Elon Musk — seem to be ushering in a future pulled from misread pulp science fiction and comic books. “But what’s funny about …

After Charlottesville, a historian asks: Did America miss the point?

After Charlottesville, a historian asks: Did America miss the point?

Published by Sam Flores

(RNS) — James Loeffler was a professor of Jewish history at the University of Virginia in 2017 when white supremacists marched through Charlottesville wielding torches and chanting, “Jews will not replace us.” Yet in the aftermath of the violent and deadly Unite the Right rally — originally planned to protest the removal of the statue of General Robert E. Lee from Charlottesville’s former Lee Park — the university’s focus was on addressing the racist, anti-Black bigotry espoused by the neo-Nazi protesters. The antisemitism so overtly displayed by the marchers was almost entirely sidelined by the university, Loeffler writes. And when the Jewish Leadership Council sought membership in the UVA student-run Minority Rights Coalition, it was denied because of its pro-Israel stance. (UVA didn’t respond to a request for comment.) Loeffler, who is now a professor of Modern Jewish History at Johns Hopkins University, wondered about that omission and decided to research how Americans approached antisemitism during other pivotal moments. The result was his new book, “Exceptional Hatred: Antisemitism and the Fight over Free Speech in …

BBC historian David Olusoga transforms through historical legends in Radio Times shoot

BBC historian David Olusoga transforms through historical legends in Radio Times shoot

Published by Daniella Wilson

This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. Dressing up in historical costume for our cover shoot is a first for Professor David Olusoga. While some TV historians never seem to be out of period dress, Olusoga isn’t one of them. “I don’t look like someone from the past,” he explains. “I look very much like someone from the 21st century. I never get to do the dressing up that some historians do.” So which era of costume is his favourite? “High Victorian. I adore Dickens,” he says. Fortunately, as part of his Radio Times session, Olusoga has just stepped out of a sculptor’s waistcoat, jacket and boots from that period. The outfit is inspired by the craftsman who once lived in the Edinburgh house featured in the latest run of A House through Time, the BBC documentary series in which Olusoga traces the lives of the past inhabitants of a single property to reveal wider social histories. Why did they pick the Scottish capital for this sixth series? “We had done enough English cities. …

Michelle Tea interviews queer historian Hugh Ryan on his new memoir “My Bad”

Michelle Tea interviews queer historian Hugh Ryan on his new memoir “My Bad”

Published by Sam Flores

Hugh Ryan is an absolute superstar of queer history. His first two books, “When Brooklyn Was Queer” and “The Women’s House of Detention: A Queer History of a Forgotten Prison,” were magnets for awards and accolades. After spending recent years immersed in cultural stories, he’s turned his investigative eye on his own coming of age with the rollicking, raw, funny and sharp memoir “My Bad: A Personal History of the Queer Nineties and Beyond.” Pivoting from scholar of history to student of life, Ryan shares lessons learned from beloved but homophobic middle school teachers (“The nicest mother— I knew could accidentally curb-stomp my heart at any moment”) to ones acquired on the dance floor (“Dancing is sex on a communal level: an embodied ecstatic ritual of union”). Ryan swung through L.A. on his book tour, and what better place to host a paean to the ’90s than the ASU FIDM Museum, where the exhibit “Obsessed: Fashion and Nostalgia in the ’90s” is serving Westwood plaids, Calvin Klein’s minimalist silk parachute sheath and Donatella’s zipper-slashed, leather …

France inducts Resistance fighter, soldier, historian Marc Bloch into its Panthéon of greats

France inducts Resistance fighter, soldier, historian Marc Bloch into its Panthéon of greats

Published by Sam Flores

World War II continued to rage after France signed an armistice with Nazi Germany on June 22, 1940, and Marc Bloch already sensed the outcome could be fatal for him.   In a prophetic letter dated March 18, 1941, he summed up his life with a lingering sense that something remained unfinished. “Throughout two wars, I was not given the chance to die for France. At least, I can in all sincerity bear witness to this: I die as I have lived, as a good Frenchman.” He would fulfill this tragic destiny three years later, when he was executed by the Germans on June 16, 1944 at Saint-Didier-de-Formans alongside 29 other Resistance fighters. Throughout his life, Bloch remained deeply committed to France. “Attached to my homeland by a long family tradition, nourished by its spiritual heritage and history, I am truly unable to imagine another where I could breathe easily – I have loved it dearly and served it with all my strength,” he wrote. Read moreJosephine Baker becomes first Black woman to enter France’s …

Ancient Jewish Historian Josephus Confirms the Existence of James, the Brother of Jesus – OpentheWord.org

Ancient Jewish Historian Josephus Confirms the Existence of James, the Brother of Jesus – OpentheWord.org

Published by Sam Flores

Martyrdom of James, the Lord’s Brother by Master of Winkler’s Epitaph, 1470, Wikipedia, Public Domain Josephus, an ancient Jewish historian who died in 100 AD, wrote several books on Jewish History. On two occasions, Josephus referred to Jesus Christ. We discussed the most extensive mention in a previous article. But his second mention is equally intriguing. In his book, Antiquities of the Jews, Josephus referred to Jesus in the context of the stoning of James, the Lord’s brother: Ananus, who, as we have told you already, took the high priesthood, was a bold man in his temper, and very insolent; he was also of the sect of the Sadducees, who are very rigid in judging offenders, above all the rest of the Jews, as we have already observed; when, therefore, Ananus was of this disposition, he thought he had now a proper opportunity [to exercise his authority]. Festus was now dead, and Albinus was but upon the road; so he assembled the Sanhedrin of judges, and brought before them the brother of Jesus, who was …

Why one historian uses social media to remember D-Day in real time : NPR

Why one historian uses social media to remember D-Day in real time : NPR

Published by Sam Flores

At the National World War II Memorial, historian Alex Kershaw has found an unlikely way to keep D-Day alive: live social media posts timed to the events of June 6, 1944. ADRIAN FLORIDO, HOST: Eighty-two years ago today, an Allied army came ashore in Normandy to liberate Western Europe from Nazi Germany. NPR’s Henry Larson met a man determined to keep memories of the D-Day invasion alive as vivid as if it were happening today. HENRY LARSON, BYLINE: A trip to the World War II Memorial in the hours before the anniversary of Operation Overlord will find you plenty of tourists. PAUL GOODE: We took a family vacation. My wife’s trying to kill me with all the walking and stuff. LARSON: Paul Goode (ph) was visiting from Mississippi, but he wasn’t aware of the anniversary. GOODE: Honestly, until you just said it, I didn’t think about D-Day ’cause I had a grandfather that went on the beach at Normandy a few days after D-Day that he used to talk about. He’s passed since then. LARSON: …

French slavery law repealed: ‘Now we can start talking about reparations,’ historian says – Perspective

French slavery law repealed: ‘Now we can start talking about reparations,’ historian says – Perspective

Published by Sam Flores

To display this content from YouTube, you must enable advertisement tracking and audience measurement. Accept Manage my choices One of your browser extensions seems to be blocking the video player from loading. To watch this content, you may need to disable it on this site. Try again PERSPECTIVE © FRANCE 24 Issued on: 02/06/2026 – 14:37Modified: 02/06/2026 – 14:40 07:54 min From the show Reading time 1 min Now that France has finally repealed the so-called Code Noir or Black Code, experts are urging the country to also consider the issue of reparations. The Code Noir was the law that effectively regulated slavery by making people like property, notably in the French colonies – enabling people to be worked, beaten, sold, raped and even killed. It was only repealed last week, even though France abolished slavery back in 1848. In Perspective, we spoke to Olivette Otele, a historian and professor at SOAS in London. By: Source link

Christian nationalism isn’t a MAGA aberration. Historian Matthew Sutton says it’s the whole American story.

Christian nationalism isn’t a MAGA aberration. Historian Matthew Sutton says it’s the whole American story.

Published by Sam Flores

(FāVS News) — America is largely a Christian nation but it’s complicated, argues Matthew Avery Sutton in his new book, “Chosen Land: How Christianity Made America and Americans Remade Christianity.”  The book claims to be a 500-year historic survey of Christianity in America just in time for the nation’s 250th anniversary, which marks the signing of the Declaration of Independence. “I started off with the question … ‘Why are Americans more Christian than our peer nations?’” Sutton said, adding that his goal was to explain historically why that matters. “The book was my effort to go back into the archives, go back into the sources and try to figure out what it is that’s unique or distinctive about the United States and its history that has led us to today.” With 20 years of professional work at the intersection of religion and politics, Sutton now chairs Washington State University’s history department. Prior to “Chosen Land,” he wrote five other history books that focus on specific areas of American Christianity, including “American Apocalypse: A History of …

‘Live and let live’: Northern Ireland historian uncovers surprising era of tolerance of gay men | LGBTQ+ rights

‘Live and let live’: Northern Ireland historian uncovers surprising era of tolerance of gay men | LGBTQ+ rights

Published by Sam Flores

Northern Ireland carved a grim reputation for homophobia for over half a century, a record of intolerance and bigotry so baroque it was turned into an opera. In the 1970s, Ian Paisley, the leader of the Democratic Unionist party (DUP) and Free Presbyterian church, led a “save Ulster from sodomy” crusade to resist the decriminalisation of homosexuality. In the 1980s and 1990s, the Royal Ulster Constabulary used plainclothes officers to bait and catch gay men in parks and public toilets. In 2008, Iris Robinson, an MP and wife of the then DUP leader, Peter Robinson, told an interviewer that homosexuality was an “abomination”, which later became the title of a satirical opera. In 2011, more than a quarter of gay people complained about homophobia in the workplace. Northern Ireland held out against marriage equality until 2019. However, it may not always have been like this. Research suggests that in the Victorian era and early 20th century, Northern Ireland was much more tolerant and accepting of gay men. Tom Hulme, a historian at Queen’s University Belfast, …