19th Century

The Idea of the Souvenir: Mauchline Ware

by guest contributor Tess Goodman The souvenir is a relatively recent concept. The word only began to refer to an “object, rather than a notion” in the late eighteenth century (Kwint, Material Memories 10). Of course, the practice of carrying a… Continue Reading →

2017/06/26 2

How the Nineteenth Century Misplaced the Samaritans

by guest contributor Matthew Chalmers “Are the Samaritans worth a volume of 360 pages?” Thus pondered an anonymous reviewer of James A. Montgomery’s The Samaritans: The Earliest Jewish Sect (1907). Today, specialists in Samaritan Studies are still arguing that they… Continue Reading →

2017/06/20 3

The Protestant Origins of the French Republican Revolution? The Case of Edgar Quinet

by guest contributor Bryan A. Banks In his 1865 La Révolution, Edgar Quinet addressed the question: Why did the republican experiments of 1792 and 1848 seem to turn to terror, empire, and tyranny? “The French, having been unable to accept… Continue Reading →

2017/06/18 0

French Liberals and the Capacity for Citizenship

by guest contributor Gianna Englert 2017 has done a lot for the history of ideas. “Post-truth” politics, tyranny, nationalism, and the nature of executive power have pushed us to make sense of the present by appealing to the past. The… Continue Reading →

2017/03/29 3

“A Reform Which Has Stifled All Other Reforms:” Islam in the Nineteenth Century American Black Press

by guest contributor Daniel Joslyn In recent years, a number of political movements have sought to forge a connection between black Americans and Middle-Eastern Arabs, particularly in relation to the oppression of the Palestinian people in Israel and Palestine and the… Continue Reading →

2017/03/27 0

Cogito ergo sumus

by contributing editor Eric Brandom As insipid slogans of dubious provenance go, “be the change you wish to see in the world” is not so bad. On a bumper sticker or the signature line of a well-meaning colleague’s email, it… Continue Reading →

2017/02/20 0

What Was a Reading Community?

by guest contributor Edmund G. C. King It’s just after 10 am on a dingy December morning in London as I approach Canada Water underground station. The morning rush hour crowds have receded, leaving only their wet footprints on the platform… Continue Reading →

2017/01/18 1

Religion in Late-Nineteenth Century American Life?

by contributing editor Yitzchak Schwartz Henry Adams (1838-1918) returned home from his Grand Tour in 1860 and came of age in American elite society as the American bourgeoisie underwent the most profound cultural, social and intellectual shifts it had experienced… Continue Reading →

2016/11/14 1

Social Media in an Analog Age: The Henry Subscription (1898-1899)

by guest contributor Elizabeth Everton In a 2009 interview, Twitter’s founder, Jack Dorsey, drew upon the dictionary definition of “tweet” – “a short burst of inconsequential information” – to characterize his creation. Ten years after Twitter’s inception, few would persist… Continue Reading →

2016/11/09 3

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