Today is the anniversary of Emperor Hirohito’s surrender announcement, ending the Pacific Theater of World War II (although a formal surrender wasn’t signed until September 1st). Japan’s road to accepting defeat in the war was long and torturous, with the … Continue reading The History Thread Surrenders
It’s become a pet peeve of mine that so many historians (particularly, though not exclusively, popular historians) offer German history. Germany itself is a relatively recent creation, of course, with a large number of regional and religious cleavages that endure … Continue reading History Thread: Christopher Clark’s Iron Kingdom (2007)
Few presidents’ reputations have vacillated so wildly as Lyndon Johnson’s. When he died in 1973, he was excoriated for his role in escalating the Vietnam War, a symbol of the Establishment (dubbed “the Creeping Meatball” by Abbie Hoffman) hated only … Continue reading History Thread: Julian E. Zelizer’s The Fierce Urgency of Now (2015)
The History Thread is back! I did not have a chance to write a full review of Revolutionary Spring, Christopher Clark’s new book on the Revolutions of 1848, but hopefully a short write-up (originally posted on Goodreads) will suffice as … Continue reading History Thread: Mini-Review of Christopher Clark’s Revolutionary Spring
It’s common knowledge that fewer people are studying history as a major. There are a lot of reasons for this: the general difficulty in finding jobs in the field, the push towards STEM education over the humanities, the fact that … Continue reading History Thread: One Damn Thing After Another
In 1906, Imperial Germany had gained a reputation as one of Europe’s most belligerent empires. Only recently unified as a nation, Germany was showing impatience with its role under the mercurial Kaiser Wilhelm II. Its increasingly provocative policies had led … Continue reading History Thread: The Kaiser’s Friends
On June 13, 1971 the New York Times began publication of a secret study documenting the history of the Vietnam War. The so-called “Pentagon Papers” revealed that the United States government had systematically deceived the press, the American people and … Continue reading History Thread: The Pentagon Papers
June 6, 1944 is the date of the Allied landing in Normandy during the Second World War. In lieu of a long, original post here’s Dwight Eisenhower’s famous address to the troops before the operation: Soldiers, Sailors, and Airmen of … Continue reading The D-Day History Thread
I’d hoped to have a book review for this week’s History Thread, but circumstances intervened. Namely, I wound up purchasing 21 (!) books at the various Maryland thrift bookstores I visited last week, and didn’t have any money left for … Continue reading History Thread Unspools
If you grew up in the ’90s, watch a lot of Sci-Fi Channel reruns in the 2000s or spend any time on the Internet, you’re likely familiar with Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction. This anthology series ran on Fox from … Continue reading History Thread: Beyond Believable
It’s surprising, and perhaps disappointing, that the Church Committee isn’t better-known. In 1975, Senator Frank Church (D-ID) commanded headlines with his investigation of abuses by the American intelligence community, from domestic surveillance of dissidents to foreign assassinations. Two full-length books … Continue reading History Thread: Revisiting the Church Committee
This week’s History Thread celebrates Katherine Milhous, the famous artist and children’s book writer from the 1930s and 1940s. The daughter of Philadelphia Quakers, she was disappointed at the lack of popular art celebrating her heritage, along with Pennsylvania’s other … Continue reading The Katherine Milhous History Thread
This week’s History Thread celebrates Elbe Day, the occasion where American and Soviet troops met during the final days of World War II. The famous photograph in the header depicts Lt. Bill Robertson of the 69th Infantry Division and Lt. … Continue reading A Handshake in the History Thread
No time for a big write-up so I wanted to feature this wonderful bit of T.E. Lawrence arcana that I just received in the mail: a 1963 reprint of T.E. Lawrence By His Friends. This is a festschrift compiled by … Continue reading The History Thread By Its Friends
Mercifully it’s been almost eight months since this thread’s Nixon-themed header, and what better time to bring back everyone’s “favorite” head-in-a-jar president? Because there’s been a recent flurry of Nixon releases. PBS just released a new American Experience documentary, “The … Continue reading History Thread: Nixon’s Back!!!
Sadly, there was another mass shooting in America yesterday. Bad actors are attempting to blame the shooting on “transgender ideology” (which Elon Musk, among others, has been shamelessly propagating), an idea which is not only shameless but actively dangerous to … Continue reading History Thread: All Assassins are Democrats
Cryptozoology features so many curious, colorful creatures that only buffs would know about many of them. But it’s hard to understand why the Salawa, “a hellish canine creature that is supposed to be a cross between a wolf, a dog, … Continue reading History Thread: The Salawa, or the Failed Making of a Cryptid
In June 1916, the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire erupted. Sherif Hussein of Mecca, head of the Hashemite Dynasty and guardian of the Holy Cities, had been compelled to rebel against Turkish rule due to rumors that Enver Pasha’s … Continue reading History Thread: Bremond of Arabia
On January 3, 1916 Sir Mark Sykes and Francois Georges-Picot devised a secret protocol to divided the Ottoman Empire in the event of an Allied victory in World War I. With Allied troops floundering in their invasion of Gallipoli and … Continue reading History Thread: A Primer on the Sykes-Picot Agreement
Welcome to the glorious History Thread! Apologies for the late sharing, I had planned to take this week off but was compelled by some gloriously stupid correct History Takes on Reddit to share so I don’t flood other threads with … Continue reading The GOOD History Thread
In February 1942, the United States was still adjusting to World War II. Pearl Harbor was only two months past, and Americans entertained fears of an imminent Axis attack on the mainland. Such fears weren’t entirely unjustified: German U-Boats in … Continue reading History Thread: The Los Angeles Terror
