Book Note: The War that Ended Peace by Margaret MacMillan

by Bob Schoone-Jongen.   “Celebration” does not seem to be the right word for marking the centennial of the Great War.  “Observance” is better, less celebratory.  Maybe solemn should be added to convey the somberness the great tragedy deserves.  At any rate, the academic book binge that generally accompanies chronological mileposts has begun in earnest.  …

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Paradox of Power: How the Weak Prevail Against the Strong

by Bert de Vries. Much of my career as historian-archaeologist has been focused on the question of how overpowered populations and culture groups - the conquered, the occupied, the colonized, the enslaved – coped, and how a historian could know that. This interest was actually shaped by my own experience as a child in occupied …

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Closeup of fingers touching from the Creation of Adam painting in the Sistine Chapel.

Homily on History

by Bob Schoone-Jongen. For the past eleven years I have ended my History 152 classes with a homily on history and this Christian’s view of what it all means. I make no claims as to profundity, but I will lay claim to its sincerity. This is what I believe history teaches: We are debtors: to …

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A Year in Cyprus: The Complex Intersection of International Politics and Historical Research

by Young Kim. During the 2012-2013 academic year, my family and I had the privilege of living for ten months in Cyprus, where as a Fulbright research fellow, I conducted research and wrote a book on the life and work of Epiphanius of Salamis, who was chief bishop of the island from 367-403.  I know …

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Student standing beside a stack of books as tall as she is.

Celebrating Our Honors Students

by Bob Schoone-Jongen. About a year ago a student walks into my office.  “Hey, professor…,” begins the conversation.  (It may have been just “prof.”)  Anyhow, the conversation immediately turns to an honors thesis: How to do one?  Would I supervise a project?  In my mind there are counter questions: What’s the topic?  Why me?  Do …

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The “Power” of Historians

by William Van Vugt. This past fall I was on sabbatical leave and spent much of it researching local history in Yorkshire, England. I had to travel quite widely, alone, throughout that lovely part of the world to work at a number of archives and libraries. One of the first places I stopped into was …

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