Moral Philosophy at Seventeenth-Century Harvard: A Discipline in Transition
By Norman Fiering (NHC Fellow, 1978–79)
History
Newton the Alchemist: Science, Enigma, and the Quest for Nature’s “Secret Fire”
By William R. Newman (NHC Fellow, 2014–15) When Isaac Newton’s alchemical papers surfaced at a Sotheby’s auction in 1936, the quantity and seeming incoherence of the manuscripts were shocking. No longer the exemplar of Enlightenment rationality, the legendary physicist suddenly became “the last of the magicians.” Newton the Alchemist unlocks the secrets of Newton’s alchemical quest, providing … Continued
Origins of the Black Atlantic
Edited by Laurent Dubois (NHC Fellow, 2008–09; 2016–17) and Julius S. Scott Between 1492 and 1820, about two-thirds of the people who crossed the Atlantic to the Americas were Africans. With the exception of the Spanish, all the European empires settled more Africans in the New World than they did Europeans. The vast majority of these … Continued
Peterburg v kontekste barokko
By G. Z. Kaganov (NHC Fellow, 1995–96)
Providence Island, 1630-1641: The Other Puritan Colony
By Karen Ordahl Kupperman (NHC Fellow, 1984–85) Providence Island was founded in 1630 at the same time as Massachusetts Bay by English puritans who thought an island off the coast of Nicaragua was far more promising than the cold, rocky shores of New England. Although they expected theirs to become a model godly society, the … Continued
Reciprocity and Ritual: Homer and Tragedy in the Developing City-State
By Richard Seaford (NHC Fellow, 1992–93) This is an exciting and entirely new synthesis, combining anthropology, political and social history, and a close reading of central Greek texts, to account for two of the most significant hallmarks in Homeric epic and Athenian tragedy: the representation of ritual, and codes of reciprocity. Both genres are pervaded … Continued
Republics Ancient and Modern: Classical Republicanism and the American Revolution
By Paul A. Rahe (NHC Fellow, 1983–84) An assessment of the ancient Greek city and its subsequent influence. A masterwork of political theory and comparative politics for the classroom.
Samuel Johnson: The Life of an Author
By Lawrence Lipking (NHC Fellow, 1993–94) He was a servant to the public, a writer for hire. He was a hero, an author adding to the glory of his nation. But can a writer be both hack and hero? The career of Samuel Johnson, recounted here by Lawrence Lipking, proves that the two can be one. … Continued
Shades of Freedom: Racial Politics and Presumptions of the American Legal Process
By A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr. (NHC Fellow, 1993–94) Few individuals have had as great an impact on the law–both its practice and its history–as A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr. A winner of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, he has distinguished himself over the decades both as a professor at Yale, the … Continued
Soft Force: Women in Egypt’s Islamic Awakening
By Ellen Anne McLarney (NHC Fellow, 2011–12) In the decades leading up to the Arab Spring in 2011, when Hosni Mubarak’s authoritarian regime was swept from power in Egypt, Muslim women took a leading role in developing a robust Islamist presence in the country’s public sphere. Soft Force examines the writings and activism of these women—including scholars, … Continued