By Alice Kessler-Harris (NHC Fellow, 2006–07) Lillian Hellman was a giant of twentieth-century letters and a groundbreaking figure as one of the most successful female playwrights on Broadway. Yet the author of The Little Foxes and Toys in the Attic is today remembered more as a toxic, bitter survivor and literary fabulist, the woman of whom Mary McCarthy said, … Continued
By Rachel Weil (NHC Fellow, 2006–07) Stories of plots, sham plots, and the citizen-informers who discovered them are at the center of Rachel Weil's compelling study of the turbulent decade following the Revolution of 1688. Most studies of the Glorious Revolution focus on its causes or long-term effects, but Weil instead zeroes in on the … Continued
Edited by Sandra E. Greene (NHC Fellow, 2007–08; 2014–15), Martin A. Klein, and Alice Bellagamba How do we understand Africa’s historical systems of slavery and the enduring political, economic and cultural consequences for Africa today? After abolition, did former masters maintain their privileges? Did former slaves and their descendants resist continued marginalization? How did former … Continued
By Kevin K. Gaines (NHC Fellow, 1996–97) In 1957 Ghana became one of the first sub-Saharan African nations to gain independence from colonial rule. Over the next decade, hundreds of African Americans–including Martin Luther King Jr., George Padmore, Malcolm X, Maya Angelou, Richard Wright, Pauli Murray, and Muhammad Ali–visited or settled in Ghana. Kevin K. … Continued
By William Craft Brumfield (NHC Fellow, 1992–93) Carpeted in boreal forests, dotted with lakes, cut by rivers, and straddling the Arctic Circle, the region surrounding the White Sea, which is known as the Russian North, is sparsely populated and immensely isolated. It is also the home to architectural marvels, as many of the original wooden … Continued
Edited by Maria Todorova (NHC Fellow, 2000–01) The seventeen essays in this volume, written by historians, anthropologists and literary historians, concentrate on four main themes: the construction of historical memories on different levels, from the individual to the nation; the sites of national memory; the transmission of national memory; and the mobilization of national identities. … Continued
Edited by Susannah Heschel (NHC Fellow, 1997–98)
By Michael K. Honey (NHC Fellow, 1995–96) The labor of black workers has been crucial to economic development in the United States. Yet because of racism and segregation, their contribution remains largely unknown. Spanning the 1930s to the present, Black Workers Remember tells the hidden history of African American workers in their own words. It provides striking … Continued
By David K. Johnson (NHC Fellow, 2014–15) In 1951, a new type of publication appeared on newsstands—the physique magazine produced by and for gay men. For many men growing up in the 1950s and 1960s, these magazines and their images and illustrations of nearly naked men, as well as articles, letters from readers, and advertisements, … Continued
By Mark Golden (NHC Fellow, 1987–88) First published in 1990, Children and Childhood in Classical Athens was the first book in English to explore the lives of children in ancient Athens. Drawing on literary, artistic, and archaeological sources as well as on comparative studies of family history, Mark Golden offers a vivid portrait of the public and … Continued