By Stephen J. Pyne (NHC Fellow, 1979–80; 2002–03) As Stephen Pyne reveals in his biography, few other scientists can match Grove Karl Gilbert’s range of talents. A premier explorer of the American West who made major contributions to the cascade of new discoveries about the earth, Gilbert described two novel forms of mountain building, invented … Continued
By Brenda Deen Schildgen (NHC Fellow, 2005–06) This is an account of the roles of local and national movements, and of memory and regret in the destruction or preservation of the architectural, artistic, and historic legacy of Europe in which the author examines what is cultural heritage and why it matters.
By Jan Goldstein (NHC Fellow, 2006–07) Hysteria Complicated by Ecstasy offers a rare window into the inner life of a person ordinarily inaccessible to historians: a semiliterate peasant girl who lived almost two centuries ago, in the aftermath of the French Revolution. Eighteen-year-old Nanette Leroux fell ill in 1822 with a variety of incapacitating nervous symptoms. … Continued
By Kathleen DuVal (NHC Fellow, 2008–09) Over the last decade, award-winning historian Kathleen DuVal has revitalized the study of early America’s marginalized voices. Now, in Independence Lost, she recounts an untold story as rich and significant as that of the Founding Fathers: the history of the Revolutionary Era as experienced by slaves, American Indians, women, and British … Continued
By William J. Bouwsma (Trustee; NHC Fellow, 1983–84; 1984–85) Calvinism has been widely credited–or blamed–for much that is thought to characterize the modern world: for capitalism and modern science, for secularization and democracy, for individualism and utilitarianism. But John Calvin the man has been largely ignored by historians; most of us, if we think of … Continued
Edited by Stuart Clark (NHC Fellow, 1999–00) Different conceptions of the world and of reality have made witchcraft possible in some societies and impossible in others. How did the people of Early Modern Europe experience it and what was its place in their culture? The essays in this collection illustrate trends in witchcraft research and … Continued
By Jerzy Szacki (NHC Fellow, 1992–93) This study is devoted to recent developments in Central European (especially Polish) political thought, and concentrates on the emergence of liberal ideas, a subject largely neglected by Western observers. It provides a clear account of protoliberal and liberal thinking in Central Europe both before and after 1989, a critical … Continued
By John D. French (NHC Fellow, 1995–96) Known around the world simply as Lula, Luis Inácio Lula da Silva was born in 1945 to illiterate parents who migrated to industrializing São Paulo. He learned to read at ten years of age, left school at fourteen, became a skilled metalworker, rose to union leadership, helped end … Continued
Edited by Peter T. Struck (NHC Fellow, 2002–03) and Sarah Iles Johnston This book thoroughly revisits divination as a central phenomenon in the lives of ancient Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians. It collects studies from many periods in Graeco-Roman history, from the Archaic period to the late Roman, and touches on many different areas of this … Continued
Edited by Maryanne Kowaleski (NHC Fellow, 2005–06) This exciting new collection of documents from across Europe gives a fresh perspective and sharp taste of everyday life in a medieval town. The sources range from the standard chronicles and charters to the less often viewed accounts of marriage disputes, urban women, families, the environment, the dangers … Continued