By Stuart Clark (NHC Fellow, 1999–00) Vanities of the Eye investigates the cultural history of the senses in early modern Europe, a time in which the nature and reliability of human vision was the focus of much debate. In medicine, art theory, science, religion, and philosophy, sight came to be characterized as uncertain or paradoxical–mental … Continued
Edited by Robert Beachy (NHC Fellow, 2006–07) and Ralf Roth The question of who actually ran cities in the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries has been increasingly debated in recent years. As well as trying to understand the distribution of political power and the rise of broad political participation, urban historians have questioned how and … Continued
Edited by Daphne Patai (NHC Fellow, 1990–91) and Sherna Berger Gluck Women's Words is the first collection of writings devoted exclusively to exploring the theoretical, methodological, and practical problems that arise when women utilize oral history as a tool of feminist scholarship. In thirteen multi-disciplin ary esays, the book takes stock of the implicit presuppositions , … Continued
Edited by William H. Chafe (NHC Fellow, 1981–82), Harvard Sitkoff, and Beth Bailey A History of Our Time, Eighth Edition, offers selections by leading historians as well as first-person accounts of various issues by people who have contributed to the shaping of America's rich history, including Bill Clinton, Joseph McCarthy, Anne Moody, Robin Morgan, and … Continued
By David Carrier (NHC Fellow, 2006–07) Is writing a world art history possible? Does the history of art as such even exist outside the Western tradition? Is it possible to consider the history of art in a way that is not fundamentally Eurocentric? In this highly readable and provocative book, David Carrier, a philosopher and … Continued
By Bozhong Li (NHC Fellow, 1992–93) For centuries the Yangzi delta has acted as the locomotive of China's economic growth. This book examines the surprising phenomenon of a long period of economic growth from 1620 to 1850 in the traditional agriculture of this extremely densely populated area, when no new land was available and no … Continued
Edited by Lawrence Stone (NHC Fellow, 1990–91; 1991–92) The study of eighteenth century history has been transformed by the writings of John Brewer, and most recently, with The Sinews of Power, he challenged the central concepts of British history. Brewer argues that the power of the British state increased dramatically when it was forced to pay … Continued
By D. Vance Smith (NHC Fellow, 1998–99) An innovative work of both economic anthropology and literary history, Arts of Possession draws on philosophical, theoretical, literary, historical, and archival sources and insights to situate the household at the center of the social and cultural imagination of fourteenth-century England.
By William S. Newman (NHC Fellow, 1983–84) In this provocative new study, William Newman presents to the reader “whatever intentions on Beethoven’s part can be documented or can be supported by reasoning and analysis in the primary sources for his music.” His aim, in brief, is to get as close as possible to the performance … Continued
By Martha S. Jones (NHC Fellow, 2013–14) Before the Civil War, colonization schemes and black laws threatened to deport former slaves born in the United States. Birthright Citizens recovers the story of how African American activists remade national belonging through battles in legislatures, conventions, and courthouses. They faced formidable opposition, most notoriously from the US … Continued