History

"through this book of nonfiction snippets, however enlightening, the idea of the author seeing a much bigger picture emerges, one best told through the experience of the different parts."

On June 21, 1969, an estimated three-quarters of the British population tuned into Royal Family, a fly-on-the-wall BBC documentary that captured the royals as surprisingly ord

If there are any remaining doubts about the central role played by Ronald Reagan in the unraveling of the Soviet empire, Seth Jones’ riveting new book A Covert Action should dispel them.

In “The Accidental Rebel,” an op-ed published in The New York Times on the 40th anniversary of the Columbia student uprising of 1968, novelist Paul Auster (Columbia ’69) asserted that stud

“Wars are not won by evacuations,” remarked Winston Churchill after 338,226 British and French soldiers were safely transferred from the beaches at Dunkirk to England in late May-early June 1940.

Anyone seeking to understand the last years of the Cold War should read this book. The central figure is Oleg Gordievsky, now in his eighties and living in a (hopefully) safe house near London.

“a tale of bravery, courage, and sacrifice . . .”

The “liberal world order” created by the United States after the Second World War is an historical anomaly that may be coming to an end, according to the Brookings Institution’s Robert Kagan in his

“a crisply written, compelling narrative that highlights the roles of key U.S. policymakers such as Dean Acheson, George Marshall, Louis Johnson, and George Kennan.”

This account of the rise of punk in East Germany is openly the work of a devoted fan of that scene. Tim Mohr is upfront about his emotional investment in the topic.

Historians of political culture illuminate the human realities of governing and legislating.

Some of the names of the 56 signers—our Founding Fathers—of the Declaration of Independence are well known.