Contemporary History

JHIBlog Podcast: Simon Brown interviews Sophia Rosenfeld

In this interview, Simon Brown speaks with Sophia Rosenfeld, the Walter H. Annenberg Professor of History at the University of Pennsylvania. Professor Rosenfeld works in the intellectual history of the trans-Atlantic Age of Revolutions, and she has written books on… Continue Reading →

How Victory Day became Russia’s most important Holiday

by guest contributor Agnieszka Smelkowska At first, Russian TV surprises and disappoints with its conventional appearance. A mixture of entertainment and news competes for viewers’ attention, logos flash across the screen, and pundits shuffle their notes, ready to pounce on any… Continue Reading →

June 11, 2017 0

Time to Remember—Is There a Future to Collective Memory?

by guest contributor Nitzan Lebovic

May 5, 2017 3

Global/Universal History: A Warning

by contributing editor Disha Karnad Jani Last week, in an essay on the state of global history, historian Jeremy Adelman asked, “In our fevered present of Nation-X First, of resurgent ethno-nationalism, what’s the point of recovering global pasts?” In the… Continue Reading →

March 8, 2017 2

The Promise of a Technological Enlightenment: On Transhumanism and History

by guest contributor Zoltán Boldizsár Simon In the first decades of the new century, transhumanism aims at delivering the old Enlightenment promise. There can be little doubt that the aspiration to enhance (and even transcend) the capacities of the human… Continue Reading →

February 8, 2017 0

Shooting the Moon: Martyrdom and Sacred Kingship in the Twenty-First Century

by guest contributor Peter Walker On the cold afternoon of January 30, 1649, King Charles I was publicly beheaded in London, condemned as a traitor by parliamentarians. Royalists, who viewed the king as head of the church, immediately began celebrating… Continue Reading →

February 6, 2017 1

Revolution in the 21st Century: A Reflection on the Salon Sophie Charlotte at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities

by contributing editor Carolyn Taratko The Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities held its Salon Sophie Charlotte last weekend, an annual event during which the academy opens its doors to the public for an evening of guest discussions, presentations, and… Continue Reading →

January 30, 2017 0

The Interwar, Ourselves

by contributing editor Disha Karnad Jani The period in between the First and Second World Wars yields fertile ground for reflection by many of our public intellectuals. Much of this resonance comes from the fact that historians have typically understood… Continue Reading →

January 25, 2017 3

What Was a Reading Community?

by guest contributor Edmund G. C. King It’s just after 10 am on a dingy December morning in London as I approach Canada Water underground station. The morning rush hour crowds have receded, leaving only their wet footprints on the platform… Continue Reading →

January 18, 2017 1

Towards an Intellectual History of the Alt-Right?

by contributing editor Yitzchak Schwartz As the alt-right has gained ascendance in American politics and cultural consciousness over the past 24 months, American intellectuals have been scrambling to try and understand its roots and what makes it tick. The media… Continue Reading →

January 2, 2017 1

The Journal of the History of Ideas Blog

Tag Contemporary History