Research

Jonathan W. White (PhD, 2008  Advisor: Herman Belz) had his new book, Shipwrecked: A True Civil War Story of Mutinies, Jailbreaks, Blockade-Running, and the Slave Trade, reviewed in the New York Times on August 1, 2023. The book tells the story of Appleton Oaksmith, a Civil War sea captain with shifting political alliances. The reviewers write that "The astonishing stories in Shipwrecked ... [offer] a fresh perspective on the mess of pitched emotions and politics in a nation at war over slavery." The publisher has a 30% book launch discount for the next two weeks with the code RLSHPWRK23 on their site. The full New York Times review is available HERE and the publisher's website is available HERE. 

Between Memory and Power intends to demonstrate that a robust culture of historical writing existed in 2nd/8th century Syria, and to offer new methodological approaches to access this now lost history, torn between memory and oblivion. By studying the making of Umayyad heroes or Abbasid origins-myths, this book aims to reveal the successive meanings granted to Syrian history, and to identify the various layers of historical writing and rewriting during the first centuries of Islam. Taken together, these elements make possible a history of meanings of the very space of Syria, articulated around power and its expression, which grants a clear coherence to the period, extending well beyond the dynastic caesura of 132/750.

Piotr Kosicki published a new article in Foreign Affairs magazine titled "Don't Give Poland a Pass: Warsaw's Support for Ukraine Should Not Obscure Its Assault on Democracy at Home". The article addresses the state of democracy in Poland as they have been growing increasingly illiberal in recent years. These issues concerning freedom and liberty in a democratic nation are significant to examine especially with Poland's parliamentary expected to be held in Fall 2023. Kosicki argues that the United States should take up a more present and guiding position for the Polish government. Read the full article HERE.

The Russian and Kazakh-language translation of Sarah Cameron's book, The Hungry Steppe: Famine, Violence, and the Making of Soviet Kazakhstan (Cornell UP, 2018) were reissued in honor of Kazakhstan's Famine Remembrance Day on May 31, 2023. The book continues to be widely read in the region: this marks the second printing of the book in the Russian language and the third in the Kazakh-language. While in Almaty, Sarah held a Q&A about the book and signed books. 

The May 2023 issue of Commonweal magazine includes Piotr Kosicki's new article about the weaponization of historical memory of Pope John Paul II (and the suppression of research into his ties of clerical abuse) in Poland. The digital version is available HERE. 

Piotr Kosicki published a new article in The Atlantic titled "Poland Is Not Ready to Accept a New McCarthyism." The article explores the significance of a June 4, 2023 march celebrating the 34th anniversary of the 1989 elections that led Poland to abjure communism. Piotr argues that the march was also a protest against the current autocratic Polish government. Read the article HERE.

Marlene Mayo's essay is among seven which have been selected for publication in a recent e-book, a Project Muse issue published in October 2022 by University of Hawaii Press, entitled Celebrating 60+ Issues of "U.S.-Japan Women's Journal, edited by Alisa Freedman.

Her essay is "A Friend in Need:  Esther B. Rhoads, Quakers, and Humanitarian Relief in Allied Occupied Japan, 1946-1952," U.S.-Japan Women's Journal  50 (2016): 54. 

Find the e-book HERE.

On May 25, 2023, Julie Taddeo published a review of "This is Britain: Photographs from the 1970s and 1980s," a recent photo exhibit at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. The exhibit included 46 photos, most of them in black and white which present multiple versions of what it means to "be British" as a generation of socially conscious photographers expose issues of race, class, gender, and sexuality that threaten inclusivity during these two tumultuous decades. The exhibit also includes an hour-long film, Handsworth Songs, made in 1986 by the Black Audio Film Collective and directed by John Akomfrah for Channel Four's series, Britain: The Lie of the Land. The newsreels and still photographs from the 1985 riots featured in Handsworth Songs provide context for the racism directed against the Black community in Birmingham in the 1980s. The exhibit ran until June 11, 2023. Read the full review HERE.

Jim Gilbert's most recent novel, Murder at Amapas Beach (Atmosphere Press) was featured in the June 14 edition of MarylandToday. The book features Amanda Pennyworth, the American consul to the resort city of Puerto Vallarta. She finds herself trying to solve two murders, one of a close friend.

See the full article HERE

The English translation of Antoine Borrut's first book will be published by Brill in July 2023 (with a new preface) under the title Between Memory and Power: The Syrian Space under the Late Umayyads and Early Abbasids (c. 72-193/692-809). 

Antoine Borrut co-edited a volume entitled Mers et rivages d’Islam: de l’Atlantique à la Méditerranée. Mélanges offerts à Christophe Picard (Paris: Éditions de la Sorbonne, 2023) which was published in May. The volume consists of 25 contributions gathered in a Festschrift dedicated to Prof. Christophe Picard. Antoine’s essay in the volume is entitled “Histoires astrologiques et construction du temps culturel dans les débuts de l’islam.”