Professor Alexis Dudden appeared on BBC World News to share insight into how the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki 80 years ago have affected politics in Japan and elsewhere, as well as wars since.
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An Eoraip: Gaelic Ireland in Medieval and Early Modern Europe
Brendan Kane and Patrick Wadden, Editors
Medieval and early modern Irish scholars thought of themselves as Europeans. As an expression of territorial association, this belief reflects both their familiarity with the geographical traditions of Antiquity and the integration of their society into economic, cultural, and political networks that spanned the continent. But it was also an articulation of a perceived cultural affinity often denied in modern scholarship. The chapters in this volume examine the many and various ways that Gaelic Ireland was integrated into the broader, European world, focusing on literature and learning; real-world politics, economics, and travel; and questions of identity.
UConn History at Shear 2025
Over the weekend of July 17-20, the Society for Historians of the Early American Republic held their annual conference in Providence, Rhode Island, where UConn history was well-represented. Manisha Sinha, Draper Chair in American History and outgoing president of SHEAR, moderated the president’s plenary panel and delivered the presidential address, while current faculty members Cornelia Dayton, Deirdre Cooper Owens, and Melanie Newport helped to lead several panels and workshops.
Current UConn History Graduate Students Alex Keuny, Timothy Brown, and Lincoln Hirn also presented their work, as part of panel discussions. UConn History alumni Kathryn Angelica, Nathan Braccio, Nicole Breault (who also served on the program committee), Allison Horrocks, Antwain Hunter, and Amy Sopcak-Joseph all presented, as well.
Water from the Rock: Black Resistance in a Revolutionary Age
Sylvia R. Frey, Author, with foreword by Manisha Sinha
Princeton University Press, 2025
Abstract:
The American Revolution brought about violent and unpredictable social changes throughout the new nation, particularly in the South. Sylvia Frey reveals how slave resistance gave rise to a Black liberation movement that was central to the revolutionary struggle in the southern colonies, and how Black resistance persisted after the war as a struggle for cultural power that manifested itself in the establishment of separate Black churches with distinctive ritual patterns and moral values. She examines how white Southerners responded to Black resistance amid their own fight for independence from the British, and how they reacted to new movements by African Americans in the postwar period. With an incisive foreword by Manisha Sinha, Water from the Rock shows how the upheavals of war created opportunities for a quiet revolution that laid the foundations for the modern civil rights movement in America.
Manisha Sinha Featured in the New York Times
Prof. Manisha Sinha was quoted in a May 25 New York Times piece, looking back at the murder of George Floyd and the 2020 movement for Black lives. Prof. Sinha is quoted alongside Ibram X. Kendi and Steven Hahn, among others, and seeks to place the events of 2020, as well as the subsequent reactionary backlash, within its long-term historical context.
Access the piece here.
Manisha Sinha Quoted In Guardian Article about First 100 Days
On May 2nd, Professor Manisha Sinha was quoted in the Guardian article, “Trump 100 days: White House action plan makes Project 2025 look mild“. The article, written by Rachel Leingang, looks at the role that the policies outlined in Project 2025 are playing the first 100 days of Donald Trump’s second presidential term.
To read the article: Here
Frank Costigliola’s Recent Book Wins Sharon Harris Book Award
Congratulations to Professor Frank Costigliola, whose recent biography of US diplomat and strategist George Kennan was just named a co-winner of the Sharon Harris Book Award fr
om the UConn Humanities Institute.
The book has been warmly received by scholars and the reading public, including an enthusiastic recent review in The New York Review of Books. An unpaywalled version of the review can be found here: The Enigma of George Kennan
The Politics of Care Work
Emma Amador, Author
In The Politics of Care Work, Emma Amador tells the story of Puerto Rican women’s involvement in political activism for social and economic justice in Puerto Rico and the United States throughout the twentieth century. Amador focuses on the experiences and contributions of Puerto Rican social workers, care workers, and caregivers who fought for the compensation of reproductive labor in society and the establishment of social welfare programs. These activists believed conflicts over social reproduction and care work were themselves high-stakes class struggles for women, migrants, and people of color. In Puerto Rico, they organized for women’s rights, socialism, labor standards, and Puerto Rican independence. They continued this work in the United States by advocating for migrant rights, participating in the civil rights movement, and joining Puerto Rican-led social movements. Amador shows how their relentless efforts gradually shifted the field of social work toward social justice and community-centered activism. The profound and enduring impact of their efforts on Puerto Rican communities underscores the crucial role of Puerto Rican women’s caregiving labor and activism in building and sustaining migrant communities.
Prof Jeff Ogbar Presents New Book in DC
Professor Jeffrey Ogbar has edited a path-breaking new book, Black Movement: African-American Urban History Since the Great Migration, and will be presenting it this Monday in Washington, DC. On Monday evening at 7pm, he will be in conversation about the book with Frederick Knight, Chair of the History Department at Howard University, at the renowned bookstore Politics & Prose. More details on the event can be found here.
Black Movement includes essays by a wide range of scholars, including Jeff Ogbar, Melanie Newport, and Fiona Vernal from UConn, as well as Stefan M. Bradley, Scot Brown, Tatiana M. F. Cruz, Tom Adam Davies, LaShawn Harris, Maurice J. Hobson, Shannon King, Brian Purnell, J. T. Roane, Chanelle Rose, and Benjamin H. Saracco, It was published this month by the University of North Carolina Press.
Upcoming Lectures from Prof. Manisha Sinha
Prof. Manisha Sinha will be giving a series of lectures, this April, beginning on April 8 in New Haven, CT. Check out event details below:
April 8, 2025: Bosworth Memorial Lecture in American History, Yale University, New Haven, CT: Link
April 10, 2025: Lecture Sponsored by the History Department and the McFarland Center, College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, MA: Link
April 21, 2025: Hartman Hotz Lecture in Law and Liberal Arts, School of Law and Department of History, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR: Link