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“The Second American Revolution” exhibit curated by Manisha Sinha to open at Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum on June 5th

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Professor Sinha will give a talk on the exhibit and her work as a Reconstruction Historian on June 4th at a special preview of “The Second American Revolution”. The exhibit will be open from June 5 through January 17 and explores the Reconstruction era’s early efforts to give newly freed and free Black Americans full citizenship and rights, and the ways in which this mission was largely eroded leaving America with consequences that have followed the nation into the 21st century. 

You can read more about this exhibit on the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum website here:

New exhibit on Civil War’s aftermath coming to ALPLM

Liberation Summer by Professor Micki McElya Published to Rave Reviews

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Professor McElya’s 2026 book Liberation Suliberation summer by Micki McElya cover showing women holding up a large caricature figure of a pageant contestantmmer, about a key moment in the women’s liberation movement surrounding the 1968 Miss America pageant and the reactions and protests it was surrounded by, has been widely recommended by the New York Times, the Boston Globe and Kirk’s reviews. Her last book about the history of Arlington National Cemetery was a finalist for the Pulitzer.

The Nonfiction Everyone Will Be Reading This Summer – The New York Times

75 favorite books and best summer reads to check out this season

Micki McElya | Kirkus Reviews

 

 

Announcement: Fall 2026 Draper Workshop

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The University of Connecticut History Department is pleased to announce that the Fall 2026 Draper Workshop will take place on November 16th, from 4:30 – 6:00 PM in Herbst Hall rm. 1o1, with a reception to follow. The event will focus on the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution, and will feature a panel discussion from professors Maya Jasanoff (Harvard University), Robert Parkinson (Binghamton University), Mark Peterson (Yale University), Karin Wulf (Brown University), and Andy Horowitz (University of Connecticut). Prof. Manisha Sinha (University of Connecticut) will moderate.

Full event details here.

The Society for Historians of the Gilded Age and the Progressive Era awards 2026 President’s Book Prize to Manisha Sinha for The Rise and Fall of the Second American Republic

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The prize was awarded at the Organization of American Historians meeting in Philadelphia on April 17, 2026. The prize citation reads:

Following a multi-tiered selection process, the committee selected The Rise and Fall of the Second American Republic: Reconstruction, 1860–1920 by Manisha Sinha as the recipient of the SHGAPE President’s Book Prize.

 Manisha Sinha’s The Rise and Fall of the Second American Republic offers a sweeping and compelling reinterpretation of Reconstruction, significantly expanding both the temporal and geographic boundaries traditionally associated with the period. Sinha provides a major new synthesis of Reconstruction scholarship—one that will stand alongside the seminal works of Eric Foner and W. E. B. Du Bois as a benchmark for a new generation of historians. The book will serve as a central text in graduate seminars on nineteenth-century U.S. history for years to come. Grounded in extensive archival research but driven by a clear and persuasive argument about the broader scope and significance of Reconstruction, it will shape how historians and their students understand this critical era. It is a powerful and important work and fully deserving of the SHGAPE President’s Book Prize.

Lucas Ruiz ’23, inaugural Fellow of Oppenheimer Project, advocates for nuclear policy dialogue

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As a recent transfer student from Connecticut State Community College, Lucas Ruiz ’23 pursued his interest in history through courses with professors Alexis Dudden and Frank Costigliola – a decision that set him on a path that would eventually lead to publishing in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, becoming the first-ever Fellow with the Oppenheimer Project, and convening meetings of world experts on nuclear weapons policy.Lucas Ruiz, class of 2023. Mr. Ruiz is a young man with brown hair in a blue suit and tie with a white shirt.

Now, as an Oppenheimer fellow, Ruiz analyzes the complex and often volatile relationship between China, Russia, and the U.S. by examining the leadership of each state.

“I think that the personalities and the individuals that lead these states are of paramount importance,” Ruiz says. “I have found that no two people have the exact same perception of the world. When thinking about how the United States can engage Russia, you have to think about how can the president of the United States engage the president of Russia?”

For the full article covering Lucas’ path through UConn to the Oppenheimer Project, please see UConn Today‘s “Alum Lucas Ruiz Examines Nuclear Policy Among Global Powers.”

Ken Burns-produced documentary “Henry David Thoreau” special screening April 8

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Picture of Henry David Thoreau's cabin at Walden Pond. Image from Adobe stock.On Wednesday, April 8, the UConn Department of Earth Sciences, the Environmental Sciences Program, the Honors Program, the Humanities Institute, the Institute of the Environment and Energy, and the Office of Sustainability will host a special viewing of the new Ken Burns-produced documentary “Henry David Thoreau.” The viewing is open to all and will be followed by a discussion with producer Susan Shumaker, UConn Department of History Draper Professor Emeritus Robert Gross, and Department of Earth Sciences professor Robert Thorson, who served as experts for the documentary.

“The documentary repositions Thoreau, not as one of the dead white men of the old canon that we are shedding as we move forward, but reactivating him as a sensitive and self-aware scientist-writer,” Thorson says. “There’s no question that Thoreau lies at the foundation of two big ideas in America. One, through ‘Walden,’ is the root of the philosophical ascetic strand of the environmental movement, which is why Rachel Carson kept a copy on her nightstand for devotional reading.  The other, through ‘Civil Disobedience,’ is the root of nonviolent resistance to an unjust government. This essay, written about his night in jail, informed the approaches of Gandhi and Martin Luther King, who both read it when they were in jail. Many others were also inspired by it, from Leo Tolstoy to Emma Goldman, and many more.”

Please visit UConn Today‘s full article “Rebooting Thoreau for Modern Times: New PBS Documentary Features UConn Expertise.”