Following tirailleurs sénégalais’ deployments in West Africa, Congo, Madagascar, North Africa, Syria-Lebanon, Vietnam, and Algeria from the 1880s to 1962, Militarizing Marriage West African Soldiers’ Conjugal Traditions in Modern French Empire (Ohio UP, 2021) historicizes how African servicemen advanced conjugal strategies with women at home and abroad. Sara ... Show More
Jan 28
Jeremy Black, "Britain's Imperial Histories (St. Augustine's Press, 2025)
Military historian Jeremy Black continues his review of the global context of martial conflict and spatial conquest into the modern era (16th-20th centuries) in Britain's Imperial Histories (St. Augustine's Press, 2025), focusing on the British empire and its lasting effect on t ... Show More
27m 53s
Jan 26
Gershom Gorenberg, "War of Shadows: Codebreakers, Spies, and the Secret Struggle to Drive the Nazis from the Middle East" (Public Affairs, 2021)
As World War II raged in North Africa, General Erwin Rommel was guided by an uncanny sense of his enemies' plans and weaknesses. In the summer of 1942, he led his Axis army swiftly and terrifyingly toward Alexandria, with the goal of overrunning the entire Middle East. Each step ... Show More
1h 2m
Jan 25
Erika Quinn, "This Horrible Uncertainty: A German Woman Writes War, 1939-1948" (Berghahn Books, 2024)
Through the diaries and personal papers of a German woman, Vera Conrad, This Horrible Uncertainty: A German Woman Writes War, 1939-1948 (Berghahn Books, 2024) documents her wartime experiences and deepens our understanding of the complex experiences of trauma and grief that Nati ... Show More
35m 6s
Feb 2020
Todd Shepard, "Sex, France, and Arab Men, 1962-1979" (U Chicago Press, 2017)
Departing from the bold and compelling claim that we cannot fully understand the histories of decolonization and the so-called “sexual revolution” apart from one another, Todd Shepard’s Sex, France, and Arab Men, 1962-1979 (University of Chicago Press, 2017) is a complex analysis ... Show More
1 h
Jul 2025
M’hamed Oualdi, "A Slave between Empires: A Transimperial History of North Africa" (Columbia UP, 2020)
In light of the profound physical and mental traumas of colonization endured by North Africans, historians of recent decades have primarily concentrated their studies of North Africa on colonial violence, domination, and shock. The choice is an understandable one. But in his new ... Show More
41m 41s
Nov 2023
Musab Younis, "On the Scale of the World: The Formation of Black Anticolonial Thought" (U California Press, 2022)
On the Scale of the World: The Formation of Black Anticolonial Thought (U California Press, 2022) examines the reverberations of anticolonial ideas that spread across the Atlantic between the two world wars. From the 1920s to the 1940s, Black intellectuals in Europe, Africa, and ... Show More
51m 8s
Nov 2023
Musab Younis, "On the Scale of the World: The Formation of Black Anticolonial Thought" (U California Press, 2022)
On the Scale of the World: The Formation of Black Anticolonial Thought (U California Press, 2022) examines the reverberations of anticolonial ideas that spread across the Atlantic between the two world wars. From the 1920s to the 1940s, Black intellectuals in Europe, Africa, and ... Show More
48m 23s
Feb 2024
Revolutionaries: Catherine Flon
Catherine Flon (c. 18th century) was a prominent figure in Haitian history, known for her role in the creation of the Haitian flag. During the Haitian Revolution in 1803, she sewed together the first Haitian flag, symbolizing the nation's fight for independence from French coloni ... Show More
5m 35s
Aug 2022
Selene Wendt, "Beyond the Door of No Return: Confronting Hidden Colonial Histories Through Contemporary Art" (Skira, 2021)
In Beyond the Door of No Return: Confronting Hidden Colonial Histories through Contemporary Art (Skira, 2021), art historian and curator Selene Wendt presents lesser-known tales of anticolonial defiance in artworks and marginal histories worldwide. The artists featured in this bo ... Show More
1h 4m