Readers of H-Diplo will likely wonder “who is that?” when they see identity of the author of this essay since I am neither a historian of diplomacy nor a specialist in international relations. I am a historian of the nineteenth century United States who focuses on slavery, the Civil War, and emancipation, with a teaching…
Category: Essays
H-Diplo|RJISSF Essay 531: Alison R. Holmes on Learning the Scholar’s Craft
You could say I carry a genetic predilection for the living and teaching of international affairs as I am essentially the product of fin de siècle globalization. With grandparents and parents who lived the turmoil of war and chaos at the turn of the twentieth century and having seen for myself a world in crisis…
H-Diplo|RJISSF Review Essay 80: Rindzevičiūtė on Krige, ed., Knowledge Flows in a Global Age
In the context of the ongoing Russian war against Ukraine and the growing tensions with China, the question of transnational scientific cooperation has returned to the center of the debates about the future of East-West diplomacy and international relations. The last year saw many panels organised in prominent forums, where academics, experts, and diplomats explored…
H-Diplo|RJISSF Essay 528: Threlkeld on Learning the Scholar’s Craft
Given the trajectory of my scholarship over the last fifteen years, this seems funny to admit, but when I started graduate school, I did not know that US foreign relations history was a thing. I enrolled at the University of Iowa in 2000 to study US women’s history with Linda Kerber. I had graduated the…
H-Diplo|RJISSF Review Essay 68: Hedling on Crocker, et al, Diplomacy and the Future of World Order
H-Diplo | Robert Jervis International Security Studies Forum Review Essay 68 Chester A. Crocker, Fen Osler Hampson and Pamela Aall, eds. Diplomacy and the Future of World Order. Washington DC: Georgetown University Press, 2021. IBSN: 9781647120931 (hardcover $110.95), 9781647120948 (paperback $36.95). Reviewed by Elsa Hedling, Lund University 4 May 2023 | PDF: http://issforum.org/to/RE68 | Website:…
H-Diplo Essay 511- Mark Atwood Lawrence on Learning the Scholar’s Craft
What do you want to be when you grow up? It’s a question that I playfully ask my daughters from time to time. Still pre-teens, they don’t face high-stakes decisions any time soon. Their answers are nevertheless fascinating. Veterinarian, scientist, musician, coach, writer—I’ve heard a lot of good possibilities that instill a bit of parental…
H-Diplo | RJISSF Review Essay 66 Brew on Thompson, Disorder: Hard Times in the 21st Century
The first twenty years of the twenty-first century have witnessed a seemingly never-ending sequence of global calamities. From 9/11 and the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 to the Global Financial Crisis of 2008-2009 and Great Recession, the Arab Spring, the Syrian civil war, Brexit, the 2016 election of Donald Trump, and the 2020 COVID…
H-Diplo Essay 503- Isabel V. Hull on Learning the Scholar’s Craft
The H-Diplo editors have asked about the “formative years” of scholars’ interest in international affairs. I honestly don’t know where it all started. I was a nerdy kid interested in history, natural and (I guess) unnatural, and politics very early on. I was an avid reader of Time, despite its “strange inverted Timestyle” (“Backward ran…
H-Diplo Essay 450- J. Samuel Walker on Learning the Scholar’s Craft
I came to a career as a professional historian naturally but indirectly. I began my college education at the University of Delaware as a pre-med major. The curriculum was heavily weighted toward the sciences, and I quickly concluded that biology was tedious, chemistry was bewildering, and physics was incomprehensible. By contrast, my history courses were…
H-Diplo Essay 448- Thomas G. Paterson on Learning the Scholar’s Craft
“Excuse me, sir,” an aide interrupts the president. “History is here to see you.” George W. Bush perks up. “History?” The assistant explains: “He seems ready to render a judgment.” Taken aback, the chief executive asks: “What about my papers? I don’t want him snooping around my papers!” No problem. “Already locked up forever, sir….