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Spreading the News: The American Postal System from Franklin to Morse
Book Review ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ by Zhihui Zou

Spreading the News: The American Postal System from Franklin to Morse

Although it was published in 1995, Richard R. John's Spreading the News: The American Postal System from Franklin to Morse remains a must-read in the media history academia. This book practically shaped today's academic research in this genre...
Conquered: The Last Children of Anglo-Saxon England
Book Review ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ by Bradford Lee Eden

Conquered: The Last Children of Anglo-Saxon England

There are many books, both scholarly and popular, that discuss one of the most seminal events in English history: the Norman Conquest of 1066. Perspectives of the Anglo-Saxons, the French, the Normans, and the various populations living in...
Origin Story: A Big History of Everything
Book Review ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ by Zhihui Zou

Origin Story: A Big History of Everything

Every culture, religion, and community has its narrative of how this world originated. This narrative tells the people in that community why our landscapes look the way they are, why we have different seasons, why the sky rains, and, more...
The Cambridge World History: Volume 5, Expanding Webs of Exchange and Conflict, 500 CE – 1500 CE
Book Review ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ by Graham Squires

The Cambridge World History: Volume 5, Expanding Webs of Exchange and Conflict, 500 CE – 1500 CE

In 2015, Cambridge University Press published a seven-volume series titled "The Cambridge World History." The series aimed to offer a comprehensive account of a variety of cultures and communities as they are understood today. The range of...
Insight Guides Silk Road (Travel Guide)
Book Review ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ by Graham Squires

Insight Guides Silk Road (Travel Guide)

Over the last 20 years, there has been quite a boom in the publication of books about the Silk Road. The Silk Road would more accurately be referred to as the plural "Silk Roads," since it was a network of roads rather than a single highway...
Articulating Bodies: The Narrative Form of Disability and Illness in Victorian Fiction
Book Review ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ by Reisa Rogovein

Articulating Bodies: The Narrative Form of Disability and Illness in Victorian Fiction

Kylee-Anne Hingston, Assistant Professor of English at St. Thomas More College in Saskatoon, Canada, uses a conversational approach and gentle writing to show how literary forms create and determine literary characters' bodily images in her...
Empires of Ancient Eurasia: The First Silk Roads Era, 100 BCE – 250 CE
Book Review ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ by Graham Squires

Empires of Ancient Eurasia: The First Silk Roads Era, 100 BCE – 250 CE

In the book's Introduction, Craig Benjamin writes that, between the 2nd century BCE and the mid-3rd century CE, the Silk Roads linked together many cultures and communities throughout Afro-Eurasia. This is the “First Silk Roads Era,” which...
Against the Grain: A Deep History of the Earliest States
Book Review ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ by Zhihui Zou

Against the Grain: A Deep History of the Earliest States

A popular perception both in and out of academia is this: a few millennia ago, agriculture let hunter-gatherers settle down and form permanent societies and governments, which provided better living conditions compared to unsettled nomadic...
Reading Medieval Ruins: Urban Life and Destruction in Sixteenth-Century Japan
Book Review ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ by Fin Davey

Reading Medieval Ruins: Urban Life and Destruction in Sixteenth-Century Japan

Although this is a wonderful read for anyone having a deep infatuation with Japanese history, it mostly appeals to a scholar or a reader who is somewhat familiar with the topic. This, however, should not discourage any passionate readers...
The American West: A New Interpretive History (Second Edition)
Book Review ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ by Zhihui Zou

The American West: A New Interpretive History (Second Edition)

When the first edition of The American West: A New Interpretive History, penned by Professor Robert V. Hine (1921 - 2015) and Professor John Mack Faragher, was published in 2000, it was an instant success despite the field of the American...
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