Efforts have been made among scholars from Japan, South Korea, and China since the 1980s--on both private and state initiatives--to narrow the gaps in their historiographies and to cultivate mutual understanding. This article offers an extensive discussion of the author's history project, "A Student Project of Writing a Common History…

In November of 2016, Laurent Dubois discussed the importance of Haiti in writing the history of slavery, freedom, and human rights in the Atlantic World during the Age of Revolutions for Aeon. He explained that histories of modern political thought and culture underestimated the Haitian Revolution due to the lack of written sources by the enslaved…

Science in Latin America has a rich, complicated history, but it is often ignored both by traditional historians of science, as well as Latin American historians. Latin American science is characterized by liminality, "nepantlismo," an in-between-ness, a hybridization, a "mestizaje" of multiple indigenous, Creole, imperial…

War is one place where the complexity of victory and defeat should be explored more deeply. Unfortunately, war--whether experienced directly as a soldier in Afghanistan or a Syrian in an Aleppo suburb, or indirectly through a news item on the Internet or American television--is a near inescapable aspect of most people's daily life. Yet unless…

Given California's role in the Pacific economy, its historic Asian heritage, and the strong and growing presence of Asian communities and businesses in the state, it is imperative that students statewide understand the history of Asia. Unfortunately, the California state curricular framework and standards in history and social science limit the…

The simplest and most widely held definition of Social Darwinism is the application of concepts of biological evolution to social and moral development. More specifically, it is social evolution through "survival of the fittest" in a "struggle for existence" in which the strong prevail and the weak are defeated and disappear.…

The most remarkable change in historical studies in China during the last two decades has been the rise of new social history. It challenges the traditional historiography in three ways: in the objects studied, in the sources used, and in methodology. Consequently the rise of new social history has profoundly impacted women's history in China. For…

The question, "What were the causes of World War I?," has become one of the classic historical debates of which there seem to be endless permutations. In the past 90 years historians, journalists, and politicians have offered many more or less rational explanations for the war. Although at least some of the usual "causes"…

Examines studies of Fritz Fischer's works (1961 and 1969) concerning Germany's responsibility for World War I and the influence of this work upon later interpretations. Presents an integrated interpretation of the causes of the war based upon recent research findings. (RKM)

Analyzes previous interpretations concerning the French Revolution. Discusses several weaknesses of the Marxist views in light of recent philosophical and sociological thinking about social change. (RKM)

Reviews the various interpretations of the U.S. intervention in Guatemala in 1954. Focuses on the work of historians and debates among the realists, revisionists, and postrevisionists. States that the historical literature on this topic can outline the series of events that led to the downfall of Jacobo Arbenz Guzman. (CMK)

Compares Robert Palmer's interpretation of the French Revolution with the Marxist and revisionist views. Stresses Palmer's theory that the French Revolution belongs to the same spiritual family as the American. Reports that Palmer saw the French Revolution as the climactic event in a series of similar upheavals that integrated liberal democracy…

Discusses the study of U.S. history in east German universities. Describes obstacles such as a lack of recent U.S. historical publications and limited opportunities to study in the West. Includes as areas of study: the American Revolution, the Civil War, twentieth-century foreign policy, historiography, German emigration, and U.S. Presidents. (DK)

Discusses U.S. studies at Russian universities. Includes the status of the field, difficulties in obtaining sources, communist interpretation of U.S. social problems resulting in methodological isolationism, and low quality of scholarship. Warns against a shift in attitude that idealizes the Western experience. Argues that changes in mentality…

Presents an interpretive study of the Armenian genocide of 1915 based on Israel Charny's societal-forces model. Argues genocides follow a pattern of long discriminatory relationships between a dominant and a dominated group. Cites the economic achievements of dominated groups as the basis. Shows the global pattern of genocide. (NL)