USA

Urban Encounters

Defending their homelands, Native American chiefs fought violently with European colonists. But when conducting diplomacy in the city, they drank tea, went to the theatre and dressed for the occasion.

Roosevelt’s Southern Connection

Was the US president ‘dealing with the devil’ in his relationships with segregationist politicians or was his ‘the art of the possible’?

1771: The Year Britain Lost America?

Having achieved success in the Seven Years War, the following decade would be a chastening experience for Britain, culminating in the loss of its American colonies. 

Unsettled Legacy

Have dominant narratives of the American Civil War been detrimental to its emancipatory promise?

The Battle of St Louis

Saint or sinner? Recent demonstrations in the American city of St. Louis are just the latest battle for the legacy of a medieval French king. 

A Stand on the Streetcar

How an individual act of resistance in 1850s’ New York led to the desegregation of the city’s transit system.

Medicine Woman

Despite her fragile health and the chauvinism of the time, Susan Anderson brought compassion and competence to the medical profession in a still wild West. 

The Enemies Within

A terrorist attack on Wall Street a century ago aroused suspicion of anarchists, socialists and foreigners, as America saw danger around every corner.

How Broken Windows Broke Policing

Rudy Giuliani’s ‘zero tolerance’ attitude to community policing was rooted not in right-wing talking points, but in the liberal politics of the Civil Rights era.