History

I just finished teaching an undergraduate university class on the Ancient Near East: 15 weeks on Ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt. I read as many original documents and modern histories—and looked at as much art—as I had time to do. I became intrigued by the many parallels between radical Islam and…

I just returned from the national conference of the Society for Military History (SMH), held at Kansas State University. I presented a paper on the military campaigns of the Roman Emperor Aurelian, arguing that his use of overwhelming force had resulted in a bloodless collapse of two major threats to…

Presents the essential history of Sherman’s march, showing how Sherman developed and implemented his ideas that lead to the North’s victory in the Civil War, and drawing the moral lessons we can learn from this great man about how to properly approach and quickly defeat enemies of freedom.

There is a widespread and dangerous misconception that the United States was founded as a Christian nation. As religious fundamentalism increases today, so does the likelihood that faith-based laws will be enacted and enforced by our government. Items on the agenda of faith-wielding politicians—who are increasingly pushing for rule by…

Examines the profound philosophical history surrounding the rise and fall of reason as the recognized method of scientific inquiry in the 18th and 19th centuries.