History - Quillette

The Communication Revolution

Like the first iPhone, Gutenberg’s Bible opened up avenues of development that entrepreneurs have been exploiting ever since.

James Hannam

27 Sep 2023 · 10 min read

Champlain Gives It Another Go

In the twelfth instalment of an ongoing Quillette series on the history of Canada, Greg Koabel describes France’s halting efforts to create a permanent Canadian settlement in the early 1600s.

Greg Koabel

27 Sep 2023 · 29 min read

Huns to the North. Romans to the South

In the second instalment of ‘The So-Called Dark Ages,’ podcaster Herbert Bushman describes the events that sparked the fateful Gothic invasion of the Roman Empire.

Herbert Bushman

19 Sep 2023 · 25 min read

History Matters

A restoration of history, in all its complexity, is critical to escaping the polarized, rigid, and often insane political environment we now inhabit.

Joel Kotkin

14 Sep 2023 · 15 min read

A Cartographer for the Ages

In the eleventh instalment of his series on the history of Canada, Greg Koabel describes how Samuel de Champlain fundamentally redirected France’s transatlantic colonial project

Greg Koabel

9 Sep 2023 · 22 min read

Israel’s Everywoman at War

Helen Mirren’s Golda Meir offers a profile of greatness in the face of overwhelming adversity.

Michael Oren

8 Sep 2023 · 16 min read

Our Lost Classical Learning

The Western canon was not an unchanging set of texts, but an ongoing conversation that lasted thousands of years—enabling each generation to build on the intellectual heritage of the past.

Brian Kaller

5 Sep 2023 · 6 min read

Rise of the Goths

In the inaugural instalment of ‘The So-Called Dark Ages,’ podcaster Herbert Bushman introduces readers to the Gothic civilization that would eventually help bring down the Roman Empire.

Herbert Bushman

31 Aug 2023 · 17 min read

‘New France’ Stumbles Out of the Gate

In the tenth instalment of an ongoing Quillette series on the history of Canada, historian Greg Koabel describes the early—and tragically unsuccessful—French efforts to create a permanent colony

Greg Koabel

26 Aug 2023 · 19 min read

Are We Teaching That Slavery Is Beneficial?

That slaves were able to develop beneficial skills while in bondage is a tribute to the human ability to wrest value and create meaning even under conditions of almost unfathomable duress.

James B. LaGrand

8 Aug 2023 · 3 min read

Not a Genocide

Terrible things happened at many of Canada’s Residential Schools. But describing these institutions as instruments of mass murder is inaccurate.

Ian Gentles

2 Aug 2023 · 34 min read

Eight Hundred Years of Russian Despotism: An Interview with Orlando Figes

In a new book, the historian traces modern Russian aggression to an apocalyptic mythology rooted deep in the nation’s past.

Jonathan Kay

7 Jul 2023 · 9 min read

Celebrating the Legacy of Canada’s First Prime Minister

Far from being an ‘architect of genocide,’ John A. Macdonald championed policies that were humane by 19th-century standards

Greg Piasetzki

1 Jul 2023 · 11 min read

The Reverse Opium War

Beijing looks the other way, and the deadly medicine sails West just as its natural ancestor once sailed East.

Aaron Sarin

14 Jun 2023 · 13 min read

Up the St. Lawrence

In the fifth instalment of an ongoing Quillette series on the history of Canada, Greg Koabel describes Jacques Cartier’s first encounters with the Mi’kmaq and Iroquois.

Greg Koabel

6 Jun 2023 · 23 min read