Department of History

FSU professor available to comment on the Black Death and its lessons for COVID-19

Published: March 26, 2020 | 10:58 am | Posted in: Expert Pitches, News

A 14th century depiction of the burial of plague victims at Tournai in present-day Belgium. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

The Black Death looms large in the history of infectious disease. The pandemic — an outbreak of bubonic plague which was probably spread predominantly by rats and fleas — struck Italy in 1347. Recent evidence on mortality suggests that in just a few years, the disease killed around 60 percent of the population in Europe, […]

Expert Pitch: Historic U.S.-North Korea summit

Published: May 11, 2018 | 2:45 pm | Posted in: Expert Pitches

Annika A. Culver, associate professor of history at Florida State

Hours after marking the return of three Americans held captive in North Korea for more than a year, President Donald Trump announced Thursday that he will meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore to discuss the nation’s nuclear weapons program. In an agreement signed last month by Kim and South Korean President […]

FSU expert available to comment on Cuban presidency, legacy of the Castros

Published: April 19, 2018 | 4:00 pm | Posted in: Expert Pitches

Anasa Hicks, assistant professor history

When Fidel Castro stepped down from the Cuban presidency in 2008, he had presided over the communist country as its unchallenged leader and philosophical exemplar for just under five decades. Castro’s successor, his younger brother and close ideological confederate Raúl Castro, has served as president for the 10 years since the elder Castro’s resignation, hewing […]

FSU to host first-ever national state of the field of 18th-century French history conference

Published: April 6, 2018 | 3:52 pm | Posted in: Arts & Humanities

Florida State University is set to convene dozens of top historians of long 18th-century and revolutionary France from throughout the United States for a landmark conference on French history in American academia — the first-ever national conference of its kind. The two-day meeting, to be presented by FSU’s Institute on Napoleon and the French Revolution […]

70 years later: FSU professor reflects on legacy of the Marshall Plan

Published: April 5, 2018 | 11:51 am | Posted in: Arts & Humanities, Expert Pitches

On June 5, 1947, as Europe sat smoldering in the wake of World War II, U.S. Secretary of State George C. Marshall rose to address a Harvard University convocation. During his remarks, Marshall outlined the need for an international cooperative plan for European recovery, drafted by participating European nations and buttressed by “friendly advice” and […]

FSU professor offers students unique course on North Korea

Published: January 26, 2018 | 1:47 pm | Posted in: Arts & Humanities, Expert Pitches

Culver’s course will explore the fraught history of conflict and invasion that produced the modern North Korean regime. (Wikipedia)

Professor Available to Discuss North Korean Politics, History When Florida State University Associate Professor of History Annika A. Culver surveyed the state of Florida for examples of college courses on the history and culture of North Korea, she was surprised to come up empty. “I couldn’t find many opportunities for students to learn about North […]

FSU researcher: Pearl Harbor anniversary a day for reflection, remembrance

Published: December 4, 2017 | 12:55 pm | Posted in: Arts & Humanities, Expert Pitches

Kurt Piehler, director of the Institute on World War II and the Human Experience at FSU.

On the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, a fleet of more than 300 Japanese Imperial aircraft launched a devastating attack against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. As the nation prepares to commemorate the 76th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Florida State University Associate Professor of History and Director of […]

Expert Pitch: FSU history professor on the truth behind story of Thanksgiving

Published: November 13, 2017 | 11:04 am | Posted in: Arts & Humanities, Expert Pitches

Jennie A. Borwnscombe's "The First Thanksgiving at Plymouth" (1914) depicts an idyllic scene of colonists and Native Americans gathered in friendship for a lavish meal. There's only one problem: The story of the first Thanksgiving is a myth.

When millions of Americans sit down for Thanksgiving dinner this month, they will retell the story of peaceable Pilgrims gathering with their Native American neighbors to enjoy the bounty of a fruitful harvest. There’s only one problem, said Florida State University’s Allen Morris Associate Professor of History Andrew K. Frank. That famous first Thanksgiving feast […]

Guadalcanal anniversary: FSU expert available to discuss significance of historic battle

Published: August 2, 2017 | 3:32 pm | Posted in: Arts & Humanities, Expert Pitches

Aug. 7, 2017, will mark 75 years since the beginning of the battle of Guadalcanal, the first significant Allied offensive against the Empire of Japan and a major strategic turning point in the Pacific Theater of World War II. Florida State University Associate Professor of History and Director of the Institute on World War II […]

D-Day anniversary: FSU expert available to discuss legacy of the Allied invasion of Normandy

Published: May 25, 2017 | 2:32 pm | Posted in: Arts & Humanities, Expert Pitches

As we approach the 73rd anniversary of the Allied invasion of Normandy, also known as D-Day, historians in Florida State University’s Institute on World War II and the Human Experience continue to work diligently collecting, preserving and archiving artifacts and documents that tell the stories of the thousands of lives that were forever changed on […]

Hundreds of military scholars to attend FSU-hosted national conference in Jacksonville

Published: March 10, 2017 | 1:55 pm | Posted in: Arts & Humanities

Florida State University’s Institute on World War II and the Human Experience and the Department of History will host the 84th Annual Meeting of the Society for Military History (SMH) from Thursday, March 30, through Sunday, April 2, in Jacksonville, Fla. The conference, “Global War: Historical Perspectives,” will be held on the eve of the […]

WWII Institute to host lecture on struggles of disabled veterans in America

Published: October 25, 2016 | 9:55 am | Posted in: Arts & Humanities

Florida State University’s Institute on World War II and the Human Experience will address the issue of disabled veterans in America at its sixth annual fall lecture. John Kinder, a distinguished scholar at Oklahoma State University, will discuss “Open Wounds: Disabled Veterans and the American Century.” Kinder focuses his research on the history of […]