The past is present
Comprehensive exams are less about recalling every detail of every book than about building a durable system of arguments, interventions, and stakes. Read with precision, take structured notes, test your memory, and lean on community—the process is as much formation as it is evaluation.
Comprehensive Exams, or 'Comps,' can be confusing and intimidating for graduate students, but the first step to conquering Comps, and the fear they elicit, is to understand what they are, what they are designed to test, and how they work.
Embarking on a PhD in history can be incredibly rewarding, but before you apply, it's best to have a clear-eyed view of academia as a whole (including the various types of universities where you might study and work), the life (and limits) of being a PhD student, and the realities of the academic job market.
Considering an MA or PhD in history? This guide helps students figure out what about grad school appeals to them, what degrees they actually need to do the things they love, and whether they're in the right place to start grad school now.
At the 50th anniversary of the fight, the “Thrilla in Manila” emerges as not only the story of two extraordinary boxers’ pushing themselves to their physical limits, but also embodies creativity and entrepreneurship within the African American community, as well as a climactic event in the history of American sports in the 1970s.
Recent attacks on Tom Hanks and American universities highlight parallels between 2025 and the McCarthy era. But our moment has something the Cold War Red Scare didn't: the benefits of hindsight and mass resistance.
T-Pain’s stunning, stripped-down vocal performance on the Tiny Desk version of “Buy U A Drank (Shawty Snappin’)” makes it clear that he’s got the organic vocal chops to “sound good” without any digital assistance. Through T-Pain's example, students see that we must first know what our own voices are capable of to then explore what technology might do to expand, enhance, or embellish our creative endeavors.
This course introduces the history of delinquency as a legal construct in the United States since 1825. Broadly defined as the adult conception of criminal and problematic youth behavior, we will examine what delinquency meant during the past 200 years as well as antidelinquency efforts deployed by families, social workers, police departments, judges, clinicians, politicians, and legislators.
"Meeting Across the River" routinely lands last when fans rank their Born to Run favorites. But its noir mood was where the country was heading in the mid-1970s.
Even well-intentioned efforts at historical reckoning can reproduce epistemic harm when they rely on unexamined disciplinary assumptions.
Clio and the Contemporary 