Reviewer Katie Roiphe calls the book a “lively, stylish social history” and remarks on the fact that the book faces the “divisions and power struggles at the heart of the women’s liberation movement” rather than treating it as a cohesive effort.
Full article: When Miss America Made Feminists Mad
Manisha Sinha curated the “The Second American Revolution” exhibition at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, and Andy Horowitz was part of the team behind the “Connecticut’s Revolution” exhibit at the Museum of Connecticut History.
Incredible pieces of American history, from the actual 13th amendment document to the original Connecticut copy of the Declaration of Independence, and a piece of a statue of King George III that was mostly melted down into ammunition for the Revolutionary Army are among the impressive array of items that the public can engage with as we consider 250 years of American history. But each exhibit drew on details and smaller moments that were part of these stories to engage the public to think about not just the past, but the people that lived and shaped it.
Full article here.
In For Your Health and Ours: An Eastern European History of Global Health, Sara Silverstein uses new research and material in six languages from seven countries and twenty-seven archives to describe a history of global health that decenters imperial influence and emphasizes the initiatives of people on the political peripheries including in the Global South.
The immersive exhibit features some innovative tech that museum goers can use to interact with primary sources to get glimpses into the lives of people that were central to (but not always centered in) the Revolutionary War efforts. Horowitz’s talk emphasized how individuals’ various roles and actions led to things like the creation of the Connecticut Compromise, or enslaved people paving new paths to freedom for themselves, and how the ways in which we define important places, circumstances, and people are vital to examine as we explore the voices of these stories.
You can read more about the opening gala talk and the exhibit here in the New Haven Independent article covering this event.
“The Minutemen and Their World” celebrated 50 years as America celebrated its 250th this year. The book is a Bancroft Prize winner and has remained integral to understanding what the American Revolution was like for the people of Concord, Massachusetts as they navigated day to day life leading up to and in the midst of a war against the British. Gross himself lives in Concord and this connection to the first battleground of the revolution and other iconic moments in early American history was one of the factors that led to his book taking shape the way it did. By focusing on people and stories it was an early and unshakable example of writing history for more general audiences and making history accessible to a wide audience without watering it down.
The 50th anniversary of the book’s release was also featured on July 21st in UConn Today. Read the UConn Today article here.
Dr. Jeffrey Ogbar is a Professor of History with the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and Founding Director of the Center for the Study of Popular Music. He joined the UConn History Department in 1997. Dr. Ogbar is a scholar of African American history and Black social movements, and his teaching and graduate advising have supported numerous students in developing their understanding and research of social movements, race, and music in American history and the present. He has authored four monographs, the latest of which, Land of Our Own: Malcolm X and the Evolution of Black Nationalism, is being released later this year.
Read more about the 2025-2026 Board of Trustees Distinguished Professors here.
On June 4th, Marc Reyes successfully defended his dissertation, “In the Circle of Great Powers: India and the Postcolonial Atomic State, 1947-1974.” Next, he will begin a postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford University’s Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC). During his appointment, Marc will present his research at CISAC weekly seminars, revise his dissertation chapters into journal articles, and participate in the fellows’ policy workshops and simulations.
From Marc’s dissertation abstract:
This dissertation examines the diplomatic, political, and intellectual history of India’s atomic energy program, using its research of the atom as a lens to better understand the country’s thinking and actions during the Cold War and beyond. It sheds light on how Indians, from public officials to security strategists to academics, preached the necessity of atomic energy’s peaceful uses while also issuing ambiguous statements regarding the development of nuclear weapons. Incorporating sources from multiple countries and over a dozen archives and libraries, the project views India’s atomic energy program as a transnational project shaped by Indian and non-Indian actors. The study concludes that India’s pursuit of the bomb went beyond scientific prestige and recognition as a modern state. After India’s decisive victory over Pakistan in a 1971 war, Indian leaders, such as prime minister Indira Gandhi, embraced the concept of an Indian bomb. Upon its 1974 “peaceful nuclear explosion,” Gandhi believed her country now had the mettle to stand in line with the world’s great powers.
Congratulations Dr. Marc Reyes on these impressive achievements!
Professor Sinha will give a talk on the exhibit and her work as a Reconstruction Historian on June 4th at a special preview of “The Second American Revolution”. The exhibit will be open from June 5 through January 17 and explores the Reconstruction era’s early efforts to give newly freed and free Black Americans full citizenship and rights, and the ways in which this mission was largely eroded leaving America with consequences that have followed the nation into the 21st century.
You can read more about this exhibit on the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum website here:
The article is entitled “The Civil Rights Era is Collapsing Before Our Eyes,” By Nikole Hannah-Jones, and appeared in both the print and online versions of The New York Times May 22, 2026.
You can read the full article here.
Professor McElya’s 2026 book Liberation Summer is about a key moment in the women’s liberation movement surrounding the 1968 Miss America pageant in Atlantic City and the reactions and protests it was surrounded by.
