Historian Ali Anooshahr’s new book Slavery in the Early Mughal World: The Life and Thoughts of Jawhar Aftabachi (1520s–1580s) upends conventional thinking about the extent of slavery in the Mughal Empire. It also charts the rise of individualism in India, an idea previously considered exclusive to Western civilization.
This year, both the winner of the 2025 Pulitzer Prize in History and the sole finalist are alumni of the UC Davis History Department Ph.D. program. The Pulitzer Prize is one of the most prestigious honors in journalism, literature and music composition.
This month’s "Books of the Month" features works authored or edited by L&S faculty from the arts, humanities and social sciences and have been selected in honor of Asian American Pacific islander (AAPI) Heritage Month. From the poetic to the analytical, L&S scholars unearth untold stories from the U.S., China, Japan, India, Indonesia, Vietnam and beyond.
Welcome to Books of the Month, a book club curated monthly with works from authors within the College of Letters & Science at UC Davis. This April, we honor Arab American Heritage Month with selections highlighting activist history within Arab American communities and abroad, as well as multiple cultural histories.
Historian Lisa Materson’s book, Radical Solidarity: Ruth Reynolds, Political Allyship, and the Battle for Puerto Rico's Independence (UNC Press, 2024), tells the story of an unlikely activist and radical pacifist from South Dakota who followed her conscience to Puerto Rico in the 1940s to join the independence movement.
Welcome to Books of the Month, a book club curated monthly with works from authors within the College of Letters & Science at UC Davis. This March, we honor Women's History Month with selections highlighting the contributions of women over time.
Historian Gregory Downs explains the complicated history of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, including subsequent laws that undermined equal protections it guaranteed, as well as the court case affirming the definition of birthright citizenship we take for granted today.
As historian Traci Parker writes a new biography, she is learning just how much Coretta Scott King contributed to her husband’s ideas and actions, and how his story is also very much her own.
Traci Parker, an associate professor of history, is working to fill out what we know about the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements in the U.S., and in the process is building deeper connections to the past.
Our February 2025 "Books of the Month" selections honor Black History Month. Get familiar with some lesser known aspects of American history, celebrate song and dance, or immerse yourself in someone else’s story. This month’s reads include cultural and historical analyses as well as two memoirs, a biography and a novel.
