We Have Moved

Prof. Ben Kiernan on the history of genocide

Yale University has just launched a new YouTube page featuring hundreds of videos from courses and campus events. In addition, the University has posted a host of enlightening interviews with professors like YUP author, Ben Kiernan, whose book, Blood and Soil: A World History of Genocide and Extermination from Sparta to Darfur, was just released in paperback.

Though the term "genocide" may be a comparatively new coinage, Kiernan's comprehensive volume proves that ethnic cleansing has a long history in human civilization.

Kathleen Brown in conversation on Foul Bodies

When we look back at the conditions that early Americans tolerated every day (sewage streaming through the streets, animals sharing spaces with their keepers) it's amazing that they ever achieved that near-godly state known as cleanliness.

In an enlightening discussion at the University of Pennsylvania, YUP author and UPenn historian Kathleen Brown unpacks the significance of cleanliness and its more common opposite in early America. Spanning analysis of class, race, and culture, it's a fascinating look into dress, health, and sanitation in an earlier time.

Click here to view the video on the UPenn website.