Mike Jay— The first sustained interaction between the modern West and the hashish eaters of the Arab world occurred during Napoleon’s invasion of Egypt in 1798, which culminated in a ban on the use of hashish by French troops in October 1800. Hashish, according to the decree by General Jacques-François Menou (Napoleon himself had already left the country) caused its users to ‘lose reason and fall into a violent delirium, which often leads them to commit excesses of all kinds’.1 No direct testimony was cited from hashish-using soldiers themselves, and it seems that Menou intended the ban to ali ..read more

N. W. Collins— “Every American has seen the shocking images from Somalia,” President George H. W. Bush commenced the live address from the Oval Office.1 Announcing the new mission to East Africa, President Bush presented the national objective: to lead a global coalition to ease the humanitarian crisis in the region, to serve as a catalyst for the community of nations to act. “I have given the order . . . to move a substantial American force into Somalia . . . As I speak a Marine amphibious ready group, which we maintain at sea, is offshore Mogadishu.” The coalition would set out to avert huma ..read more

From spies in the Belgian network “La Dame Blanche,” knitting coded messages into jumpers, to those who interpreted aerial images and even ran entire sections, Helen Fry shows just how crucial women were to British intelligence. In this episode of the Yale University Press Podcast, we talk with Helen Fry about Women in Intelligence: The Hidden History of Two World Wars. Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Pandora | Spotify | Soundcloud The post Ep. 128 — The Remarkable Stories of Women in British Intelligence appeared first on Yale University Press ..read more

Christopher Tyerman— The crusades offer features to fascinate and disturb modern audiences. Surviving evidence–literary, archival, archaeological, visual and material–allows access in some detail to individual experiences as well as large movements, to perpetrators but also to opponents and victims. Much of the western historical record of the Levant crusades presents a rare instance of history written by losers. The physical legacy is extensive. The drama of events involving armed conflict across vast geographic distances and sharp cultural, communal and faith boundaries, together with the cl ..read more

Peter Stothard — Marcus Licinius Crassus was in his early sixties in the summer of 54 BCE, fit but old for a Roman army commander, red-cloaked and almost ready to cross the Euphrates for an unprecedented eastern war. Crassus was a meticulous planner, a master of political and financial risk. In these hottest months before the invasion he was making detail the servant of his grand design, just as he had all his life: the heavy equipment of his men, their means of supply, the guides that he needed for where later commanders would have maps. His war was to be waged at the edges of what he or any ..read more

Helen Fry— During wartime women were a valuable source of intelligence-gathering because they could move much more freely in occupied countries than men. They used their “invisibility” to gather and deliver sensitive and valuable military information for the Allies. They learned the various trades within spycraft, including the use of invisible ink, setting up safe houses, dead letter boxes, and operating in codes. Their secret reports could be hidden inside ordinary objects, such as packing paper, box covers, and bookplates, then smuggled to the head of an intelligence network. Women were hig ..read more

In this episode of the Yale University Press Podcast, we talk with award-winning sociologist Michael Mann about his new book, On Wars. Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Stitcher | Spotify | Soundcloud The post Ep. 120—A Global History of Wars appeared first on Yale University Press ..read more

Andrew F. Krepinevich, Jr.— The past year has witnessed the continuing decline in U.S.-China relations. Last February, Chinese president Xi Jinping declared his friendship with Vladimir Putin had “no limits,” only days before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In August, angered by a U.S. congressional delegation’s visit to Taiwan, China conducted large-scale military exercises surrounding the island as part of an ongoing campaign of intimidation. Now there are revelations of a Chinese reconnaissance balloon breaching U.S. airspace. Despite Beijing’s denials that the balloon was for meteorological ..read more

John D. Hosler— It began as a typical visit to Jerusalem for Usama ibn Munqidh. On this trip, which probably took place in 1140, Usama moved easily through the city, ascended the Temple Mount, and headed for al-Aqsa mosque. The third most important mosque in Islam (following those at Mecca and Medina), al-Aqsa dates to the reign of the Umayyad Caliph Walid I (674–715) and occupies a commanding spot in the city, 0from which visitors can enjoy a panoramic view from the Mount of Olives to the Sepulchre Church to Mount Zion. Al-Aqsa itself was off-limits for prayer—the Christian Knights Templars h ..read more

To better understand the Russia-Ukraine crisis, we have put together a list of the most relevant books that shed light on the history, socio-economic and political relations of these two neighboring countries as well as titles that provide additional context to the historical and evolving war tactics at play. “An interesting and provocative read, which will, one hopes, contribute to the Western understanding of what Ukraine is and why it matters.”—Volodymyr Kulyk, Harvard Ukrainian Studies In the most acute, informed, and insightful account of Ukraine and its people available today, An ..read more