Author Archive

Andrew Hartman

Book Review of *The Polymath*

British historian Peter Burke has written many books and essays exploring the history of knowledge. This new prosopographical study examines the careers of 500 polymaths over the last 500 years.  During this period of time, typically referred to as the “modern age,” learning increasingly was organized around an intellectual division of labor and the proliferation of super-specialists.  Burke’s polymaths worked in multiple fields, now considered completely separate disciplines, but his subjects insisted instead on the unity of knowledge.  Burke argues that, for this heresy, historians have generally treated polymaths with contempt.  Labeled “specialists in generalities,” polymaths are typically condemned for Read more

Marcos de Brum Lopes on Zachary Jonathan Jacobson’s *On Nixon’s Madness: An Emotional History*

A couple of weeks ago, during a candid conversation with a dear friend of mine, Zachary J. Jacobson’s book on Nixon’s Madness came up. Politics and art are the main themes we usually talk about. Coming from different countries and cultures (Brazil and the US, for instance), we look for qualified insights on what’s happening in each other’s local contexts. My friend was intrigued by the book’s title. – “Huh, interesting approach”, he said, “I might read it”. – “It’s a psycho-history”, I told him, literally quoting how Jacobson himself describes his own work (p. 4). – “Psycho-history lol” was Read more