Sunday, March 19, 2:00 pm, Monthly Program via Zoom.
“Designed for Large Explosions” – The Port Chicago explosion and the Manhattan Project
A Presentation by Daisy Brown Herndon
Daisy Brown Herndon, a former school librarian,
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Monthly Archives: April 2023
Monthly Program: “Designed for Large Explosions” – The Port Chicago explosion and the Manhattan Project
by 
Posted in Institute Activities
Posted in Institute Activities
Sunday, August 21, 2:00 pm, Public Program via Zoom.
Megan Kate Nelson is a historian and writer, with a BA from Harvard and a PhD in American Studies from the University of Iowa. She is the author of four books: Saving Yellowstone: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America (Scribner 2022); The Three-Cornered War: The Union, the Confederacy, and Native Peoples in the Fight for the West (Scribner 2020; a finalist for the 2021 Pulitzer Prize in History); Ruin Nation: Destruction and the American Civil War (Georgia, 2012); and Trembling Earth: A Cultural History of the Okefenokee Swamp (Georgia, 2005). She writes about the Civil War, the U.S. West, and American culture for The New York Times, Washington Post, The Atlantic, Smithsonian Magazine, and TIME. Before leaving academia to write full-time in 2014, she taught U.S. history and American Studies at Texas Tech University, Cal State Fullerton, Harvard, and Brown. She grew up in Colorado but now lives in Boston with her husband and two cats.
Writing and Revising Narrative History
A Presentation by Megan Kate Nelson
Join the Mechanics' Institute and the Institute for Historical Study for this exciting talk about writing with historian Megan Kate Nelson who left academia in 2014 to become a full-time writer. During this Zoom event, she will offer advice for writers who want to publish trade history books and other pieces for general readers. Dr. Nelson will talk about how to make the transition from academic to narrative history writing, how to revise manuscripts for trade publication, and how to pitch articles and Op-eds to newspapers and magazines.
Megan Kate Nelson is a historian and writer, with a BA from Harvard and a PhD in American Studies from the University of Iowa. She is the author of four books: Saving Yellowstone: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America (Scribner 2022); The Three-Cornered War: The Union, the Confederacy, and Native Peoples in the Fight for the West (Scribner 2020; a finalist for the 2021 Pulitzer Prize in History); Ruin Nation: Destruction and the American Civil War (Georgia, 2012); and Trembling Earth: A Cultural History of the Okefenokee Swamp (Georgia, 2005). She writes about the Civil War, the U.S. West, and American culture for The New York Times, Washington Post, The Atlantic, Smithsonian Magazine, and TIME. Before leaving academia to write full-time in 2014, she taught U.S. history and American Studies at Texas Tech University, Cal State Fullerton, Harvard, and Brown. She grew up in Colorado but now lives in Boston with her husband and two cats.Sunday, June 18, 2:00 pm, Monthly Program via Zoom.
Many religions expect the end of the world to happen eventually. Christianity is unique in expecting it to happen any moment now. In this presentation, Dan Kohanski explores how Christianity came to take this position. He will also discuss the various ways the early Church tried to deal with this expectation, how it came to influence the calendar we use today, and how the Protestant Reformation changed everything. He concludes with an examination of some of the ways in which the expectation that the world might end tomorrow affects how we deal with the world today.
Dan Kohanski is a long-time member of the Institute and its writers’ group, and currently serves on the board. He has spent decades in the study of Judaism and Christianity, and recently published a book based on his research: A God of Our Invention: How Religion Shaped the Western World (Apocryphile Press, 2023).
“A Brief History of the End of the World"
A Presentation by Dan Kohanski
Many religions expect the end of the world to happen eventually. Christianity is unique in expecting it to happen any moment now. In this presentation, Dan Kohanski explores how Christianity came to take this position. He will also discuss the various ways the early Church tried to deal with this expectation, how it came to influence the calendar we use today, and how the Protestant Reformation changed everything. He concludes with an examination of some of the ways in which the expectation that the world might end tomorrow affects how we deal with the world today.
Dan Kohanski is a long-time member of the Institute and its writers’ group, and currently serves on the board. He has spent decades in the study of Judaism and Christianity, and recently published a book based on his research: A God of Our Invention: How Religion Shaped the Western World (Apocryphile Press, 2023).
We need a volunteer to write a short report on the presentation for the newsletter. If you would like to volunteer, please contact the program coordinator (Dan Kohanski).
The presentation will be recorded, and the question-and-answer part will be posted on YouTube for IHS members only. If you don’t want to be on the recording, just make sure your video is off. And please remember to mute your microphone!