History

Fourth-year Eric Ryu studied 18th and 19th century lectures notes from university archives in Glasgow, Edinburgh, and St. Andrews to trace the intellectual roots of the two movements.

Historian Benjamin Nathans’ huge volume on the stories and lives of Soviet dissidents has gotten renewed attention after winning the 2025 Pulitzer Prize in General Nonfiction. Nathan’s research and insights span a four-decade-long career studying Russia and the USSR, modern Jewish history, and the history of human rights.

The James H. Broussard Best First Book Prize, awarded annually to the best first book by a new author published in the previous calendar year and dealing with any aspect of the history of the early American republic, went to Sarah L. H. Gronningsater, associate professor of history at Penn’s School of Arts &N Sciences, for “The Rising Generation: Gradual Abolition, Black Legal Culture, and the Making of National Freedom.”

Rising third-year Luiza Sulea is working in marketing at Penn’s WXPN radio through the Summer Humanities Internship Program.

In honor of the 250th anniversary of the United States Post Office, Penn Today highlights postal-related items in the Penn Libraries’ Kislak Center for Special Collections.

The history doctoral student is working on a dissertation about agricultural science in modern China with the help of Penn Libraries’ Zilberman Family Center for Global Collections.