It’s easy to bury New York City underneath a list of superlatives. On this visit, my Airbnb was in Astoria, offering me the refreshing, if fleeting, experience of living in Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Congressional district. On a Saturday night, I took the 7 train out to Queens Night Market. The Night Market is something like a […]
On a recent trip to New York City, I visited South Street Seaport Museum (SSSM), located almost in the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge. There is more maritime heritage associated with this location than I can easily enumerate here.[1] It was once the “Street of Ships” where transatlantic steamers and passenger liners anchored. It also […]
Apologies to regular Coastal History blog readers—I’ve been quiet for a while. I’ve been busy with conferences, and also with getting some “thought pieces” into print. The last year and a half has been about giving presentations, getting introduced, introducing people to each other, and alerting them to the possibilities of organizing around the new […]
Why Does Naval History Matter? From the early sixteenth-century to the middle of the twentieth; England, then Great Britain, became a superpower.[1] Lambert explains “. . . one critical advantage: naval power”.[2] Contemporary writers put forward two arguments about British Naval history; the first is that Britain and especially its Navy founded the modern global system;[3] the second […]
Engaging with the Past is a heritage and public history reading group which aims to discuss, debate and share ideas concerning ‘heritage’ through contemporary cultural production and the representation of the past – through management, public engagement, and various methods of dissemination. It is hoped that this reading group can provide an opportunity for friendly […]
Following the recent announcements of shipyard closures in Portsmouth it is pertinent to explore the significance of Royal Navy shipbuilding in Britain. Although BAE Systems decided to retain its operations on the Clyde in November 2013, there was a fierce debate around whether it was Glasgow or Portsmouth who were best placed to emerge as the […]
