Date: Thursday, April 10th
Time: 12:10 – 1:30 PM
Location: 411 Fayerweather Hall

Historical writing for general audiences comes in a variety of forms and subgenres. In this talk, commercial nonfiction author and historian of science Dr. Surekha Davies will discuss the research, writing, and business of creative and narrative nonfiction history books. Topics will include: how a trade-list book differs from an academic book; getting an agent; getting a book deal; researching the market; devising a saleable topic; and making a living.

Dr. Surekha Davies is a British author, speaker, and historian, with a BA and an M.Phil. in History and Philosophy of Science from the University of Cambridge and a Ph.D. from the University of London. She is the author of Humans: A Monstrous History (University of California Press, 2025). Her first book, Renaissance Ethnography and the Invention of the Human: New Worlds, Maps and Monsters (Cambridge University Press, 2016), won the Morris D. Forkosch Prize for the best first book in intellectual history from the Journal of the History of Ideas and the Roland H. Bainton Prize in History and Theology. Her writing has been supported by such institutions as the American Historical Association, the Library of Congress, the American Philosophical Society, the Folger Shakespeare Library, and the John Carter Brown Library. She has written about biology, anthropology, and monsters in the Times Literary Supplement, Nature, Science, and Aeon.

Date: Friday, April 11th, 2025
Time: 12:00 – 1:00 PM ET
Location: Via Zoom.

Part of the Science Studies Working Group, Spring 2025, presented by Stephanie Reitzig (History).
To receive the papers and Zoom invitations for each meeting, make sure you are subscribed to our mailing list. You can subscribe by emailing Julia Tomasson (jct2182@columbia.edu) or Stephanie Reitzig (scr2165@columbia.edu).

Date: Monday, April 14th, 2025
Time: 12:00 – 1:30 PM
Location: Room 607B, Pulitzer Hall, 2950 Broadway, New York, NY 10027

Join Dr. Marc-William Palen (University of Exeter) for a discussion of his new book, Pax Economica: Left-Wing Visions of a Free Trade World. This fascinating study explores the intersections of global capitalism, anti-imperialism, and peace activism. The book was recently listed in the Financial Times “Best Books of the Year,” as well as the 2024 “Best Books” review by the New Yorker.

Comment will be provided by Prof. Kim Phillips- Fein (Columbia University), renowned historian of American politics and political economy.

RSVP is required for attendance and for free lunch. Please RSVP to Stuart Anderson-Davis (sra2168@columbia.edu).

Columbia University makes every effort to accommodate individuals with disabilities. If you require disability accommodations to attend this event, please contact the Office of Disability Services at 212-854-2388 or disability@columbia.edu at least 10 days in advance of the event.

Date: Thursday, April 24th, 2025
Time: 1:00 – 3:00 PM ET
Location: LaGuardia Community College, 31-10 Thomson Avenue Room E-242 Queens, NY 11101
RSVP here.

The LaGuardia Book Prize, in its second year, recognizes an exceptional work of scholarship that utilizes collections from the LaGuardia and Wagner Archives, a repository of New York City history. The inaugural award, in 2024, went to historian and journalist Terry Golway for I Never Did Like Politics: How Fiorello La Guardia Became America’s Mayor, and Why He Still Matters.

“LaGuardia Community College is delighted to honor the historian Kim Phillips-Fein for her groundbreaking work on New York’s fiscal crisis. Meticulously researched, drawing from resources at LaGuardia and Wagner Archives, Fear City illuminates the origins of the fiscal crisis in 1975 and the response of politicians and bankers. The crisis changed the way the city is governed. It also permanently transformed CUNY,” said President Kenneth Adams. “On the 50th anniversary of the crisis, as we grapple with other economic challenges in New York, Fear City couldn’t be timelier.”

LaGuardia and Wagner Archives established the Fiorello LaGuardia Book Prize in 2024. Soraya Ciego-Lemur, Deputy Director of LaGuardia and Wagner Archives, said since the 1980s the Archives has been a major research center for scholars doing work on New York City history.

“Many books have been written based on our rich collections. We decided that it was time to recognize stellar works that have come out of the Archives,” Ciego-Lemur said. “Fear City by Kim Phillips-Fein was an obvious choice. She used the Papers of Mayors Abraham Beame,” said Soraya Ciego-Lemur, Deputy Director of LaGuardia and Wagner Archives.

“Fear City became an instant classic when it was published in 2017, recognized by scholars as a seminal work on the urban political economy,” said Stephen Petrus, Ph.D., Director of Public History Programs at LaGuardia and Wagner Archives. “Phillips-Fein sheds light on the rise of austerity politics in the city in the late 1970s. It was a pivotal moment in New York history and had ramifications on the global economy. The policies implemented became a blueprint for neoliberals around the world.”

Each year the recipient of the Fiorello LaGuardia Book Prize will deliver a talk at LaGuardia. On April 24 in the E-Building, room 242, at 1 p.m., Phillips-Fein will be in conversation with Petrus. The event will incorporate LaGuardia students studying the fiscal crisis as well as showcase resources from the Archives. The talk is free and open to the public.

Date: Friday, May 2nd, 2025
Time: 12:00 – 1:00 PM ET
Location: Via Zoom.

Part of the Science Studies Working Group, Spring 2025, presented by Farideh Laffan (Cornell, STS).
To receive the papers and Zoom invitations for each meeting, make sure you are subscribed to our mailing list. You can subscribe by emailing Julia Tomasson (jct2182@columbia.edu) or Stephanie Reitzig (scr2165@columbia.edu).