History Mystery

Who is Calafia? The Forgotten Literary Origins of the State of California

California, the Golden State, was first explored by Europeans in the sixteenth century when Spanish explorers began traversing the Pacific coastline. By the late-eighteenth century, the Spanish had established a series of missions which ran along the state which was referred to as “Alta California.” After a relatively brief stint as a Mexican province, California […]

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Book Review History

The Universe According to Menocchio: A Review of Carlo Ginzburg’s “The Cheese and the Worms”

The Cheese and the Worms by Carlo Ginzburg is a fascinating glimpse into the private lives and personal beliefs of the Renaissance commoner. This human-centered history presents the story of a miller who committed the unthinkable crime of developing and sharing his own personal cosmology. Human History Before exploring the specifics of what makes this […]

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