History Commons^™

Women, Divorce, Tobacco, And Outplacements Of Children: Uncovering Family Secrets In Switzerland, Tito Craige

Swiss American Historical Society Review

From early in the nineteenth century until the 1950s, tens of thousands of Swiss children were taken from their homes and placed with foster families or sold at auction. The mothers of the outplaced children were usually poor and divorced; some were alleged to be prostitutes. One of these mothers was the author’s great-grandmother, Dorothea Hürlimann. In 1895, because she was divorced and managed a tobacco store in Geneva’s red-light district, her three children were sent to live with foster families. The middle child, Dora, was four years old when she was placed with a family in Winterthur and began …

Book Review: Switzerland And Sub-Saharan Africa In The Cold War, 1967-1979: Neutrality Meets Decolonisation, Thomas Quinn Marabello

Swiss American Historical Society Review

Switzerland and Sub-Saharan Africa in the Cold War, 1967-1979: Neutrality Meets Decolonisation was written as part of the series “New Perspectives on the Cold War,” which looks at different issues, events and regions impacted by the Cold War. While Switzerland was not a major power, nor did it have colonies in Africa or elsewhere, it had economic interests in the continent and a foreign policy that guided its decision making and values, centered around its historical tradition of neutrality. This well researched work of historiography gives readers new insights into Switzerland’s relations, especially with Portuguese colonies during and after decolonization. …

Full Issue

Swiss American Historical Society Review

No abstract provided.

Dietmar Kuegler 1951-2022: In Memoriam, Albert Winkler

Swiss American Historical Society Review

A dear friend and strong supporter of the Swiss American Historical Society, Dietmar Kuegler, died on December 3, 2022, in the village of Övenum on the island of Föhr, Germany, where he had lived for several years. For many years, he translated and published my articles from the Swiss American Historical Society Review dealing with the Swiss in the American West in his Magazin für Amerikanistik in Germany. He also translated and published eleven of my books including The Germans and Swiss at the Battle of the Little Bighorn 1876, which was also published in the SAHS Review …

Attending The Annual Meeting Of The Sahs In Washington, D.C.: An Exaggeration, Albert Winkler

Swiss American Historical Society Review

As president of the Swiss American Historical Society last year, 2022, it was my pleasure to attend the Society’s annual meeting in Washington, D.C. I always go anyway. The thought of trying to be charming, clever, and insightful at the meetings was just too much for me to bear alone, so I groveled at the feet of my son, Kurt, and his wife, Razil, to go with me. Rather than watch an old man cry, they agreed to go too if I paid. What a deal! We got on the plane in Salt Lake. I can still remember when you …

Switzerland’S Banished Children, Una Suseli O'Connell

Swiss American Historical Society Review

Over a one hundred year period a practice known as verdingen (indentured servitude) operated in Switzerland. Children were removed from their families and sent to work on farms. It is estimated that between 1860 and 1960, one hundred thousand children were verdingt in this way, a quarter of them in the Canton of Bern. Local parishes paid farmers a monthly allowance to provide disadvantaged children with board and lodging. Although some treated their charges well, countless children suffered terrible hardship over many years. A veil of silence fell across entire communities as clergy, social workers and villagers chose to ignore …

A New Voice For Old Helvetia: Introducing The Descendants Of Swiss Settlers, Joseph H. Smith

Swiss American Historical Society Review

The Descendants of Swiss Settlers is a new lineage society that honors and celebrates the unique legacy and achievements of Swiss men and women who settled in North America prior to March 5, 1798, which marks the end of the Old Swiss Confederacy. We are excited to announce our formation and we are seeking members!

Challenges To Swiss Democracy: Neutrality, Napoleon, & Nationalism, Thomas Quinn Marabello

Swiss American Historical Society Review

The year 1291 is considered the birth of Switzerland as we know it. Yet this is not entirely correct, since it was when the Swiss Confederacy was formed. This defensive alliance between some cantons that would expand over time did not mean Switzerland was a unified nation-state. Most of Europe in 1291 was stuck in the Middle Ages with few unified nations existing at the time. 1648 was an important year for Switzerland and the rest of Europe. The Treaty of Westphalia marked the end of the Thirty Years’ War that involved most of the continent over religion and politics. …

Book Review: Maurice-Ernest Gillioz (1877-1962): Great Builder In America, Yves Bordet

Swiss American Historical Society Review

Maurice-Ernest Gillioz is a good example of the American dream. The son of a Swiss emigrant from the Canton of Valais who arrived in New York in the middle of the American Civil War, Gillioz started from nothing and built one of the largest public works companies in the Midwest in the first half of the twentieth century. Philippe Pierroz’ book is 164 pages, written in French, of richly illustrated and strongly documented material. The numerous illustrations and appendices can be easily understood by English-speaking readers.

Book Review: Einer Für Alle, Alle Für Einen—One For All, All For One, Stephen P. Halbrook

Swiss American Historical Society Review

In English, this title is translated as One For All, All For One. A Commemorative for the Bicentenary of the Swiss Shooting Association SSV. This tome does much more than celebrate the two-hundredth anniversary of Switzerland’s marksmanship society. Given the central role of the SSV in the political, military, and social life of the country, this work is also an interactive history, indeed a reference work, for those same years. This review pinpoints some of the highlights of the volume.

Remembering A Mensch— Dr. Waseem A. Malick: In Memoriam, C. Naseer Ahmad

Swiss American Historical Society Review

Dr. Waseem A. Malick, who spent over 30 years working for Swiss Pharmaceutical giant Hoffman-La Roche, was a mensch. He passed away in December 2022 in New Jersey. On February 5, 2023, about 150 of his friends, colleagues and family members gathered to remember him. Being by the side of Dr. Malick’s wife and his children, his Roche colleagues were a source of comfort for the family.

End Matter

Swiss American Historical Society Review

No abstract provided.

On Civilizational Strategic Studies, Stephen T. Satkiewicz

Comparative Civilizations Review

Given the on-going crises around the world, especially the current war in Ukraine, it has become imperative to analyze the strategic interests of the major geopolitical players in the world. Samuel P. Huntington formulated his controversial “Clash of Civilizations” thesis almost thirty years ago, but this topic has received a resurgence of interest due to Christopher Coker’s research on “civilizational states.” Coker takes this concept a bit further by arguing that different geopolitical actors disagree on how the world should be ordered.

Now is perhaps the most opportune time to examine the relevance of civilizations as well as civilizational theory …

Eli And Susannah Wiggill: South African Saints, Jay H. Buckley, Joshua Rust

Faculty Publications

Eli Wiggill’s story of migration from Gloucester, England, to South Africa and then to Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, epitomizes an inspiring and informative example of the gathering of the Saints to Zion in the mid-nineteenth century. Eli and his wife, Susannah Bentley Wiggill, joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in South Africa while Eli served as a Methodist missionary. Both became stalwart members following their conversion. Eli and Susannah Wiggill’s faithful dedication affected the lives of hundreds of South African Saints. This essay adds to scholarship about Eli and Susannah Wiggill’s immigration from England to South …

Front Matter

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

New Iscsc Website

Comparative Civilizations Review

After several years of faithful service, the ISCSC website has received a much needed facelift. The new site is more attractive, has more content, and is far easier to navigate.

The Cycles Of Progress And Regress In Ethiopian Civilization And Politics, Tseggai Isaac Phd

Comparative Civilizations Review

This is a study of the historical traditions of Ethiopia and their value as basis for national identity considering the inescapable evolutionary trajectories of modernization.

Specific watershed events with catastrophic effects besieged Ethiopia, resulting in the precipitous decline of the values, dignity, and solemnity of the Ethiopian State. Challenges that contributed to the distancing of Ethiopia’s institutional identity from the loftiness of its roots will be covered.

The political and religious history of Ethiopia will be highlighted to establish landmark events of history, politics, and religion. Specific crises resulting in shifts in values, as well as various reactions to these …

Civilizational Heritage In The Age Of Innovation: Exploring The Importance Of Civilizational Heritage In The 21st Century, Bibi Pelić, Ulrike Michel-Schneider

Comparative Civilizations Review

‘What has civilizational heritage to do with innovation?’ you may ask. ‘I just got the latest iPhone and don’t see any connection.’ You would not be the only one to ask this question.

If we backtrack a thousand years or so and look at innovations from the past, such as the Via Appia or the Colosseum, did the Romans think about civilizational heritage when they built these two magnificent structures? Did they care about civilizational heritage? What about the ancient Egyptians whose building innovation, ‘the pyramid,’ is still an enigma for us today?

Innovation is thus nothing new, but it …

Tyrannies Gave Rise To Martial Arts, But Enlightened Martial Philosophies Reveal A Better Way, Michael Andregg

Comparative Civilizations Review

Most of this brief review will be academic history, but one of the truisms of the martial arts is that it is never strictly “academic.” Words on paper cannot express some things at the heart of the art. Many of the most thoughtful masters of various schools have worried about how to cultivate students with the discipline and philosophical background to be “safe” for polite society. This is a similar problem for police departments and even armies. The best wish to train professionals in ways of being deadly, without empowering undisciplined people to harm innocents. Therefore, part of this paper …

Book Review: Walter Scheidel. The Great Leveler: Violence And The History Of Inequality From The Stone Age To The Twenty-First Century, Leland Conley Barrows

Comparative Civilizations Review

Inspired by the work of Thomas Piketty, particularly his Capitalism in the Twenty-First Century (2013), and Albrecht Dürer’s 1497-1498 woodcut, “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse,” Dr. Walter Scheidel, Professor of Classics and History at Stanford University, argues in his massive 521-page volume that for most of human history reductions in socio-economic equality, supposedly a positive good, have resulted from more-or-less violent compressions entailing destruction and death. The implication is that in “normal” times, societies are characterized by inequality even though it is not perceived as a positive good.

Book Review: Karl E. Ryavec. A Historical Atlas Of Tibet, Michael Andregg

Comparative Civilizations Review

This is a fantastic scholarly work (20 pages inclusive, 49 detailed maps plus over 100 photos and illustrations) that adds greatly to the body of scholarship on ancient and modern Tibet. In his introduction, Ryavec explicitly calls Tibet a civilization in its own right despite many entanglements with Chinese Empires, being conquered by the Mongols, and being influenced by steady flows of trade long the Silk Road and by Buddhist monks from India promoting their brands of enlightenment to any who would listen. Thus, there came to be a predominantly Buddhist Tibet, until the communist Chinese took over from 1951-59 …

End Matter

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

Iscsc President’S Report: Two Exciting Events Coming Up, Lynn Rhodes

Comparative Civilizations Review

Why was the International Society for the Comparative Study of Civilizations created more than a half century ago by UNESCO and what has guided our comparative civilizations endeavors from then to these days?

Thinking Ahead: The Advent Of New Paradigms In International Relations Theory: “Truth Unfolds In Time Through A Communal Process.” - Carroll Quigley, Vlad Alalykin-Izvekov Phd

Comparative Civilizations Review

International Relations Theory is a branch of Political Science that studies International Relations from a theoretical perspective. Historically, it was dominated by two paradigms — Realism and Liberalism. Recently, though, among other theories and perspectives an influential Civilizational Paradigm has emerged. The paper contains analysis of the roots, significance, as well as discontents of those schools of thought. Looking into the future, the author of this paper proposes the Integralistic Paradigm in International Relations Theory.

The Soul Of Russia And The Soul Of Ukraine, David Wilkinson

Comparative Civilizations Review

This essay addresses the issue of two contemporary state identities — that of Russia and that of Ukraine.

A Comparative Analysis Of Black American Student Experiences And International Student Experiences During The Initial Months Of The Covid-19 Pandemic, Leah P. Hollis Edd

Comparative Civilizations Review

The Covid-19 pandemic created an indelible mark on K-12 education — specifically, high school students transitioning to college and career. The global scope of this pandemic presented an opportunity to compare how high school cultures across the world adapted to the emergency. Further, news reports highlighted how communities of color were more susceptible to the pandemic.

To better understand how the Black student experience in middle America compared to that of other students from the global community in responding to pandemic-related educational disruption, I used Krippendorff’s content analysis procedures (2018) and a phenomenological interview process to gather and analyze data …

Book Review: Duane W Roller. Eratosthenes’ Geography: Fragments Collected And Translated, With Commentary And Additional Material, Tseggai Isaac

Comparative Civilizations Review

Duane W. Roller brought back to life the enigmatic and flamboyant Eratosthenes by capturing the rich details of Eratosthenes’ intellectual background, his personal life, Eratosthenes’ Geographika; and how Eratosthenes was received by contemporary and nascent critics in later years and decades. Eratosthenes was practical and controversial in the sense that he seemed to use unorthodox methodology of practical observation combined with creative and inventive scientific and mathematical intricacies to explain, define, and analyze his findings. He was flamboyant and fertile in his discoveries and the breadth of his creative imaginations of unparalleled perspicuity. Roller observed:

The discipline of geography …

Book Review: Katell Berthelot. Jews And Their Roman Rivals: Pagan Rome’S Challenge To Israel, Joseph Drew

Comparative Civilizations Review

This is a magisterial work, one which sets high the bar in the comparative study of civilizations. In it, Prof. Katell Berthelot covers the sweep of 600 years, from the second century, BCE, to the fourth century, CE, as she analyzes the extensive impact of Rome on Jewish ideas of law, religion, and peoplehood and, secondarily, the corresponding impact of their rivals, the Jews, on Roman society and history.

Book Review: Robert Irwin. Ibn Khaldun: An Intellectual Biography, Leland Conley Barrows

Comparative Civilizations Review

Robert Irwin (b. 1946), a British historian, novelist, and essayist, became so enthralled by Arabic Muslim society, politics, language, literature, and culture that while reading modern history at Oxford University in the 1960’s, he became a Muslim during his first summer vacation which he spent at a Sufi Alawi foundation in Algeria. In parallel, he developed a fascination for the Tunisian polymath, Wali al-Din ‘Abd al Rahman Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406) who has been variously described as the greatest Muslim intellectual, the greatest social scientist of the Middle Ages, the founder of Sociology and the critical study of history, and a …