History
Discovery
A journey into the past – through menus
Food historian Nathalie Cooke sees menus as more than simply guides for ordering burgers or burritos. They offer invaluable clues about the dining cultures of past eras. She explores a wide range of menus from different time periods in her new book Tastes and Traditions: A Journey through Menu History.
Culture
An eclectic approach to Canada’s history
When film director Matthew Rankin, BA’01, came to Montreal to study at McGill, it put him on the path to learning French, embracing the city as his new home – and making the critically acclaimed Universal Language.
Society
Telling the whole story
Yale historian Ned Blackhawk, BA’92, believes that too many accounts of U.S. history pay little attention to the pivotal role that the country’s Native Americans played in that history. His recent book, The Rediscovery of America, winner of the U.S. National Book Award for Nonfiction, serves as a corrective.
Discovery
Exploring queer and feminist food culture
In her research on feminist restaurants and queer cuisine, Alex Ketchum, MA’13, PhD’18, an assistant professor at McGill’s Institute for Gender, Sexuality and Feminist Studies, examines underexplored areas of culinary history and food culture.
Culture
An unconventional path to literary stardom
As an undergraduate, Kai Thomas, BA’16, examined old newspaper ads in the McGill Library about runaway slaves. That research helped inform In the Upper Country, his first novel, which won one of Canada’s top literary prizes last year.
Culture
Books to consider for your holiday reading
McGill graduates who have published books in recent months include Claudia Dey, Julian Sher, Mariko Tamaki, and Rosemary Sullivan.
Culture
How historical fiction became a literary juggernaut
Historical fiction, once dismissed as a second-rate genre, is now the dominant force in American literature and a magnet for top literary prizes. In a new book, McGill’s Alexander Manshel examines how that happened.
Discovery
Exploring racism, oppression – and grit
Wendell Nii Laryea Adjetey is an associate professor of history at McGill and a two-time teaching award winner. His career path has seen him go from working in youth gang prevention to exploring post-Reconstruction U.S. and African Diaspora history as an academic.
On Campus
Snapshots from the past
McGill is marking its 200th year, but this isn’t the first time that the University has celebrated a milestone anniversary. We take a look at what life was like for previous generations of McGillians during other significant anniversary years.
People
The centenarians have their say
As McGill marked its 200th anniversary, we checked in with some of the graduates who have lived for at least half that time, to get a sense of the history they saw firsthand at the University – including war, landmark research breakthroughs and at least one snowball fight that enraged a principal.
On Campus
Bringing the world’s best minds to McGill
Since 1954, an annual lecture series at McGill has brought some of the sharpest thinkers on the planet to the University.
Culture
The diabolical Dr. Cream
McGill graduates have won Nobel Prizes and Oscars, but only one has ever been featured in the Chamber of Horrors at Madame Tussauds' celebrated wax museum. A best-selling new book looks at the life of McGill's most infamous alum.