I love the world, which means I also love history. Here are a few recommendations of sites, databases, and other nifty tools that I use to better my understanding of the world. This page is always under construction.
For those based in Washington D.C.
- Getting a library card
- DCPL Events: get out of your apartment.
- Libby: audiobooks and ebooks through your library card.
- Kanopy: film and TV through your library card. If you study the GDR, Kanopy is wonderful, as it has a large selection of DEFA films.
- Library Database, Magazine, and Newspaper List
- Attend events at think tanks! They’re great for students, and there are often bagels: Wikipedia’s Masterlist of DC Think Tanks, Council on Foreign Relations, Brookings Institute, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Atlantic Council. To the bane of anyone who plans more than a week in advance, these think tanks are terrible at posting their events. Sometimes, you only find out about them a week, or a few days before they happen. Except for you, Atlantic Council. Praise be.
Soviet and Post-Soviet States:
- Bear Market Brief: One of my personal favorites. They go beyond the generic high-level Russia analysis and look at individual industries and local politicians.
- Barents Observer: My go-to when checking in with the Arctic.
- Wilson Center’s Cold War History Project: Now this has to be my favorite corner of the internet.
- ASEEES: If you want to keep up with the cool cats in academia, it’s worth attending ASEEES’ yearly conference.
- Radio GDR: If you’re interested in the GDR/DDR, but don’t speak German, this will give you huge access.
- Cold War Conversations: A great resource if you’re looking for oral histories.
- Eastern Bloc Disco: The best place for niche Soviet/Warsaw Pact music from the late ’60s to the early ’90s. Unmissable audio ephemera.
China:
- Trivium: These folks generally provide a balanced look at what goes on at a policy level, taking into account local Chinese contexts and not just foreign affairs.
- Wilson Center’s Kissinger Institute on China and the United States: The Trump Administration gutted the Wilson Center, but its research up until Mar. 2025 is still up on their website.
USA:
- This American Life (NPR): If the soul of the USA is on the airwaves, then its center is this program.
- Sources and Methods (NPR): For bite-sized overviews of American foreign policy.