A new three-course initiative from USC Dornsife, USC Marshall and USC Viterbi gives undergraduates complementary perspectives on artificial intelligence: how it works, how to use it, and what it means for humanity.
Joshua Reynolds’ 1776 Portrait of Omai portrays a commoner from Tahiti as a nobleman, reflecting European fantasies and assumptions about Pacific cultures, argues USC Dornsife PhD student Saar Shahar.
Christopher Columbus' actions have been much scrutinized. Less attention has been paid to his writings, and what they reveal about his motivations, writes USC Dornsife historian Peter Mancall.
As America celebrates 250 years of independence, USC Dornsife historians offer a broader view of when the Revolution began, when it ended and what it still means today.
A childhood encounter with a best-selling book about the Revolutionary War sparked a love of history for Benjamin Goff, a USC ROTC alumnus who graduated from USC Dornsife with a history degree in 2025.
In his new book, USC Dornsife historian Steve Ross uncovers the forgotten story of civilian spies who infiltrated postwar Nazi and white supremacist groups — and risked their lives to stop them.
European colonial powers linked church and state. But the founders of the United States broke from that idea as surely as they broke from Britain.
The English assumed people they colonized would convert to their way of life, including Protestant Christianity — an assumption reflected in Pocahontas’ portrait.
USC Dornsife professor Peter Mancall and his class toured the exhibit, which runs through May 3 at the Fisher Museum and features founding-era documents in celebration of the 250th anniversary of the United States.
PODCAST: The president and Mancall, one of the nation’s leading scholars of early North American history, discuss his new book, Contested Continent, the forces that shaped the nation’s founding, and the lasting value of studying history.
