Benjamin Nathans has been studying Soviet and Russian history for four decades.
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Penn’s Benjamin Nathans reflects on his work and Pulitzer Prize win
Historian Benjamin Nathans’ huge volume on the stories and lives of Soviet dissidents has gotten renewed attention after winning the 2025 Pulitzer Prize in General Nonfiction. Nathan’s research and insights span a four-decade-long career studying Russia and the USSR, modern Jewish history, and the history of human rights.
SNF Paideia Fellows visit Athens, Greece, in 2025.
(Image: Photo by Annalise Howard, courtesy of the SNF Paideia Program)
Paideia Fellows build dialogue in Athens
Penn’s SNF Paideia class of 2025 fellows capped off a three-year experience on a trip to Greece, where they met with local residents, toured historic sites, and discussed local issues with global impact.
A TV screen shows Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaking a day after Japan's parliamentary elections, in which his party lost its majority. Ishiba said he will remain in his role.
The Yomiuri Shimbun via AP Images
Japan’s election outcomes
Political scientist Daniel Smith discusses the results of the Japanese parliamentary elections and the effects on the country’s future.
A selection from a portrait of Thomas Muntzer from 1609.
COURTESY CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART
The 500-year legacy of a political thinker
Five hundred years ago this spring, about 8,000 armed peasants gathered outside the village of Frankenhausen in what is now Germany.Their stand ended in disaster, with thousands dead from an artillery barrage, and their spiritual leader, radical theologian Thomas Müntzer, was beheaded two weeks later after a torture-filled interrogation.
Guardrails versus leashes: Finding a better way to regulate AI technology
With artificial intelligence evolving faster than human imagination, traditional avenues of regulation may not work as well as they have for other business sectors.To safely and efficiently oversee AI, governments need to turn to a more flexible system, not immovable guardrails but more adjustable “leashes,” Penn Carey Law professor Cary Coglianese writes in a new article.
Melissa Teixeira discusses the final assignment with her Inflationary Times history class.
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Exploring inflation and economics through the lens of history
In Inflationary Times, a history course from Melissa Teixeira, students grappled with big-picture concepts of debt, money, and currency across the globe and through time.
Pope Leo XIV at St. Peter’s Basilica after being chosen the 267th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church on May 8.
(Image: AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Q&A: The first American pope
Melissa Wilde of the Department of Sociology, whose research has led her to the Vatican Secret Archive, among other places, discusses the new Pope Leo XIV, the first American pontiff, and the implications for the Roman Catholic Church.
