twentieth-century history

The Blue-Eyed Shogun: Douglas MacArthur and the Making of Postwar Japan

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│By Masaki Morisawa, Product Solutions Consultant│

There are two American names that every Japanese schoolchild learns in history class because of the enormous impact they had on our country. One is Commodore Matthew C. Perry (1794–1858), whose visits in 1853 and 1854 helped end more than two centuries of Tokugawa diplomatic seclusion. The other is General Douglas MacArthur (1880–1964), who, as Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (SCAP) from 1945 to 1951, oversaw the complete transformation of post-World War II Japan.

Both men embodied American power at critical turning points, but MacArthur’s influence was arguably greater. Perry jolted Japan out of seclusion and set major changes in motion, but he did not rewrite Japan’s laws, restructure its society, or govern its people. MacArthur oversaw sweeping changes in all three areas, leaving a legacy that is still debated today.

In this blog post, I’m going to explore the impact of General Douglas MacArthur using Gale’s exciting new archive collection Asia in the Twentieth Century: General MacArthur, and War, Occupation, and Reconstruction in the Pacific, 1941–1972.

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Sustainability Was Built by Women, and Here’s Why

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│By Brendon Ndoro, Gale Ambassador at the University of Cape Town│

Sustainability isn’t a modern term created by tech-bros. It is an invention hand-crafted by women from different communities across centuries. And the proof can be found in Gale’s The Times Digital Archive.

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History, Politics and Memory: Ostalgie in Contemporary German Society

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│By Matt Hudson, Gale Ambassador at the University of Durham│

October 3rd, 1990 became a symbol of post-Cold War optimism. As the reunification of Germany was marked with joyous celebrations, liberalism had emerged victorious. The collapse of the stagnant East German regime heralded not just the end of totalitarianism and censorship, but also the triumph of ‘people power’.

This picture appears naïve in today’s climate. In the former East Germany (German Democratic Republic or GDR), economic progress since reunification has not prevented voters from supporting the far-right AfD in their droves. Ostalgie, meaning nostalgia for life in the GDR, served as an early warning sign that the so-called ‘end of history’ was a misnomer.

But when did Ostalgie become an observed phenomenon? How did disaffection with life in a united Germany arise? And has this nostalgia been misinterpreted by western reporters?

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Benevolence and Blame: The Question of Race in America’s Early-Twentieth-Century Tuberculosis Crisis

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| By Alice Shadbolt, Gale Ambassador at the University of Liverpool |

Between 1915 and 1940, tuberculosis posed one of the most urgent public health crises for North America and Europe. However, its impact was far from evenly distributed. In the United States, mortality rates amongst Black communities were consistently higher than those recorded amongst white Americans, a disparity that became a central preoccupation of contemporary public health discourse.

Drawing on Gale’s Public Health Archives, which preserves the reports, policy documents, and educational materials produced by municipal and state health departments, this post examines how these institutions approached and explained this disparity. A close reading of these documents reveals how language was strategically deployed to redirect responsibility onto Black communities themselves, pathologising race and obscuring the lived implications of racial inequality.

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Gale Fellows Present their DH Research at the Socio-Economic History Society Conference

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Blog Post Author with the Gale–SEHS Fellows

| By Masaki Morisawa, Product Solutions Consultant |

On the sunny weekend of 9–10 May 2026, the 95th National Conference of the Socio-Economic History Society (SEHS) took place at Senshu University’s suburban Ikuta campus. More than 300 members gathered for the event, presenting and discussing topics as varied as promissory notes in Edo-period Japan, American civil aviation policy, and industrial development in colonial India. The breadth of subjects on display reflected the geographic and chronological range covered by this interdisciplinary society.

Against this vibrant backdrop, three participants in the Gale–SEHS Fellowship presented the results of their research to an audience of about fifty scholars. Gale has partnered with a number of scholarly societies and academic organisations to support digital humanities research, but until now all of these partnerships had been based in either the United States or Europe. The collaboration with SEHS therefore marked an important milestone as Gale’s first fellowship program in Asia.

Over the course of nine months, three early-career scholars selected by the Society’s board of directors explored historical questions using Gale’s resources and digital tools under the guidance of Chris Houghton, Head of Academic Partnerships. The conference provided an opportunity for them to share their findings with the wider academic community. Although Chris was unfortunately unable to travel to Japan for the event, I had the privilege of serving as moderator in his place.

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Critical Thinking in Business Studies using Gale Primary Sources

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│By Brendon Ndoro, Gale Ambassador at the University of Cape Town│

In Business studies, it is easy to assume that success is all about securing the best return on investment. However, true academic and professional success requires a deeper, more analytical approach: critical thinking.

The foundational concepts explored in the study of business ethics, particularly covered in the “Business Ethics”1 textbook by Jimmy Winfield, George Hull, and Greg Fried, will be used to explore the topic of critical thinking and how it can be used to distinguish between what is merely profitable and what is genuinely right.

The Times Digital Archive offers us the ability to travel back in time, providing us the opportunity to audit the reasoning of past business leaders and equip ourselves with the logical tools needed to succeed today.

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Douglas MacArthur – A Life in Service

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│By Phil Virta, Senior Acquisitions Editor, Gale Primary Sources│

Douglas MacArthur was an American military commander whose career spanned World War I, World War II, and the Korean War. One of the few U.S. military leaders to achieve a five-star rank, MacArthur was described by admirers as heroic and patriotic, while critics considered him to be overly ambitious and narcissistic.

The archive Asia in the Twentieth Century: General MacArthur and War, Occupation, and Reconstruction in the Pacific, 1941-1972 is about more than just MacArthur, but his figure permeates the sources. His leadership shaped the Pacific War, the rebuilding of Japan, the course of the Korean War, and U.S. policy across Asia.

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Discovering American Roots of the Indian Independence Movement through Gale Primary Sources: The Hindu-German Conspiracy Trials in the USA

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Montage of historical images

| By Amandeep, Gale Ambassador at Banaras Hindu University |

Whenever the Indian revolutionary movement outside India is taught in history classes at different universities and colleges, the Komagata Maru incident of 1914 and the revolutionary activities of the Ghadar Movement in the United States certainly bring a thrilling experience to students and teachers. However, over the years, it has become a footnote when it comes to bringing new discourses.

For decades, the revolutionary movements outside India have not been rethought in the ways they should have been. The paucity of primary sources and travel limitations have been among the significant reasons why scholars and students have been unable to rethink and revisit the revolutionary movements abroad, especially in the USA.

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El País – El Periódico Global en Español

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│By Phil Virta, Senior Acquisitions Editor, Gale Primary Sources│

¡Bienvenidos a todos! En este artículo aprendemos detalles sobre El País, el periódico global en Español. La palabra “país” se refiere a una nación o territorio que forma una unidad geográfica, política y cultural, con su propio gobierno y leyes.

In English, welcome everyone! In this article we are going to learn about El País, the global Spanish newspaper. The words “el país” mean “the country”, and in this case refer to Spain itself.

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The Punchy One-Liner! The Daily Mirror’s Tabloid Evolution

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|By Rachel Holt, Senior Acquisitions Editor, Gale Primary Sources|

In January 2026 Gale Primary Sources will be updating The Mirror Historical Archive with five more years of historical British journalism, bringing the newspaper into the millennium. To mark that we will be exploring some traits that the Daily Mirror is best known for, its populist and accessible tone plus its sensational headlines combined with human interest stories and strong visuals.

The Daily Mirror has a long history of publishing headlines that not only catch the eye but resonate with the British public and linger in our collective, social memory. Each of these iconic front pages reflects a moment when the Daily Mirror’s journalism intersected with public emotion and tracks the newspapers evolution to the tabloid we know it to be today.

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