Joyce E Chaplin

Professor of Early American History, Harvard University

Joyce E Chaplin is the James Duncan Phillips Professor of Early American History at Harvard University. Her latest book is Round About the Earth: Circumnavigation from Magellan to Orbit (2012).

Website

X (Formerly Twitter)

Written by Joyce E Chaplin

A man sitting under a large overhanging roof with two dogs nearby, trees and a building visible in the background.

essay

Progress and modernity

Is greatness finite?

The world feels caught between infinite possibility and limited resources. Thomas More and T R Malthus can help

Joyce E Chaplin

Painting of a person in a red sleeve handling a note on a patterned table with coins, a vase with flowers, books and writing tools.

essay

History of technology

The hand-held’s tale

For centuries, the powerful would never hold anything useful for themselves. How did devices become universal luxuries?

Joyce E Chaplin