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Introduction

This issue marks the 17th anniversary of Voces Novae: Chapman University Historical Review, the award-winning, student-run e-journal published by the Alpha Mu Gamma Chapter of Phi Alpha Theta. The contributors of this issue dedicated over a year of their undergraduate studies to researching and developing groundbreaking papers, each contributing to the history of the world. Ranging from Nordic conversion to Christianity and its political implications in the 9th Century to the United States’ involvement in Iraq in the 21st Century, this edition of the journal looks deeply into how our history has shaped the world we live in today.

We would like to thank the graduating class of history students in 2025, each of whom used their time in the classroom to challenge existing historical understandings and push further into the discourse of history. We would also like to thank our faculty in the History Department, as without them, the papers developed and published in this issue would never have been imagined. Special gratitude goes to our professors that served as mentors for our class, including Dr. Jeffery Koerber, Dr. Alexander Bay, and Dr. Mateo Jarquin.

Many thanks to our faculty advisor, Dr. Shira Klein, who continues to help facilitate the acquisition of our stellar editing team, and to Kristin Laughtin-Dunker for helping us navigate the publication process.

Finally, our sincerest gratitude goes to our editing team. Our general editors worked tirelessly to make each paper ready for publication. To our junior and sophomore editors — Matthew Chin, Luke Schamber, Emma Dinan, and Kristin Bauzon — you not only helped edit, process, and prepare these papers, but contributed to the publishing of this journal. Your hard work does not go unnoticed, and we cannot wait to see how you put together the next issue.

Sincerely,
Tyler Coker and Anya Nguyenkhoa, Senior Editors