Over at London Review of Books, Columbia University Eric Foner reviews James Cobb’s new biography of C. Vann Woodward. It is a fascinating review. Here is a taste: As he approached retirement, Woodward entered what one former student called his...
Eric Foner reflects on his life as a historian in this interview with Nawal Arjini at New York Review of Books. A taste: Nawal Arjini: How did you come to specialize in Civil War history? Eric Foner: When I was in college in...
American historian Eric Foner‘s recent letter to The New York Times: To the Editor: In her letter to the editor (June 27), inspired by a review of Danielle Dreilinger’s “The Secret History of Home Economics,” Jane Feder relates how as...
The San Francisco Unified School District will change the name of 44 schools that honor historical figures, including George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Paul Revere, Winfield Scott, Edward Everett, Thomas Edison, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, Francis Scott Key, Diane...
From Why Study History: Reflecting on the Importance of the Past: On complexity: Historians realize that the past is complex. Human behavior does not easily conform to our present-day social, cultural, political, religious, or economic categories. Take Thomas Jefferson for example....
Over at The New Yorker, Isaac Chotiner interviews historian Eric Foner on the promise of Reconstruction. Foner, of course, remains the foremost historian of Reconstruction. I have taught his book Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877 several times over the years. Foner’s current book,...
Tom Ashbrook interviews historians Judith Giesberg and Julian Zelizer on his WBUR-Boston show “On Point” Listen here. Themes discussed and things learned: Julian Zelizer is writing a book about Newt Gingrich Zelizer says that we should be careful not to place...
Yesterday’s New York Times is running a piece by Columbia University historian Eric Foner on the legacy of Robert E. Lee.  Foner’s focus is on how Lee became a “legend” in the minds of the post-Civil War South and how his...
Historians Judith Giesberg, David Blight, Gregory Downs, and Eric Foner weigh-in on this question with New Yorker writer Robin Wright. Here is a taste: Before Charlottesville, David Blight, a Yale historian, was already planning a conference in November on “American Disunion, Then...
Over at History News Network, Erik Moshe continues his series of interviews with historians . This time his subject is Columbia University historian Eric Foner. Here is a taste: What is your favorite history-related saying? Have you come up with...
Big day for American history! Conference honoring #Bailyn50 at Yale, AND Eric Foner retirement conference at Columbia#subwayseries? https://t.co/5Vd2NvvWet — Jennifer Schuessler (@jennyschuessler) April 21, 2017 Bailyn Foner Subway series indeed! And don’t forget the public historians!...
Journalist John Green recently interviewed Columbia University historian Eric Foner for the British socialist newspaper Morning Star. Here is a taste: You’ve argued that the past needs to be “usable.” What exactly do you understand by that term? The idea...
Is it the end of the Republican Party as we know it?  Historians have been talking about it. Eric Foner is one of them. Here is a taste of Foner’s interview with Janell Ross at The Washington Post. So, there have...
Esteemed Columbia University historian Eric Foner recently gave Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders some advice about how to talk about democratic socialism. Â The advice came in a letter published in The Nation. Â In a nutshell, Foner wants Sanders to...
Growing-up as a working-class kid in North Jersey my family subscribed to two daily newspapers: The Morristown Daily Record and the Newark Star-Ledger.  In addition, my father would always bring home his worn and coffee-stained copy of the New York Daily...
Over at The Anxious Bench blog, John Wilsey, a professor of history at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, explores the various ways that Americans think about the United States as an “exceptional” nation. He compares the form of American exceptionalism espoused...
It is really hard to argue that the United States is not an exceptional nation. Â It was the first nation born out of the Enlightenment. Â In the early 19th century it was probably the most democratic place in the world....
Now that the 150th anniversary of the Civil War is done it is time for a similar commemoration of the long period of Reconstruction. Â Unfortunately, Reconstruction has never quite captured the imagination of Americans in the way that the Civil...
In case you hadn’t seen it yet, the current issue of Jacobin is running an extensive interview with Eric Foner.  The Columbia University historian reflects on his career and his work on the Republican Party, the Civil War, and, of course,...
Julian Zelizer, Princeton University On Saturday afternoon I attended a session at AHA 2015 entitled “Being a Public Intellectual: Historians and the Public.” Â There were some high-powered historians on this panel, including Peniel Joseph, Claire Potter, Julian Zelizer, Eric Foner,...
