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History
Is revisionist history “fiction”? Yes, if you are a Texas conservative.
Kevin Roberts is the Chief Executive Officer of the Texas Public Policy Foundation. He has a Ph.D in American history from the University of Texas. His 2003 dissertation was titled “Slaves and slavery in Louisiana: The Evolution of Atlantic World […]
Class of 2021: What’s in your toolbox?
Historian David Perry offers some advice to the class of 2021: We understand more or less the science of viruses, of germ theory, of infection. We know how to quarantine and that it works, and with modern telecommunications, quarantine didn’t […]
The Tampa Bay Times rejects “just the facts” history
History teaching begins with facts. But history teaching that stops with “just the facts” is not history teaching. Historians think about “what happened” in context. They think about facts in relations to other facts, leading them to tell complex stories […]
“84% of Republicans believe history should celebrate our nation’s past, while 70% of Democrats think history should question it”
Our culture war is rooted in competing perceptions of the American past. Here is Peter Burkholder of Fairleigh Dickinson University and Dana Schaffer of the American Historical Association at Time: Our recent national survey of people’s understandings and uses of […]
How will Wheaton College remember that Jim Elliott used the word “savage” to describe the Auca tribe?
I understand Wheaton College’s decision to change this plaque. It is probably the right move. Here is Megan Fowler at Christianity Today; More than 65 years after two of its alumni were killed in what became the most famous example […]
When a school board ignores history
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 […]
Did you pick-up the “Hamilton” reference in Amanda Gorman’s inauguration poem?
Watch: I saw Gorman on CNN last night talking about the Hamilton reference. It comes at the 3:20 mark. Hint. Technically, there was one more Hamilton reference. Hint: Micah 4:4.
Gordon-Reed: “There are far more dangerous threats to history” than the removal of monuments
What should we do with Confederate monuments? Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Annette Gordon-Reed offers her thoughts at The Harvard Gazette: Gordon-Reed on whether the removal of Confederate statues dishonors the memory of those who died fighting for the Confederacy: I would […]
Steven Mintz: “History is back with a vengeance”
Steven Mintz, one of our leading authorities on the history of the American family, makes the case for history at Inside Higher Ed: History is back with a vengeance. After a decade-long holiday from history, when joblessness fell to record lows and […]
History Summit 2020
Historian Lindsey Chervinsky has put together an impressive group of short talks from authors of new history books. This should keep any history buff busy during quarantine! Authors include Chervinsky, Julian Zelizer, Serena Zabin, Megan Kate Nelson, Ann Tucker, James […]
Andrew Bacevich on Historic “Pseudo-Events”
Here is writer and historian Bacevich at TomDispatch.com: The impeachment of the president of the United States! Surely such a mega-historic event would reverberate for weeks or months, leaving in its wake no end of consequences, large and small. Wouldn’t […]
The State of the History Job Market
The number of full-time faculty jobs in history has declined over the past year, but the history job market appears to be stabilizing. The number of Ph.D.s in history is dropping. Here is Colleen Flaherty at Inside Higher Ed: The new […]
Undergraduate Enrollments in History Courses Remain Steady
Good news from the American Historical Association: Ask any department chair, and most faculty, what the most vexing data point during the academic year is and the most likely answer would be “enrollments.” In a data-obsessed age when it seems […]
How Will Historians Remember the Decade (2010-2019)?
Politico asked historians how the history books will cover the past decade. Contributors include David Kennedy, Tom Nichols, David Greenberg, Keisha Blain, Peniel Joseph, Heather Cox Richardson, George Nash, Kevin Kruse, Andrew Bacevich, Claire Potter, David Hollinger, Nicole Hemmer, Jack […]
David Blight on Reinhold Niebuhr, Theology, and a Bunch of Other Things
Over at Zocalo Public Square, Gregory Rodriguez talks with Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David Blight about history, memory, Reinhold Niebuhr and history as theology. Here is a taste: You quote Reinhold Niebuhr early on [in Race and Reunion], “The processes of […]
T.J. Stiles: “America is losing its memory”
Two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning historian T.J. Stiles has a great piece at The Washington Post on reduced funding for the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). This is a must read. A taste: Every American can go to the National Archives and […]
More on the Billy Graham Papers
Adelle Banks has a piece on this at Religion News Service. I was happy to weigh-in. I also covered this here. This is yet another example of evangelicals trying to control their historical narratives. This is similar to what I […]
Where Does History Go From Here?
Over at the Boston Review, historian and essayist Maximillian Alvarez argues that both pro-Trumpers and anti-Trumpers are still operating within Francis Fukuyama’s “end of history” argument. Here is a taste: Fukuyama’s take on the “end of history,” to be fair, has […]
Max Boot’s Screed Against Historians
Max Boot is the Jeanne Kirkpatrick senior fellow for national security at the Council on Foreign Relations and a global affairs analyst for CNN. He is probably best known these days as an anti-Trump crusader. Boot is also the latest […]