Historians/History

Lincoln Catches up with the War

by Steven Bernstein

Author's Note:  The following article is in response to some controversy generated by the ending of my book The Confederacy's Last Northern Offensive: Jubal Early, the Army of the Va

Lincoln and Colonization: Navigating the Evidence

by Phillip W. Magness and Sebastian N. Page

None of Abraham Lincoln’s policies have proven more enigmatic for historians than African American colonization.  He spoke up for it at length from the early 1850s right up to his Second Annual Message

The Challenges of Biography: A Quick Q & A with Joseph Esherick

by Jeffrey N. Wasserstrom

The good people at the excellent Browser.com website recently asked me to contribute a

Rethinking Reagan: SDI and the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons

by Jason Saltoun-Ebin

Twenty-eight years ago this month, President Reagan introduced the world to the Strategic Defense Initiati

America's Oldest Standing Black School House Found in Williamsburg

by Priscilla Hart

In a series of discoveries unfolding over seven years, a professor of English at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia has uncovered evidence for what may have be the country’s oldest standing school house for African Americans.  Professor Terry Meyers had a longstanding interest in the forgotten history of Virginia’s colonial capital when he began investigating the founding of the Bray School for the education of blacks, enslaved and free.  Cl

Topical Sessions at the 2011 OAH Annual Meeting

Below is a list of topical sessions at this year’s OAH meeting in Houston, Texas. HNN will provide full coverage of the conference starting March 18.In addition to the general sessions, this list includes each of this year’s State of the Field sessions, which serve as excellent primers for the latest research.The room numbers for each session will be provided on site. For more information, consult the O

U.S. National Library of Medicine Celebrates 175 Years

by Jeffrey S. Reznick

2011 marks the 175th anniversary of the United States National Library of Medicine (NLM) which traces its origins to 1836 and the commitment of the second U.S. Army Surgeon General, Thomas Lawson (1789-1861), to purchase books and journals for active-duty medical officers. Today part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, NLM is the world’s largest medical library with a collection of over 12 million b

Channelling George Washington: The Irish in the American Revolution

by Thomas Fleming

“Did you ever hear of Michael Joseph O’Brien?”“He sounds formidable.  Who is he?” “He wr

Channelling George Washington: The Renewed Importance of Robert E. Lee

by Thomas Fleming

“They still don’t get it.”At first I didn’t recognize the voice. Then I realized it was dense with emotion. “What’s troubling you, Mr. President?”

Sundown Towns on Stage and Screen

by James W. Loewen

The history of sundown towns—communities that for decades were "all white" on purpose—figures prominently in plays that opened this past month in two So

Thanks, George: How America Avoided Egypt’s Fate

by Chris Myers Asch

Stepping down is hard to do.Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is the latest example of a ruler who simply cannot let go of power.  As the m

Turmoil in Egypt

by Daniel Pipes

As Egypt's much-anticipated moment of crisis arrived and popular rebellions shook governments across the Middle East, Iran stands as never before at the center of the region. Its Islamist rulers are within sight of dominating the region. But revolutions are hard to pull off and I predict that Islamists will not achieve a Middle East-wide breakthrough and Tehran will not emerge as the key powerbroker. Some thoughts behind this conclusion:An echo of the Iranian revolution:

The Masses 2.0 – Tunisia’s Turmoil in Perspective

by Frank Uekoetter

As the euphoria over the Jasmine Revolution in Tunisia is giving way to anxiety about what is to come, it may be worthwhile to pause for a moment and reflect on how recent events look in a broader perspective.  The last two hundred fifty years have bestowed us with an impressive body of experiences with revolts and revolutions all over the world, and the key themes of protests in Tunisia thus ring quite familiar:  democracy, liberty, government corruption.  Daniel Pipes has

The Murdered Jews of Macedonia and Thrace Remain Without a Voice

by Shelomo Alfassa

Annually, it is repeated in the contemporary media how "Bulgaria became the only Nazi-allied country in World War II to protect its entire Jewish population" or that "Bulgaria saved all of its Jews from the death camps."  While ultimately members of the Bulgarian government, the Bulgarian public, and the Bulgarian Orthodox Church did in fact take l

Run Down by Traffic in Both Directions: Is it Possible to Have a Rational Discussion of State U.S. History Standards?

by Sheldon and Jeremy Stern

In late 2009, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute asked us to undertake a review of state standards for U.S. history.  One of us (1) had written the last state standards report for Fordham in 2003; and, since forty-five states have subsequently revised their standards, it seemed appropriate to see what had changed.  Some states had modified their standards a great deal—some for the better, some for the worse.  On balance, the picture remained grim

The Truth about Private Hitler—Historian Thomas Weber on His New Book "Hitler’s First War"

by Robin Lindley

Perhaps no modern historical figure has been more closely examined than Adolf Hitler.  Most biographers have attributed Hitler’s rabid anti-Semitism and hyper-national

The Future of the USS Olympia

by Ashlyn Olson

The USS Olympia is one of the oldest steel ships in the world.  Built during a period where ships built with vertical-stroke reciprocating three-cylinder triple-expansion engines were rare, the Olympia was one of her kind constructed with the front-line alloy steel.  She was Commodore Dewey’s flagship at the Battle of Manila and the only surviving example of Teddy Roosevelt’s Great White Fleet from the 1900s.  She served until World War II, and is now the oldest steel

Pat Nixon: Caught Between the Housewives and the Feminists

by Mary C. Brennan

As the feminist movement grew radicalized in the climate of the late 1960s, many women became increasingly critical of their peers who maintained traditional

Channelling George Washington: Roosevelt v. Roosevelt

by Thomas Fleming

“I’ve been thinking about a large historical comparison. Do you want to explore it with me?” “I’m game as usual, Mr. President. What is it?”

Frank Buckles: The Last of the Doughboys

by David Laskin

What do historians lose when a generation passes?  This is not an academic question.  Four years ago, a dozen of the 4.7 million Americans who served in the American Expeditionary Forces were still alive, but today