Historians/History

Channelling George Washington: The General and Alexander Hamilton

by Thomas Fleming

“You’ve been very patient with this old coot, as he unburdens his mind of his worries about our unpredictable country.  Is there anything you’d like to talk about?” “Alexander Hamilton. I’ve been fasci

John Buchanan Documents

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The Dangers of Politicized Conservative History

by Ron Radosh

Having spent a good deal of time writing about the crude left-wing history of our country by charlatans like Howard Zinn and Oliver Stone, I have become wary of politicized history in general, whether it comes from the precincts of the far Left or the far Right.This time the culprits are on the Right, one of the biggest examples being Glenn Beck.  On this website, some time ago, I

Appraising the Emancipation Proclamation

by Louis P. Masur

The estate of Robert Kennedy has picked an opportune moment to auction one of its treasures—a copy of the Emancipation Proclamation signed by Abraham Lincoln.  Next month marks the sesquicentennial of Lincoln’s election and inaugurates what promises to be

The Separation of Church and State Is Rooted in American Christianity

by Johann Neem

Many Americans are worried that America’s Christian heritage is being threatened.  Even if the threat is more perceptual than actual, it has mobilized important religious leaders and politicians to question the separation of church and state.  Indeed, many conservatives construe efforts to separate church and state as an attack on America’s Christian majority.  Many liberals, on the other hand, treat the separation of church and state as solely a political issue, a way to protect the

Another Look at the Black and Tans: Daniel Masterson on Northern Ireland

by Priscilla Hart

In June 2010 the British government revealed its long-awaited judgment in the emotionally charged case of “Bloody Sunday,” also known as the “Bogside Massacre.” Nearly forty years earlier, on January 30, 1972, in the city of Derry, Northern Ireland, thirteen protesters, many of them teenagers, were shot dead by British paratroopers during a civil rights demonstration held by the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association to protest discriminatory practices against Catholics, as well as

Live Q&A With Thomas S. Kidd

This real-time Q&A with Thomas S. Kidd took place between 3:00 and 4:00 p.m. Eastern on October 13, 2010 on

Why We Need to Understand East Asian History

by Charles Holcombe

Way back in the mid-1970s, while I was still an undergraduate student, I made the fateful decision to specialize in the study of East Asian history.  My commitment to East Asia (which consists of greater Ch

Thomas Jefferson Wasn't an Anti-Islamic Crusader

by Caitlin Aber

Islamophobia has spiraled out of control in the United States recently.  Terry Jones, a Christian minister with a small congregation in Florida, caught the world’s attention last month in his failed bid to burn two hundred Qur’ans on the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.  Animosity toward Islam has not been confined to the radical fringes of Christianity; it has also infiltrated the more mainstream political right.  In response to the proposed Muslim community center and

The Guatemala Syphilis Experiment: An Interview with Susan Reverby

by David Austin Walsh

Susan M. Reverby is the Marion Butler McLean Professor in the History of Ideas and Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies at Wellesley College. Her ar

The Extraordinary Story of a German Resister

by Sheldon M. Stern

In the months following the collapse of Hitler’s thousand-year Reich, Allied intelligence officers worked to identify and remove Nazis from positions of authority in occupied Germany.  Among those active in the U.S. Office of Military Government in Germany (OMGUS) was a thirty-four-year-old Harvard Ph.D., fluent in German, Captain Samuel H. Beer.  Beer was particularly interested in documenting the attitudes of the German people toward the Nazi regime.  He interviewed politica

Tony Judt’s Final Communiqué

by Larry DeWitt

On August 6, historian, teacher and public intellectual (a term he viewed with suspicion) Tony Judt died. Tony Judt was the kind of cultured, highly literate, broadly cosmopolitan and expansive public intellectual that inspires awe, if not envy, in those of us with lesser gifts. Already a masterful thinker and writer in both English and French, as a response to his self-confessed “mid-life crisis” he taught himself Czech. His untimely death turned off a scintillating mind—a mind that

Eric Foner on the Perennial Relevance of Abraham Lincoln

by Aaron Leonard

Historian Eric Foner has just published The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery (W.W. Norton),in which he explores Lincoln’s role in the ending of slavery in the United States.  The book is not

The Founding Fathers Would Be Shocked at Our Religious Ignorance

by Thomas S. Kidd

The founding fathers saw the American people's faith and knowledge as integral to the well-being of the republic.  Religion, they believed, tea

On the Trail of the Poet: Seattle Writer Frances McCue on Her Quest for Richard Hugo—and Beyond

by Robin Lindley

Small towns of Washington, Oregon and especially Montana “triggered” or inspired many of the major poems of Richard Hugo.  From each place, he drew images that led to memorable works “that capture the torque between temperament and terrain that is so vital in any consideration of place,” according to Seattle writing professor and poet Frances McCue.McCue, founding director of the Seattle’s Richard Hugo House, retraced Hugo’s odyssey and revisited the towns that moved him to poet

Channelling George Washington: A Presidential Summit

by Thomas Fleming

“THIS IS TOO MUCH ABUSE FOR ANY PRESIDENT TO ENDURE! COMING FROM HIM, OF ALL PEOPLE. THE SO-CALLED ‘FATHER OF HIS COUNTRY’! AFTER HE PROMISED MRS. WASHINGTON HE WOULD TREAT ME DECENTLY!”The voice was shrill, almost hysterica

Examining the Myth of Okinawan Pacifism

by Gregory Smits

On August 28, 2009 the Okinawa Association of America marked its one hundredth anniversary by hosting the musical King Sho Hashi—a truly positive impact on the country.  I want to take that passionate Okinawan tradition and convey it to future generations using King Sho Hashi as the motif.”  The promotional poster for the musical says of Shō Hashi that “His vision united a kingdom.”Perhaps the most obvious critical detail that comes to mind in examining

Did the 1960 Presidential Debates Really Matter?

by James L. Baughman

Probably not, but they have been election rituals ever since.

The Heat Wave that Changed American History

by Edward P. Kohn

During this past summer of record heat, we all enjoyed pictures of children playing in fountains and eating ice cream.  To the media, a heat wave means a holid

Russia, Stalin's Crimes, and Genocide

by Norman M. Naimark

Chechen deportees in 1944.