Historians/History

In What Ways Am I an American Writer?

by David Herbert Donald

Below is one of fifteen essays recently published by the State Department to promote American values around the world. The writers were asked to answer the question: "In what sense do you see yourself as an American writer?" The essays, published on the Internet, will appear in a sixty-page booklet distributed exclusively in foreign countries. As the

Dallek and Kennedy: The Media Reaction

by HNN Staff

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Why I Was Denied Tenure

by Robert David "KC" Johnson

HNN: The Case of KC JohnsonMedia coverage

Interview with Bob Dallek

by Rick Shenkman

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Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye

by Rick Shenkman

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A Kennedy Biographer Assesses the Dallek Disclosures

by Laurence Leamer

Kennedy had his own heroic qualities in his refusal to live life as a semi-invalid.

Debate: Should Librarians Remove Bellesiles's Book from the Shelves?

by Jerome Sternstein Vs. Eugene Volokh

Should librarians take Michael Bellesiles's Arming America off the main circulation shelves? MAYBE: Mr. SternsteinThe other day, while traveling back from New York City, I heard an item on local Public Radio. It said that a reader in Goshen, N.Y. (there is also a Goshen, Conn., and a Goshen, MA) complained about Arming America being on the open shelves despite the fact it had been discredited,

Historical Fraud and the Seduction of Ideas: The Poulshock Case

by Jerome L. Sternstein

Much of the commentary about the latest plagiarism scandal involving Stephen Ambrose, and to a much lesser extent, Doris Kearns Goodwin, portray them as victims of their own success. As best-selling authors of popular narratives that appeal to a vast audience hungry for well-told stories about America's past, they inevitably succumbed to the temptations of the market place which, the commentators invariably remind us, rewards speed rather than reflection, flash rather than substance. Had they o

My Five Minutes of Infamy

by Richard M. Berthold

Prior to 11 September 2001 I was simply a professor of classical history, popular on the campus but essentially unknown beyond the confines of the second-rate university where I have taught for the last thirty years. Then, on that day, while preparing to leave for an eight o'clock Western Civilization class, I watched in amazement as two airplanes flew into buildi

Responses to the Emory Report on Michael Bellesiles

by HNN Staff

Michael Bellesiles Chronology: Latest DevelopmentsSummary of the Emory ReportBellesiles's

The Historian Who Has Been Sentenced to Death

by Juan Cole

Breaking News: Mr. Cole informs HNN that twenty profesors at Tarbiyat Mudarris University--where Aghajari teaches--have resigned in protest. The death sentence passed against a professor of history at Tehran's Tarbiyat Mudarris University has provoked justified rage and indignation throughout the world and even in Iran itself. Hashem Aghajari stands accused of advocating disrespect for religious figures. Since the death sentence was confirmed in early November, student

Ann Lane's Response

by Ann Lane

Editor's Note: After Nathan Williams completed his article we sent it over to Ann Lane to give her an opportunity to correct any errors and to draft a response. She emailed us a statement and sent the article to her friend Sandi Cooper. After hearing back from Lane and Cooper we made several changes and gave Lane a chance to revise her statement. The revised statement, which was dated Novemb

The Battle Over Virginia's Battlefields

by Erik Nelson

If the goal of battlefield preservation was to simply memorialize where brave men fought, the task would be fairly simple. We would merely acquire blood soaked ground and erect one or more suitable monuments. This is certainly how battlefield parks were initially developed. Places like Gettysburg, Vicksburg, Antietam, and Chickamauga are filled with memorials.Battlefields, however, have also been places where professional soldiers as well as casual visitors could le

Was Bellesiles Really Threatened?

by John G. Fought

In June 2001, on the initiative of some members of the council of the Omohundro Institute, the American Historical Association council adopted a remarkable statement, considering "personal attacks upon or harassment of an author, as we have seen directed at Michael A. Bellesiles following publication of Arming America: The Origins of a National Gun Culture, to be inappropriate and damaging to a tradition of free exchange of ideas and the advancement of our k

Bellesiles's Response to the Emory Report

by HNN Staff

Michael Bellesiles Chronology: Latest DevelopmentsSummary of the Emory ReportOther

Summary of the Emory Report on Michael Bellesiles

by HNN Staff

Michael Bellesiles Chronology: Latest DevelopmentsBellesiles's Response to the ReportOther

Are Michael Bellesiles’s Critics Afraid to Say What They Really Think?

by Jerome Sternstein

Click here to read Mr. Bellesiles's Response to Mr. Sternstein. Click here to read Mr. Sternstein's Response to Mr. Bellesiles. Has the time come to ask if Michael Bellesiles's Arming America is an example of scholarly deceit? Some defenders of Bellesiles's work have insisted in various forums that Bellesiles's

Mr. Bellesiles’s Emails

by James Lindgren

Editor's Note: Last week HNN published a detailed article by Jerome Sternstein about the Bellesiles book, Arming America. The article included numerous references to emails Mr. Bellesiles wrote to Professor James Lindgren when the Bellesiles book first appeared. In response, Mr. Bellesiles disavowed the emails, implying he hadn't written them."I do not recognize those words as mine," Mr. Bellesiles told us

IBM and Auschwitz: New Evidence

by Edwin Black

This article is drawn from Mr. Black's just released and updated German paperback edition. The new edition includes the discovery of hard evidence linking IBM to Auschwitz. The evidence, detailed here, will be appended to his English language editions at the next reprinting in the new future.  

HNN Series: My Life as a Historian ... THOMAS FLEMING

Some pundit once remarked that for most Americans, history was what happened to other people. I don't agree with that contention for both personal and philosophical reasons. In fact, it would not be much of an exaggeration to say I have devoted my writing life to exploding the idea.To a surprising degree, encounters with history have shaped my life. My first encounter took place in a parking lot outside Roosevelt Stadium in Jersey City, when I was seven years old. My father steered me