Historians/History

Can "Reacting to the Past" Help Students Learn About the Israel/Palestine Conflict?

by David Austin Walsh

The beginning of a new decade always seems to be a time of anniversaries.  Reacting to the Past, the interactive teaching program developed at Barnard College by American historian Mark C. Carnes, is hosting its Tenth Annual Summer Institute at Barnard from June 10-13, 2010.  The meeting provides opportunity for teachers at the forty colleges and universities

A Brief History of Military Tribunals

by Robert C. Doyle

Much attention has been given recently to the use of a military commission to bring terrorists to justice in the Guantánamo Bay detention center.  Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, among othe

The Politics of National Security from World War II to the War on Terrorism: An Interview with Julian E. Zelizer

What is this book about? The book examines the political history of national security from World War II through the war on terroris

Glenn Beck: “Historian” For a Troubled America

by Joseph A. Palermo

Update: Glenn Beck has responded to this article on his TV show. You can see the clip on YouTube here. Mr. Palermo's response to Mr. Beck can be found here.It’s official: Beck is now a doctor of philosophy. The Reverend Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University recently conferred upon Glenn Beck

Arthur Bryant, Britain's Establishment Historian

by Reba N. Soffer

Considerable time, energy, pseudo-science, and wishful thinking have been expended to demonstrate whether any kind of statement—oral, writte

Richard Cohen is Right to Criticize Newt Gingrich's Historical Claims, But He Needs to Double-Check His Facts

by Nick Underwood

Recently, Richard Cohen published a column in the Washington Post outlining the ways in which Newt Gingrich misuses historical concepts to validate conservative tropes of socialism and secularism within discussions of some of the Obama administration’s programs—the “secular-socialist machine.”  In Cohen’s commentary on “socialism” and “s

The Truth About "The Sick Man At Yalta"

by Steven Lomazow

The four years of research involved in writing my recent book with journalist Eric Fettmann, FDR’s Deadly Secret, has brought to light a new de

Turkey and the Holocaust

by Arnold Reisman

Turkey is now center stage in many discussions and policy debates worldwide.  When it comes to the State of Israel and Turkey’s small remaining Jewish community, the news coming out of Turkey is not good. But what about the historical relationship between Jews and Turks?  Most historians are quite aware that Jews lived and prospered throug

If Greeley and Lincoln Were Alive Today, They Wouldn't Recognize the Republican Party

by Johann Neem

The Maine Republican party has recently adopted a new platform that challenges the principles of national sovereignty and active federal govern

Barry Goldwater on the Civil Rights Act: The Antecedent to Rand Paul

by David Farber

Most Americans remember the “Sixties” as a time of civil rights sit-ins, anti-war protests and long-haired rock stars.  But almost exactly

Eisenhower and My Father, Stephen Ambrose

by Hugh Ambrose

The recent accusation that the late historian Dr. Stephen E. Ambrose, the author of numerous national bestselling books, was guilty of “fabricating” a relationship with former President Eisenhower has left readers to ponder its meaning.  An examination of the evidence reveals a few mistakes which, while regrettable, hardly outweigh a towering legacy:  through decades of scholarship, Ambrose pioneered the evaluation of Dwight D. Eisenhower’s career as a gener

The Year 1877 Looks Awfully Familiar Today

by Michael A. Bellesiles

At the corner of Broad Street and Exchange Place in New York, on a hot summer day in July, 1877, Major A. A. Selover, a Christ Church vestryman and stockbroker, walked up to one of the richest men in America and threw him i

Ambrose and Eisenhower: A View from the Stacks in Abilene

by Timothy D. Rives

I am the deputy director and supervisory archivist of the Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum in Abliene, Kansas. In the April 26, 2010, edition of the New Yorker magazine, I was quoted extensively in an article (“Channeling Ike,” by Richard Rayner) about claims made by the late Stephen E. Ambrose and his purported relationship with President Dwight D. Eisenhower; there are problems relating to the dates Ambrose claimed he interviewed Ike and the scholarly annotati

An Open Letter to the President: Stop Recognizing the Sons of Confederate Veterans

by Edward H. Sebesta

May 5, 2010 Edward H. SebestaPresident Barack H. Obama The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500Dear President Obama:I am a re

Ambrose on Eisenhower: The Impact of a Single Faulty Quotation

by Ira Chernus

Everyone who follows the news in the historians’ world now knows that Stephen Ambrose spent far less time interviewing Dwight D.

Stephen Ambrose's Falsifications of the Rosenberg Execution

by Lori Clune

I met Stephen Ambrose when I was a young, idealistic graduate student attending my first American Historical Association conference in the late 1980s.  He graciously shared his paper – and enthusiasm – with the groupies he attracted.  Years later, his Rise to Globalism was on my coffee table so often that I have a photo of my then two-year-old son “reading” it.  It is safe to say his work played a role in my decision to study history.  The New Yorker’s recent a

Evan Thomas Asks Why We Fought Spain in 1898

by Aaron Leonard

Evan Thomas has just published The War Lovers: Roosevelt, Lodge, Hearst and the Rush to Empire 1898 (Little, Brown 2010). Through unfolding the lives of three characters -- soon-to-be-President Theodore Roose

History and Technology are Rapidly Converging, Says Documentarian Eric Stange

by Jill O'Neill

Eric Stange is the executive producer and founder of Spy Pond Productions, an award-winning independent documentary film producer, and a director and writer who specializes in history and science subjects.  His work has been broadcast on PBS, The Discovery Channel, and the BBC.  Before becoming a filmmaker, he wrote about art and culture for The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Atlantic Monthly and other publications.  Eric has been the rec

OAH President Elaine Tyler May's Fascination with Domesticity

by David Austin Walsh

Elaine Tyler May is Regents Professor of American Studies and History at the University of Minnesota. She received her B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. from UCLA. 201

An Incomplete Version of the Past that Silences Important Struggles

by Kirsten Gardner

The Texas state curriculum plays a significant role in determining what my students learn prior to entering the college classroom.  In my experience, students (the vast majority are educated in Texas high schools) enter the classroom with a strong desire to learn and succeed.  Although some are prepared for the analytical challenges of a college history course, many more need to learn the basic conceptual building blocks of history.  This is information that can and should be taught at