Historians/History

Why Conservatives Are Up in Arms at the College Board's Advanced Placement Course in History

by Peter Wood

We are told that the course is the work of scholars whose only agenda was to create a good course. This doesn’t ring true.

The "Historians" Confront Israel

by Robert "KC" Johnson

Historians have signed a petition blasting Israel.  The scholars’ letter went out of its way to affirm that the signatories were speaking as historians, not simply as citizens. This is infuriating.

Why Americans First Ignored the Discovery of Gold in the West — And then Ran Screaming for It!

by Edward Dolnick

The fascinating story of the Gold Rush and how it challenged American assumptions about life, work and glory.

The Two Legacies of Richard Nixon that Shaped the Modern Republican Party

by Lewis L. Gould

Nixon learned two lessons about politics from 1960.  The GOP hasn't forgotten them.  

The World’s Only Stand-Up Economist Explains Climate Change (Interview)

by Robin Lindley

Dr. Yoram Bauman on the History, Science and Future of the Big Issue of the Twenty First Century

How Our Impressions of an Author Shape What Gets Published, Even on the Comments Page

by Pearl Duncan

One African-American historian's experience.

This Was One of the Little-Recognized Causes of the Civil War

by David Williams

It was the Southern whites' fear that their African American slaves wanted freedom – and were willing to take measures to get it.

The Myth of Jewish Passivity

by Richard Middleton-Kaplan

The myth that Jews went passively like sheep to slaughter in the Holocaust remains maddeningly persistent. In actuality, voluminous historical documentation attests to the fact that Jews resisted whenever, wherever, and however it was possible.

Nicholas Wade's Blurring the Line Between Science and Fantasy

by Michael Eisen

"It terrifies me that more people will follow Wade’s lead and use the reality of genetic variation and natural selection in humans to justify to themselves."

Why Do the Japanese and Chinese Still Need to Keep Talking?

by Hiroshi Mitani (Translated and Introduced by Andrew Gordon)

 Their Shared History.  In Japan today, a spirit of “dislike China; hate Korea” is widespread.

Why Scientists Decided to Issue an Indictment of Nicholas Wade's Book

by Jerry A. Coyne

There is no evidence for Wade’s main thesis: that differences in behavior among groups, and in the disparate societies they construct, are based on genetic differences.

Did Mexico Reshape the American Civil Rights Movement?

by Ruben Flores

Mexico, it turns out, shaped America just as America shaped Mexico. And it did this by adopting John Dewey's Pragmatism.

Why Nixon Matters

by Stanley I. Kutler

Forty years ago, on August 8, Richard M. Nixon made unprecedented constitutional history when he resigned the presidency amid the disgrace and scandal of Watergate.

Why Pardoning Nixon Wasn't Good for America

by Elizabeth Holtzman

If Watergate is a story of accountability, President Gerald Ford’s pardon of Nixon is a story of presidential immunity.

When We Think of Industrialization We Think of Henry Ford. We Should also Think of World War I.

by William J. Astore

The age of mass warfare and mass destruction was both catalyst for and byproduct of the age of machinery and mass production.

Why Did Women Begin Sporting Short Hairdos?

by Kevin Kennedy

That’s just one of the many interesting questions addressed in an exhibit on World War I now on display in Berlin.

Is This How We're Going to Learn Queer History in the Future?

by Sarah Prager

No. It's how we're learning it now.

50 Years Ago Congress Gave the President a Blank Check for War

by Leonard Steinhorn

The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution and the hubris behind it were the linchpins of Johnson’s Shakespearean Vietnam tragedy – and ours as well.

Remember the Lessons of Watergate? We Still Should Remember Them

by Ashley Cruseturner

As we commemorate the forty-year anniversary of the culmination of the Watergate saga and, ironically, find ourselves in another season of scandal, it seems appropriate to reconsider "All the President’s Men."

Why Is the History Profession So Resistant to Change?

by Robert Townsend

Despite two decades of prophecies about an imminent revolution in the adoption of new media, and recurring job crises for humanities PhDs that call into question the behavior of the discipline, there is relatively little change to show for it.