Historians in the News

Virtual Event: Martha S. Jones with Nikole Hannah-Jones (Tuesday, September 8)

The Harvard bookstore sponsors a virtual event featuring Martha S. Jones discussing her new book "Vanguard" and the role of Black women in securing political equality. Nikole Hannah-Jones will join the conversation.

David Harvey and David Graeber Discuss "Debt" (Video)

Political theorists David Harvey and David Graeber discuss Graeber's book "Debt: The First 5,000 Years" at the CUNY Graduate Center in 2012. 

In Memory of David Graeber, Listen to A BBC Interview on the History of Debt

Anthropologist David Graeber, whose works included the influential book Debt: The First 5,000 Years has recently passed away. This 1996 BBC interview explores the terrain of that book and the significance of debt as a political force. 

The Urban History Association's Grad Student Blogging Contest is Beginning

The Urban History Association is preparing to showcase the best blogging by grad students. Check in next week to read. 

Dalton State Professor Takes Heat for Tweets; College Doesn't Plan Discipline

A Dalton State (GA) history professor regrets his word choice in a series of tweets that was publicized by an anonymous user who sought disciplinary action by the college. Seth Weitz insists that he teaches history in the classroom, which involves challenging beliefs held by many of his students. 

We Are Still Living the Legacy of World War II

by Tom Hanks

The actor Tom Hanks reflects on the false narrative of closure of World War II. The forces unleashed by war and the struggle to reshape the world resonate today. 

Historians: No, to Removing Jefferson, Washington Monuments. Yes, to Contextualizing Them.

Historians Annette Gordon-Reed, Alexis Coe, and Seth Bruggeman describe a way forward out of the controversy over memorials to slaveholding American leaders.  

Cleveland and Chicago: Cities of Segregation

"Berlin had a wall, but they took to it with hammers and pickaxes and tore it down. Cleveland and Chicago have walls too, but not the kind you can tear down with a pickaxe. They’ve been erected in places that are harder to reach than a river or a street: bitter, entrenched hearts and minds, both black and white, going back for generations, on either side of town."

Lessons Unlearned: HNN Features Editor Robin Lindley Interviewed

HNN's Features Editor Robin Lindley was interviewed by Nibir K. Ghosh about the need for historical understanding today.

DC Releases Long List of Facilities to Be Renamed, Relocated, or Contextualized

A commission convened by DC Mayor Muriel Bowser recommends that the District rename many schools and city facilities that honor historical figures associated with slavery and racism, and asks the city government to pressure the federal government to do the same with federal properties in the district. 

‘The 1918 Flu Is Still With Us’: The Deadliest Pandemic Ever Is Still Causing Problems Today

Historians John Barry and Howard Markel are among the medical and social science experts who explain that the 1918 pandemic didn't "end" so much as endure in an era of recurrent viral pandemics. 

How Do We Fix the American Presidency?

Kevin Kruse and Julian Zelizer, along with political scientists William Howell and Terry M. Moe, offer context for growing concerns about the power of the Presidency. 

New Black Intellectual Histories

Brandon Byrd argues that researching the African American intellectual tradition requires methodological flexibility and innovation to understand how Black thinkers have worked to produce ideas while being excluded from the spaces where intellectual work has typically been done. 

Roanoke’s ‘Lost Colony’ Was Never Lost, New Book Says

Historians Malinda Maynor Lowery and Lauren McMillan discuss the evidence behind a new book's claim that the "lost" inhabitants of the Roanoke colony were absorbed by the Croatoan indigenous people of the area. 

McDonald’s Faces $1 Billion Discrimination Lawsuit From Dozens Of Black Ex-Franchise Owners

Historian Marcia Chatelain's book "Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America" is key background to a discussion of a recent lawsuit filed against McDonalds by Black franchise owners, alleging the corporation discriminated against them in allocating franchise locations. 

Donald Trump’s Incitements to Violence Have Crossed an Alarming Threshold

Historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat argues that Trump's seeming endorsement of militia and other armed citizen groups is a dangerous step toward the establishment of paramilitary groups that occurred under Mussolini in fascist Italy. 

Repetition and Rupture

by Stefan-Ludwig Hoffmann

Stefan-Ludwig Hoffman of UC Berkeley discusses the theories of Reinhart Koselleck, who sought in the years after World War II to model historical research that would not support the great totalitarian ideologies of Nazism or Stalinist communism. 

A Salvadoran-American Assembles the Fragments of a Violent Cultural History (Review)

Carolyn Forché reviews Roberto Lovato's book "Unforgetting" on the transnational history of the Salvadoran people.

Alexandra Finley on Her New Book, An Intimate Economy

Historian Jacob Remes discusses the new book "An Intimate Economy" with author Alexandra Finley. 

PBS Will Air "Driving While Black" Documentary on October 13

PBS will air a historical documentary examining the issue of mobility and freedom to travel as aspects of American racism.