Historians in the News

How the Right Got Waco Wrong

by Paul Renfro

Historian Paul Renfro reviews Kevin Cook's new book, which seeks to explain how the 1993 siege of the Branch Davidian cult's Waco compound became a totem for the right while also decrying the aggressive law enforcement tactics that escalated the situation toward mass death. 

Zachary Shore: the Struggle Between Vengeance and Virtue in WWII

Zachary Shore discusses the contrasting decisions to drop atomic bombs on Japan and rebuild Germany. 

The Bitter, Contested History of Globalization

Tara Zahra's book places the conflicts of the middle of the 20th century in the context of profound global debates about how interconnected the world should be, and on whose terms. 

The Secrets of Bog People

Scholars have released a comprehensive survey of bodies discovered in bogs, including a database of more than 1,000 bodies from 266 sites spanning approximately 7,000 years of northern European history.  

Glenda Gilmore's Bio Shows Artist Romare Bearden Reckoning with the South

"Gilmore sets a timeline, critiques some striking artworks, and leaves the reader wondering why hardly anyone writes about art this succinctly."

Prof. Hasan Kwame Jeffries on Consulting for Hip Hop at 50 Documentary

The Ohio State professor served as a consultant for the four hour documentary produced by Public Enemy's Chuck D, which begins January 31. 

Caroline Dodds Pennock on The Indigenous Americans Who Visited Europe

by Karin Wulf

In contrast to the stock story of the "Age of Exploration," Indigenous Americans often traveled to Europe afte 1492. A new book looks to this history to examine the origins of a cosmopolitan world. 

Victimhood and Vengeance: The Reactionary Roots of Christian Nationalism

by Linda Greenhouse

Three books offer illuminating and distressing insight on the eruption of Christian nationalism, a "deep story" in American cultural history that, when its adherents feel denied the power they expect, guides potentially violent vengeance. 

Erika Lee and Carol Anderson on Myths and Realities of Race in American History

"The problem we have in the United States is that we use these myths as a way to diminish the humanity and the citizenship of large sectors of our population and to then craft policies based on myths."

Why Can't the Democrats Build a Governing Majority? (Review of Timothy Shenk)

by Kim Phillips-Fein

In an implicit response to Richard Hofstadter's finding of the continuity of a narrow "American Political Tradition," Timothy Shenk examines the ways that activists have occasionally disrupted the political order and convinced people to "take a leap into an unknown future."

Banished Podcast: Sunshine State's Descent Into Darkness

by Amna Khalid and Jeffrey Aaron Snyder

Two historian podcasters evaluate the effort to politicize the history curriculum in Florida's K-12 schools and public colleges. 

A Former Inmate Reviews an Oral History of Riker's Island

by John J. Lennon

"Leaving Rikers feels like a better chapter of your life is about to begin—even if that next chapter is a prison sentence."

David A. Bell Discusses "American Exceptionalism" with the Professor Buzzkill Podcast

"Dr. David Bell relates the long and strange history of the concept of “American Exceptionalism,” analyzing various interpretations of the phrase from the Puritan John Winthrop to President (and non-Puritan) Donald Trump."

Prof. Marvin Dunn: I was Teaching Before DeSantis was Born

Prof. Dunn discusses Florida's divisive concepts law and refusal to accept an AP course in African American Studies with MSNBC's Joy Ann Reid

Legal Historian Reva Siegel on Dobbs

Legal historians have argued that the equal protection provisions of the 14th Amendment offer a more solid rationale for reproductive rights than the now-defunct right to privacy, though the court's majority has expressed skepticism while not directly ruling on the question. 

How the Russian Jews Became Soviet

The novelist Gary Shteyngart, who emigrated from the USSR to the US as a child, reviews Sasha Senderovich's "How the Soviet Jew was Made," a work that gives short shrift to neither the "Soviet" nor "Jewish" sides of the question. 

National Library of Medicine Announces 2023 History Talks

NLM History Talks promote awareness and use of NLM and related historical collections for research, education, and public service in biomedicine, the social sciences, and the humanities.

Eric Alterman on the Shifting Debate over Israel-Palestine in America

The writer discusses his conclusions about the evolution of the debate among American Jews about the nature of their relationship to Israel and the moral status of American policy. 

Julia Schleck on The Function of the University Today

by Michael Meranze

Julia Schleck's work ties the idea of academic freedom to the social role of the university and its internal labor practices, which threatens scholars with attacks from inside and outside the campus. 

Marvin Dunn: Florida Prof Defies New Laws to "Teach the Truth"

The Professor Emeritus at Florida International University says that he can't teach about the history of racist terrorism in the state without registering disgust for the actions of lynch mobs or offering clarity about the political purposes of the violence.