Historians in the News

Reconsidering the Past, One Statue at a Time

From Virginia to New Mexico, protests over police brutality have brought hundreds of years of American history bubbling to the surface.

Why Protest Movements Are ‘Civil’ Only in Retrospect

Historian Richard Pierce: “Blacks can’t continue to wait around to find an acceptable form of protest that will generate 100 percent approval on the other side, because that doesn’t exist.”

12 Informative Queer Women's History Reads

A selection of historical works examine the lives of queer women, the relationship of queer and racial identities, and the establishment of heterosexuality as a social norm. 

The Secret British Campaign to Persuade the U.S. to Enter WWII

Henry Hemming writes that British intelligence services planted made-up episodes of heroic military raids on Nazi-occupied Europe and fabricated Nazi plans to invade South America to try to overcome prevailing isolationist sentiments among Americans. 

It Didn’t Have to Be Like This

The New Deal, per historian Eric Rauchway, illustrates the relationship between the American economy and American democracy.

Five Women Veterans Who Deserve to Have Army Bases Named After Them

The U.S. Army has 10 installations named after Confederate generals. Zero are named after women.

David Abulafia’s ‘The Boundless Sea’ wins Wolfson History Prize 2020

David Abulafia's book tells the global history of humanity through its relationship to the oceans.

Calls to End ‘Eyes of Texas’ Draw Focus to Professor’s Lessons on UT’s Racial History

UT Associate Professor of African and African Diaspora Studies Edmund T. Gordon explains how the university's spirit song is tied to Robert E. Lee.

Geraldo Cadava On The Past And Future Of Hispanic Republicans

An interview with historian Geraldo Cadava, a scholar of Latinx history, borderlands, and immigration.

As NYC Awakens, Navigating A Strange New Normal

“This is not the first time New York has been challenged. It won’t be the last,” says historian Kenneth T. Jackson.

Are We Really Built for Prejudice and Violence? The New Book Challenging the Preconceptions of Human Behaviour

Rutger Bregman's new book makes a sweeping argument that the "veneer" theory--that civilization barely suppreses humanity's instinct for violence and selfishness--is wrong. 

The Brilliant Astronomer Who Devised New Tactics to Fight Anti-Gay Bias

LGBTQ historian George Chauncey reviews Eric Cervini's biography of scientist Franklin Kameny, "The Deviant's War: The Homosexual vs. the United States of America."

The Long Battle Over ‘Gone With the Wind’

Historians Kellie Carter Jackson and Karen L. Cox discuss the film's effect on audiences then and now.

Historian Daina Ramey Berry on "Black Wall Street" and the Tulsa Massacre

American historian Daina Ramey Berry sits down with MSNBC’s Alicia Menendez to discuss the history of Tulsa’s 'Black Wall Street', and why so many black Americans were offended by the suggestion that President Trump would hold a campaign rally in that city on Juneteenth.

Trump’s Lessons From Nixon Missed One Important Thing

A platform of "law and order" no longer functions when there is no "silent majority" to receive it.

The History Of Policing And Race In The U.S. Are Deeply Intertwined

NPR's Michel Martin speaks with professor Keisha Blain about the history of policing in the United States.

National History Center Webinar: Protest and Civil Unrest in American History

The National History Center event was moderated by Eric Arnesen and featured historians Chad Williams (Brandeis), Marcia Chatelain (Georgetown), Michael Flamm (Ohio Wesleyan), Cheryl Greenberg (Trinity), and Thomas Sugrue (New York University). 

Bob Dylan Has a Lot on His Mind

by Douglas Brinkley

Historian Douglas Brinkley and the Nobel laureate Bob Dylan discuss the COVID pandemic, the effects of electronic media, and American history in music in a wide-ranging interview. 

Protest, Passion, Politics (Review Essay)

"As protests work to remake the world, the reissue of Vivian Gornick’s The Romance of American Communism invites a new generation to reflect on what it means to live a life of political commitment—where the passionate pursuit of justice meets organized political action," writes Alan Wald, a reviewer of classic work of left political activism.

Violence As A Form Of Protest

Professor of Africana Studies Kellie Carter Jackson speaks with WBUR on the relationship between violence and protest; a relationship which goes back to the Boston Massacre.