Historians in the News

Robert Forster, a Social Historian of France, Who Taught at Johns Hopkins for 31 Years

Robert Forster, who passed away May 13, is remembered as a rigorous scholar and an organized, supportive teacher. 

‘Almost Blasphemous,’ Says Historian: Trump Plans Political Rally in Tulsa, Site of a Race Massacre, on Juneteenth

CeLillianne Green, author and historian, argues that Trump's plan to hold a rally on the June 19th--the anniversary of emancipation in Texas--just steps from the site of one of the nation's worst episodes of white supremacist terrorism is too much to take. 

Modigliani Expert Says a Nonprofit Is Holding His Research ‘Hostage’

Marc Restellini, an art historian, is fighting the Wildenstein Plattner Institute over the ownership of a research archive he spent decades compiling.

Toppling Edward Colston’s Statue is Unlikely to be Enough to Stop Public Anger

Inaction over figures such as Colston had bred anger that would be felt “all over Britain”, said Andrea Livesey, a historian specialising in the study of slavery and its legacies and who described the events in Bristol as “wholly justified”.

Fewer and Fewer Students Choose to Study History — Why?

Retired history professor David Kaiser believes that faculty's tendency toward "politically correct" material causes students to lose interest. 

Resources To Teach The History Of Policing In America That You Won’t Find In Textbooks

by Valerie Strauss

With police reform front and center in the national debate, it’s a good time to learn about the history of policing in the United States.

Confederate Statues Are Being Removed Amid Protests Over George Floyd's Death. Here's What to Know

For some, they’ve symbolized heritage, but for many, many others, the statues have been a symbol of past and present racism in the U.S. Calls to remove them came once again at the forefront as thousands of people protest police brutality after the officer-involved killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Capitalism as Religion (Review Essay)

Eugene McCarraher’s The Enchantments of Mammon: How Capitalism Became the Religion of Modernity examines the ways in which capitalism, despite its purported scientific rationality, operates as a perverse kind of religion.

Will George Floyd’s Death with a Knee on His Neck Become Nation’s ‘Emmett Till Moment?’

The black Chicago teenager’s lynching in 1955 ignited a civil rights movement. Historians say the Minneapolis man’s killing by a now-fired Minneapolis cop could do the same.

Its Defenses Undone by a Virus, France Seeks Lessons From a Lost War

Marc Bloch's book "Strange Defeat," written in 1940 about France’s defeat in World War II, has taken on a curious resonance as the country gazes across the border at Germany and asks why it has weathered the pandemic better.

'Cult Of Glory' Reveals The Dark History Of The Texas Rangers

Author Doug Swanson chronicles centuries of abuse within the famed Texas law enforcement agency, including burning villages, hunting runaway slaves and murdering Mexicans and Mexican-Americans.

A Tour of the Plague Years in New York

by Mike Wallace and Edwin Burroughs

Two New York City historians revisit well- and lesser-known pandemics from the city's past. 

Stealing Home' Author Eric Nusbaum Discusses the Secret History of Dodger Stadium

Nusbaum's book, released in March, details the human cost of the stadium's construction.

Protesting the George Floyd Killing: A Moment or a Movement?

Certain moments “hit a collective nerve,” said historian Heather Ann Thompson.

Not Just George Floyd: Police Departments Have 400-Year History Of Racism

Slave patrols lay at the roots of the nation's law enforcement excesses, helping launch centuries of violent and racist behavior toward black Americans, as well as a tradition of protests and uprisings against police brutality. Historian Sally Hadden explains how.

Northwestern Historian Kevin Boyle Discusses History of Protests (Video)

"It's the most profoundly American of acts, to protest peacefully in this nation," Boyle said.

Emmett Till's Lynching Ignited a Civil Rights Movement. Historians Say George Floyd's Death Could Do the Same

"Nothing has ever hit me harder than the image of George Floyd. When I saw that image, it brought me back to when I first saw the photograph of Emmett Till at the age of 10," says documentary filmmaker Keith Beauchamp.

White House Compares Trump-Churchill Leadership Styles, and Historians Scoff

British and American historians objected to the White House's comparison of Trump's leadership to Churchill's. 

How Racist Policing Took over American Cities, Explained by a Historian

“The problem is the way policing was built,” historian Khalil Muhammad says.

Coronavirus Depletes the Keepers of Europe’s Memory

The pandemic has hastened the departure of witnesses to the wrenching conflicts of the last century, allowing rising political forces to recast history.