Historians in the News

The History Of Pandemics From Black Death To AIDS

“It’s eerie, the familiarity,” says historian Frank Snowden, as a disease from Asia once again creeps across the world — wreaking particular havoc on Italy.

‘We Hated What We Were Doing’: Veterans Recall Firebombing Japan

American airmen who took part in the 1945 firebombing missions grapple with the particular horror they witnessed being inflicted on those below.

New Orleans Cultural Historian Died of Coronavirus, But His Family Only Found Out on the Day of Funeral

"I want to educate the world about our great culture," Ron Lewis wrote on the museum's website. "How we do this, and why we are so successful at it even though the economics say we ain't supposed to be."

Using History to Provide a Lens Into Today’s Politics

Vermont’s Rokeby Museum has both exposed and experienced the effects of racism at its preserved historic site on a former sheep farm.

Ah, Tea. So Relaxing. But Its History Is Another Story.

A room at the Metropolitan Museum of Art tells the story of tea and politics, from China to Britain and that “party” in Boston.

History's Deadliest Air Raid Happened in Tokyo During World War II and You've Probably Never Heard of It

With a death toll as high as 100,000 people, mostly civilians, the firebombing of Tokyo on March 10th, 1945 should be a more widely-known part of World War II history.

A Puritan Minister Incited Fury by Pushing Inoculation Against a Smallpox Epidemic

In 1721, Boston’s colonists greeted Cotton Mather’s proposal with a terror that bordered on hysteria.  

Inside The Museum Preserving Selma, Alabama's Complicated History

"The history here is so deep and I’ve got a little bit of everything here to tell its story. "

Zara Steiner, Historian Who Explored World War I’s Roots, Dies at 91

Dr. Steiner dug into the letters and other papers of civil servants and interviewed prominent and not-so-prominent historical players to flesh out the picture of how momentous events were shaped.

9 Women from American History You Should Know, According to Historians

by Olivia B. Waxman

To shed light on other lesser-known female history-makers, we asked historians to name a woman from the American past whose story should be better known. Here are their picks.

The Truth About Stalin’s Prison Camps

Vera Golubeva spent more than six years in one of Joseph Stalin’s gulag camps. Her crime? “To this day, I still don’t know,” she says.

How Did "Bipartisanship" Become a Goal In Itself? (Podcast)

TNR's "Politics of Everything" podcast discusses how bipartisanship came to be the end of politics instead of a means to achieve other goals. Features historian Julian Zelizer. 

Historian Greg Grandin’s Frontier Thesis and the Ecological Imagination

by Anthony Chaney

In his new book, Grandin traces the idea of limitless expansion in American history, and he suggests that the era of that ideology has ended.

How Eisenhower Secretly Pushed Back Against McCarthyism

To the end of his life, David A. Nichols says, “Eisenhower never admitted that the White House was behind this.” Yet he couldn’t help but gloat a bit in private. On at least one occasion, he reportedly repeated a joke that “it’s no longer McCarthyism, it’s McCarthywasm.” 

Elaine Sullivan Uses 3D Technologies to Peel way the Layers of History

Professor Elaine Sullivan's publication is among the first to include interactive 3D models that can be navigated both spatially and temporally. 

Omohundro Institute and NYT to Live Stream Discussion of 1619 Project on March 6

"Slavery and the American Revolution: A Historical Dialogue" will continue some of the vigorous discussion surrounding "The 1619 Project."

How Pandemics Change History

In his new book, “Epidemics and Society: From the Black Death to the Present,” Frank M. Snowden, a professor emeritus of history and the history of medicine at Yale, examines the ways in which disease outbreaks have shaped politics, crushed revolutions, and entrenched racial and economic discrimination.

How Black Culinary Historians Are Rewriting the History of American Food

Throughout the regions where enslaved Africans were concentrated, certain culinary “common denominators” emerged, Twitty writes in his book. These dishes formed the basis for Southern cuisine and “soul food.”

Was the Nuclear Family a Historical Accident, Asks David Brooks

When you put everything together, we’re likely living through the most rapid change in family structure in human history. The causes are economic, cultural, and institutional all at once.

How a UNG Student Unlocked a Piece of History to the Leo Frank Murder Case

Brittany Rhodes, now 30, first found the keys as she was disposing of leftovers from an estate sale. A tag on the keys read, “If found return to Warden J.E. Smith, Milledgeville, GA. State Prison Farm.”