Historians in the News

Holocaust Historian Slams Germany for Shedding Millions of Death Records

The Hamburg State Archive destroyed an estimated 1 million death certificates dating from 1876 to 1953. The state cultural ministry later admitted the move was a mistake.

Juan Cole warns Rod Rosenstein’s "Firing Could lead to Trumpian Martial Law and Blood in the Streets”

"What if he tells Mattis to put tanks in the streets to put down building protests, and emulates Lincoln in declaring martial law and a suspension of habeas corpus."

Is Howard Zinn’s “People's History” really bereft of nuance?

by David Detmer

The author of a new book written in Zinn’s defense disputes claims by Sam Wineburg that Zinn was dogmatic.

Yuval Noah Harari: Netanyahu's Government Threatens Foundations of Israel's Liberal Democracy

Best-selling Israeli author tells French weekly Le Point that he doesn't feel comfortable "being an official representative of the Israeli government because I have an issue with its current politics."

Police Union Objects To School Visit by Ohio State Historian Hasan Kwame Jeffries

“When a person texts or tweets things that the Fraternal Order of Police has killed more people than the Klu Klux Klan, that’s sort of outrageous.”

New York Review of Books Editor Is Out Amid Uproar Over #MeToo Essay

“I made a themed issue about #MeToo perpetrators who were not convicted by the judiciary but by social media. And now I am on the pillory myself.” – Historian Ian Buruma

Ehsan Yarshater, Iran Scholar With a Monumental Vision, Dies at 98

He worked on his magnum opus, an encyclopedia of Iranian history and culture, for more than 40 years, retiring at the letter “K.” The work goes on.

Harold Holzer is selling his collection of Lincolnania

It includes more than 700 paintings and other material related to the 16th president.

Allan Lichtman’s new book is about the biggest mistake the Founding Fathers made in drafting the Constitution

by Sean Illing

It was the decision to leave voting rights up to the states.

NYT celebrates Jill Lepore’s new book on the story of America

The Times notes that it’s perfectly timed.

Stanford’s Sam Wineburg says it’s time for historians to admit that they embraced a $50 million federal boondoggle

by Sam Wineburg

It was Robert Byrd’s history project and it didn’t work out as planned.

Howard Zinn’s Anti-Textbook

by Sam Wineburg

Teachers and students love "A People’s History of the United States." But it’s as limited—and closed-minded—as the textbooks it replaces.

Patty Limerick says Ken Burns has done more than anybody else to teach Americans about their history

by Patty Limerick

“There is a great deal for all citizens to learn from Burns: how to speak as a whole-hearted patriot while offering a forthright critique of the nation’s failures."

This Historian Left a Tenured Job for a Career in Policy

by Katherine E. Bliss

Katherine E. Bliss says she never regretted it.

The co-author of Robert McNamara’s memoirs has himself written a history of Vietnam

by Brian VanDeMark

He suggests that mistakes may have been avoided had policymakers understood, as we do today, our biases, as cognitive science now makes clear.

Scholars are paying more attention to the history of emotion

They're now organizing conferences.

AHA rides too the rescue of Rutgers historian James Livingston

On September 10, the AHA sent a letter to Rutgers President Robert Barchi expressing concern about the university’s investigation of history professor James Livingston for comments he had made outside of the context of his university employment.

Jill Lepore’s new book is … a long, steady view of American History

Just a few years ago, “an old-fashioned civics book” might have sounded like a cure for insomnia; now it sounds like a survival guide.

Has a medieval professor of history been defamed?

by Peter Wood

That’s the claim of conservatives who have come to the defense of the University of Chicago’s Rachel Fulton Brown, who’s been accused of indifference to racism.

Historians say Dinesh D’Souza lured them under false pretenses to interview for new pro-Trump film

That’s the reason name historians show up in his widely discredited film.