Historians in the News

Documentary Shows the Women of Route 66

Katrina Parks examines the lives of women who came to work and build lives along the "Mother Road" of the west. 

Nicole Hemmer on the Fall of the Republican Party

by Kim Phillips-Fein

The seeds of today's hard right populism, nativism and conspiratorialism were present in the GOP for decades, argues historian Kim Phillips-Fein. 

Walter Russell Mead's Contrary View of the Roots of the US-Israel Alliance

In Mead's account, American Christians, with an affinity for viewing the Old Testament as part of the nation's heritage, not the machinations of modern Jewish organizations, brought American policy to support a Jewish state. 

Ty Seidule: Confederates Were Traitors

The naming of military facilties for Confederates was not a project of post-Civil War reconciliation; it was about valorizing and defending segregation in the 20th century, as with 

W.E.B. DuBois's Insight on Race and the Global American Century

by Zachariah Mampilly

Both racism and anticommunism helped to minimize the impact of DuBois's thought on international relations, contributing to significant blind spots in the liberal international order. 

The Complicity of Textbooks in America's Racism

by Eric Foner

Donald Yacovone is an inheritor of the legacy of WEB DuBois, slogging through the nation's history textbooks to identify the propaganda of white supremacy, says reviewer Eric Foner.

"Hell, Yes, We Are Subversive": The Legacy of Angela Davis

by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor

While Davis was acquitted of murder charges in a highly politicized case 50 years ago, her influence on contemporary protest movements has never been higher. 

Why Were the Historians Advising Biden All White?

Historians of color, including Kenneth Mack and Manisha Sinha, have argued that it shouldn't be necessary to look outside of the United States, or all the way back to the Civil War, to find examples of institutionalized racism, demagoguery, voter suppression, and political violence. 

My Husband the War Criminal

The posthumous release of Nancy Dougherty's biography of the Nazi secret police chief emphasizes his bureaucratic cunning. Does it minimize his ideological commitment to Nazism, or the crimes he carried out? 

Virtue and Vice: Looking for the Real Adam Smith

by Glory Liu

Smith's work on political economy has long been seen in tension with his investigation of empathy and other moral sentiments. Paul Sagar's new book argues that scholars have mistaken Smith's intentions in order to falsely reconcile the market and morality. 

Brad DeLong's "Slouching Toward Utopia" Calls a Close to the Prosperity of the Long 20th Century

Particularly for Americans, the period between 1870 and 2010 was a miracle of sustained and growing prosperity. But Brad DeLong also says that it's over. 

New Approach at Montpelier: Let All Voices Rise

After a controversial battle over how to incorporate the descendants of people enslaved by James Madison, Montpelier is beginning to highlight artifacts—and the process of discovering them—related to the lives of enslaved people at the estate. 

Review: What Took Freud So Long to See the Danger of Remaining in Occupied Austria?

by Patrick Blanchfield

"If Freud himself, so attuned to the dark undercurrents of human behavior and so critical of our wishful illusions, proved unable to think clearly even as his country became unrecognizable around him and as nightmare after nightmare became real, what are our chances now?"

Institute for Constitutional History Fall Seminar: Bureaucracy and the Constitution

"Today, a deep and historically inflected debate is raging over the legitimacy of American bureaucracy. As context for that controversy, this seminar will trace the constitutional history of the U.S. administrative state."

Was the AHA President's Essay Just a Tempest in a Teapot?

Did James Sweet's essay unleash a storm of recrimination and anger? Sure. But maybe also useful scholarly self-reflection? 

Historians Ask what the Decline of Nude Beaches Tells Us about the Internet's Influence

Historians of naturism Sarah Schrank and Stephen L. Harp believe that the panoptical nature of social media is eroding a longstanding divergence between European and American attitudes about nudity in public spaces, particularly among young women. 

Fantasy Series Take a Selective Approach to Historical Accuracy as an Excuse for Sexual Violence

Medievalist Eleanor Janega wonders whether the creators of the "Game of Thrones" universe use historical accuracy as a justification to show graphic violence; their insistence on verisimilitude flags in other areas. 

Three Historians on the Legacy of the 1963 March on Washington

William Jones, Adrian Lentz-Smith and Laurie Green discuss the largely-forgotten demands of the marchers for economic redistribution, full employment and labor rights, as well as the impact the march's organizers had on the culture of protest in the United States. 

Leslie Reagan: Pro-Life is a Historical Misnomer

The author of "When Abortion Was a Crime" discusses the pro-life movement with Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin. 

Grant for Public History of Natchez, MS Civil Rights Sites

“This is great news for Natchez,” Mayor Dan Gibson said in a news release. “These grant funds will help greatly in our efforts to better tell the entire history of Natchez to include commemorating our African American historic sites.”