Historians in the News

Justus Rosenberg is still teaching at age 95

And that is not what’s most remarkable about this anti-fascist intellectual who battled Vichy.

Glenda Gilmore chides Yale for deciding to keep the name of Calhoun

by Glenda Elizabeth Gilmore

"The decision to name residential colleges for Benjamin Franklin and Anna Pauline Murray, a black civil rights activist, does nothing to redeem this wrong."

Historians are now trying to show that the gay revolution also took place in the midwest

Scott Seyforth and Nichole Barnes are unearthing this history through oral interviews.

The Unconference Movement Grows – And Historians Are Taking the Lead

by Mary Rizzo and Molly Rosner

Increasingly scholars like attending conferences where the agenda is created on the fly. Here’s an example.

Supporters Rally Around Accused Russian Historian Of Stalin's Crimes

Yury Dmitriyev painstakingly assembled a Book of Remembrance that includes the names of 13,000 Great Terror victims.

The historian and cartographer Bill Rankin has developed a new way to visualize slavery

His maps show that the gradual decline of slavery in the north was matched by its explosive expansion in the south.

Former secretary of state Henry Kissinger discusses his controversial career

Addressing his controversial record as former secretary of state, Henry Kissinger acknowledged “mistakes were made” by America in the Vietnam War but said he had no regrets about his actions in the war.

Annette Gordon-Reed subjects herself to Reddit, the “anything-goes” social media website

Ask Me Anything (AMA), she told them. They complied.

A historian says it’s time to consider how Big Data could change historical research

by Geoffrey Belknap

Crowdsourcing research by ‘non-specialists’ could help historians investigate big-data archives, says Geoffrey Belknap.

Sidney Blumenthal -- Yes, that Sidney Blumenthal -- has a projected 4 volume biography of Lincoln

Historians James McPherson, Harold Holzer et al. are singing the praises of the first volume, which has just been published by Simon & Schuster.

How Well Do Today’s Students Know History?

C. Wyatt Evans, professor at Drew University’s Caspersen graduate school, weighs in.

New appeal to "Bring Back Military History"

by Aaron B. O’Connell

It’s made by Aaron B. O’Connell, a cultural historian at the US Naval Academy.

N.J. high school history teacher reportedly forced to resign over anti-Trump video

The Middletown High School South teacher was reportedly forced to resign after he showed his class a video by John Oliver.

Mark Carnes remembers the powerful influence John Garraty had on him

In an interview he discusses what it was like to edit the American National Biography.

Historian Nick Turse says the Pentagon has blacklisted him for making multiple FOIA requests

True, he admits, he did file a lot of requests. But there was a reason.

You have no idea how hardcore Harriet Tubman really was

The former slave risked her life countless times, and even performed an ad hoc dental surgery on herself while on the road for the Underground Railroad, knocking her front tooth out with a pistol, says biographer Catherine Clinton.

Irish slaves? Librarian demolishes myth peddled by racists who claim PC historians have covered up “white slavery"

Irish scholar Liam Hogan has been tracking and debunking this reincarnated meme since he first saw it in 2013.

Library of America receives major grant of $550,000 from the NEH to mark the centennial of America's entry into World War I in 2017

Organized to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the nation’s entry into the war in 1917, the project will bring members of the veteran community together with the general public in libraries and museums around the country to explore the transformative impact of the First World War.

Liz Covart's amazingly popular podcast helps her audience understand early American history

It’s downloaded 45,000 times a month.

Berkeley historian T.J. Stiles wins Pulitzer for ‘Custer’s Trials’

It’s Stiles’ second Pulitzer; he won the award in 2010 for his biography “The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt.” That book, also published by Alfred A. Knopf, won the National Book Award in 2009.