Historians in the News

Stephen Wertheim on Danger of Escalating a Cold War with Russia

by David Klion

"This is a tragedy, and Vladimir Putin is mainly responsible for it, but the world that will emerge from this war in Ukraine will be poorer, more divided, and more heavily armed."

How American Culture Ate the World

by Dexter Fergie

Sam Lebovic's book "A Righteous Smokescreen" seeks to explain how the cultural globalization of the 20th century was a one-way exchange of American culture that left Americans dominant but isolated from and ignorant of the rest of the world. 

Tim Snyder: How Putin Misjudged the Western Response

Did Putin interpret the January 6 attack on the Capitol as evidence that American democracy and the Biden administration were too fracture and weak to coordinate a response to the invasion of Ukraine? 

Surveying Cold War Historians on the Likelihood of Nuclear War

Is the relative weakness of today's Russian state compared to the Soviet Union a risk factor for escalation that was missing during the Cold War? 

Dutch Publisher Recalls Anne Frank Book after Report Challenges Findings

A panel of historians and other experts in the Netherlands concluded that the investigators had relied on poor readings of sources and fabrication to name a fellow Amsterdam Jew as the person who betrayed the Franks' hiding place to the Nazis.

Is "Regulation from Below" Possible? Historian Rebecca Marchiel on Community Housing Activism

"Marchiel’s narrative paints the picture of a remarkably powerful national reinvestment campaign against an almost unstoppable force of ever more inventive flows of capital. Perhaps the lesson should have been that capitalism refuses to work for people."

Beware the Imperative in Foreign Policymaking

by Michael J. Mazarr

When foreign policy decisions are presented as imperative – that some action must be taken –  consideration for the consequences is often neglected. 

Alfred McCoy: Ukraine War May Birth New World Order

The historian of international relations predicts that the Ukraine invasion and NATO's response will have the effect of tying Russia and China together in an alliance that will reshape the dynamics of international relations, trade, and military power. 

Preserving the Past in the Digital Age Still a Headache

"Our information and cultural history may not be as secure as we believe it to be."

Review: Lily Geismer's Denunciation of Clintonism Ignores Clear Economic Improvement

by David Greenberg

Historian Lily Geismer's book is meant as a sharp criticism of Clintonian economic policy, but ignores the broad range of policies and the record of reduced poverty, says one reviewer. 

Political Scientist Ivan Krastev: Putin Lives by Historical Analogy

"For Putin, Russia has long since ceased being a country in the standard sense; it is a kind of historic, 1,000-year-old body."

Can the US Stand up for Ukraine Without Starting World War III?

Historian of America in the world Stephen Wertheim and Anand Giridharadas discuss the invasion of Ukraine and the way that American policymakers are wrestling with the limits of American power against a nuclear rival. 

Marc Stein Examines LGBTQ History through Academic and Community Lenses

"Queer Public History" examines the connections between academic historians and the shared narratives maintained by LGBTQ communities. 

Fintan O'Toole on Ireland's Great Gamble

O'Toole's "personal history" of Ireland shows that the Republic sought both modern prosperity and traditional values, but could secure only one. 

How the KKK Sowed White Supremacy in Oregon in the 1920s

Both racist and anti-Catholic bigotry fed the rise of the Klan as a power in Oregon's politics in the early 20th century, with an estimated 50 chapters and 58,000 members. 

Itta Bena, Miss. Works to Preserve Civil Rights History

Shannon Bowden of Mississippi Valley State University is leading a public history project for the nearby Delta town of Itta Bena, preserving the sites and stories of voting rights activism. 

How Four Interwar American Journalists Saw the Rise of European Totalitarianism

by Karin Wulf

Deborah Cohen's new book looks to the stories of four American journalists to understand what the world saw clearly about the rise of Hitler and Stalin and what they missed. 

How Disinformation Powers Vigilantism

Right wing misinformation has linked the nation's borders with race war discourse that encourages vigilantism, according to historian Carly Goodman. 

Dave Grohl's Incurable Optimism

Historian Daniel Bessner says that Dave Grohl's memoir is heavy on affable storytelling but doesn't offer Grohl's views on the huge shakeups in the music industry that he's witnessed over his career. 

The Plague, in the Plague: Have Black Death Comparisons Taught us Anything?

by Peter Manseau

The author of a new novel of the Black Plague and the co-author of a revisionist book on the medieval period discuss the tendency to make "rainbow connections" between past and present that oversimplify events to give moral guidance.