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popular history



  • Mistakes Historians Make on TV

    by Julian Zelizer

    Presenting the complexity of history in a quick and accessible way is tough. But some tropes hurt more than they help. 



  • Fifth LBJ Volume by Caro "In Works"

    The latest volume is planned to cover the years from Johnson's first full year in the presidency in 1964 until his death in 1973.


  • How Should Popular Culture Convey History?

    by Walter G. Moss

    A recent plot point in Netflix's "The Crown" was based on a falsification of historical events. Historians who want to influence public knowledge of history need to be able to match the narrative appeal of television with a commitment to telling the truth. 



  • Qatar's World Cup Echoes Brutal American Labor History

    by Jason Steinhauer

    Exposés of the brutal conditions faced by migrant laborers who built Qatar's World Cup facilities echoes the history of American public works, where workers' bodies and lives were subordinated to budgets and timetables. 



  • The Rediscovery of David McCullough

    by Lindsay M. Chervinsky

    A presidential historian now at work on her own book on John Adams reflects on how McCullough's blockbuster inspired her own career, and his hits and misses as a chronicler of overlooked or forgotten people and events in American history. 



  • Dirtbag Historicism

    by Leland Renato Grigioli

    While historians have long been embattled to demonstrate that their discipline contributes to some external standard of usefulness, the profession now must also content with the political abuse of history through narratives of identity-based nostalgia. 



  • The Popular Medieval History Hated by Medievalists

    by Daniel Lavery

    "It’s the most prominent example of a type of book that fascinates me: The amateur/popular history of an entire field that’s largely beloved (or at least successful) outside of said field and widely loathed within it."



  • What "Big History" Misses

    by Ian Hesketh

    "Big History" has become established in the popular media and in some academic quarters, telling global-scale narratives of human and even planetary history. After 30 years, it's time to evaluate its successes and failures. 



  • On Popular History: Rebecca Traister

    by Alexis Coe

    Historian Alexis Coe interviews writer and essayist Rebecca Traister on the historical research informing her work and the links between popular and academic audiences for historical knowledge.