Historians in the News

This page features brief excerpts of stories published by the mainstream media and, less frequently, blogs, alternative media, and even obviously biased sources. The excerpts are taken directly from the websites cited in each source note. Quotation marks are not used.

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• 
• SOURCE: NYT
  9-23-16
  

  Karl Dietrich Bracher, German Historian of Nazi Era, Dies at 94

  A World War IIveteran of the German army who argued as a historian that the German people had to take responsibility for the rise of Nazism because of their embrace of Hitler and his racist agenda, he died on Monday in Bonn.

• 
• SOURCE: The Washington Post
  9-23-16
  

  Allan Lichtman predicts Trump will win

  He’s been predicting the outcome of presidential elections since 1984. He’s been right every time.

• 
• SOURCE: Vanity Fair
  9-21-16
  

  Doris Kearns Goodwin scores an interview with Barack Obama

  They know each other so well they finish each other’s sentences.

• 
• SOURCE: MacArthur Foundation
  9-21-16
  

  Art historian Kellie Jones wins a MacArthur Foundation “Genius” grant

  She is an art historian and curator deepening our understanding of contemporary art of the African Diaspora and securing its place in the canons of modern and contemporary art.

• 
• SOURCE: OAH Process blog
  9-20-16
  

  Historians note that prisoners have been treated inhumanely throughout American history

  Roundtable discussion with Dan Berger, Alan Eladio Gómez, Garrett Felber, Toussaint Losier, Lydia Pelot-Hobbs, Tony Platt, and Heather Ann Thompson.

• 
• SOURCE: Haaretz
  9-20-16
  

  Revenge and Justice: The Female Historians Who Are Guardians of Holocaust Memory

  Rokhl Oyerbakh and Deborah Lipstadt, featured in two upcoming films, testify to the Jewish life and culture destroyed in WWII and challenge Holocaust denial, a depressingly renewed presence in American politics.

• 
• SOURCE: WBUR
  9-19-16
  

  Beyond Textbooks: Massachusetts Schools Find New Ways To Teach Racial History

  Textbooks are often thought of as a critical tool for teachers in the classroom. But when it comes to teaching the history of race in the United States, WBUR has found that more and more teachers in Massachusetts are moving away from traditional textbooks.

• 
• SOURCE: The Seattle Times
  9-19-16
  

  Ken Burns says new Nazi documentary evokes refugees’ plight

  The documentary, “Defying the Nazis: The Sharps’ War,” tells the story of a Wellesley, Massachusetts, couple who rescued refugees and dissidents in Europe before and after the start of World War II.

• 
• 9-19-16
  

  Giant ad in the NYT proclaims Bill O'Reilly "America's bestselling historian"

  His publisher -- Henry Holt -- is credited with the ad.

• 
• SOURCE: UVA Today
  9-18-16
  

  Weekend summit on slavery held at Monticello

  Historian Peter Onuf started off the first panel discussion looking at the country’s founding and key lessons from slavery up through the Civil Rights Movement.

• 
• SOURCE: NPR
  9-17-16
  

  Historians are uncovering the forgotten history of African-Americans in the California Gold Rush

  "My favorite response when I give a talk is for somebody to say I hadn't thought of that or I didn't know that."

• 
• SOURCE: NYT
  9-16-16
  

  David Singerman warns the sugar industry has used tactics like Big Tobacco to confuse the public about the dangers of their product

  by David Singerman

  "If we want to check the power of Big Sugar, we’d be well served to acknowledge the long record — past as well as present — of the industry’s machinations."

• 
• SOURCE: Canadian Association for Graduate Studies
  9-15-16
  

  Canadian in his 50s decides to get a PhD. Then he wins the award for the best history dissertation.

  This unlikely too-good-to-be-true story happened. Meet Douglas Hunter.

• 
• SOURCE: New York Review of Books
  

  3 works are helping us better understand what the world can and can't do about war's devastating toll on cultural artifacts

  by Hugh Eakin

  One suggestion:  Rely on local preservation experts to stem the attacks and save treasures. It's worked before.

• 
• SOURCE: The Orange County Register
  9-14-16
  

  Conservatives complain when a liberal historian at Saddleback College takes down their 9-11 poster

  They claim she overstepped her authority as a department chairwoman and professor by taking down the posters, suggesting that if the group had been rallying for a more traditionally liberal cause, she would have left them untouched.

• 
• SOURCE: American Historical Association website
  9-14-16
  

  AHA notes criticism of Texas history textbook

  The AHA cites a report that the book is “a polemic attempting to masquerade as a textbook.”

• 
• SOURCE: The Nation
  9-13-16
  

  Manisha Sinha breaks with modern claims. Says abolitionists were key to the abolition of slavery.

  In The Slave’s Cause, she offers nearly 750 impassioned pages for considering abolitionism as a longstanding progressive force in American life.

• 
• SOURCE: Process
  9-6-16
  

  Historian Van Gosse has advice on “Teaching in the Time of Trump"

  Until Trump came along, Van Gosse says he couldn’t imagine the US harking back to the dark times we’ve seen before.

• 
• SOURCE: coreyrobin.com
  9-10-16
  

  Corey Robin goes after Yale professor over column on striking grad students

  by Corey Robin

  At issue: whether unionizing students would lead to strikes.

• 
• SOURCE: Democracy Now
  9-8-16
  

  Standing Rock Sioux Historian: Dakota Access Co. Attack Comes on Anniversary of Whitestone Massacre

  On September 3, 1863, the U.S. Army massacred more than 300 members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.