Historians in the News

Battle of Lewes: England's First Fight for Democracy?

King Henry's defeat led to a brief experiment in governing where the king's powers were delegated to a parliament while he remained head of state.

Professor Apologizes for Using N-Word

How should professors approach teaching situations where their subjects--artists or historical figures--have used racial slurs? 

A Mystery at Oxford

A well-funded effort by American evangelical Christians to identify archaeological evidence for the New Testament is at the center of a scandal. 

Art Historians are Obsessed with Recovering Lost Names. But are they Asking the Wrong Questions?

In her exhibition “The Unknown Artist," curator Lucy Cotter probes the very values of attribution.

How Pandemics End

An infectious outbreak can conclude in more ways than one, historians say. But for whom does it end, and who gets to decide?

Enemy of All Mankind: A True Story of Piracy, Power, and History's First Global Manhunt (Review)

An attack by the pirate Henry Every on a ship owned by the Grand Mughal of India jeopardized the toehold the British East India Company had gained in India. The British government's response helped launch imperial rule. 

A (Surprisingly) Brief History Of Handwashing

Historian Peter Ward, author of "The Clean Body: A Modern History," contextualizes handwashing among humans.

How Racism Is Shaping the Coronavirus Pandemic

An interview with historian Evelynn Hammonds on the relationship between African-Americans and epidemics in American history, from the eighteenth century to the present day.

Rutger Bregman: The Dutch Historian who Rocked Davos and Unearthed the Real Lord of the Flies

The historian offers a hopeful view of human nature in his latest book, "Humankind." It couldn’t have come at a better time.

Thomas Reppetto, Crime Watchdog and Historian, Is Dead at 88

A former police officer with a Harvard Ph.D., he brought a street cop’s experience and a scholarly perspective to the Citizens Crime Commission in New York.

The Myth of Henry Kissinger

by Thomas Meaney

Barry Gewen's new biography of the American national security figure argues that Kissinger's perspective was shaped by stories older German emigres told him about the end of the Weimar Republic and the rise of Nazism. 

New Book Details History of Contentious Cascade Mine

Historian Adam Sowards' most recent work "An Open Pit Visible from the Moon" delves into the effort to block the mining of Miners Ridge in the Glacier Peak Wilderness Area.

Southern LGBTQ History Project Recognized By Archivists

The Invisible Histories Project has received the Society of American Archivists' Archival Innovator Award for their efforts in preserving LGBTQ history.

'The Women with Silver Wings' Review: Top-Flight History of Female Aviators

A review of historian Katherine Sharp Landdeck’s new book "The Women With Silver Wings: The Inspiring True Story of the Women Airforce Service Pilots of World War II."

10 Podcasts for History Enthusiasts

The hosts of these shows, including historians Nicole Hemmer, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Walter Isaacson, and Erik Larson, use the past to help us understand our difficult present.

Who Killed Truth? Historian Jill Lepore Searches For Answers On New Podcast

The Harvard professor explores questions such as, "Where did the idea of a fact as an elemental unit of evidence come from? And then, what forces have undermined that over the years and especially recently?”

‘Steeped in the Blood of Racism’

"[Jackson State] reflects so many themes in the history of state-sanctioned violence against African Americans."

‘Lincoln’ & ‘Theodore Roosevelt’ Miniseries Lead History Slate As A+E Networks Expands Relationship With Leonardo DiCaprio & Doris Kearns Goodwin

“Understanding our past provides a pathway for our future, which is why I’m so glad to be partnering again with History to tell the remarkable stories of some of our best past presidents,” Doris Kearns Goodwin said.

Russian Court Upholds Decision To Extend Detention Of Prominent Gulag Historian

Yury Dmitriyev's supporters have said charges were brought against him because of his research into a side of history that complicates the Kremlin's glorification of the Soviet past.

4 Movies That Got World War II Right, According to a Historian

Here are four films that accurately depict life during and after the war, according to Rob Citino, Senior Historian at the National World War II Museum.