Historians in the News

New Yorker asks: Does Henry Kissinger have a conscience?

Documents show he supported the generals behind Argentina’s Dirty War.

University of South Carolina historian warns that students are missing out by not majoring in history

"It is ironic that only a year after the Confederate battle flag was removed from the State House — after a heated public debate among South Carolinians over competing interpretations of our history — the academic major of history is in apparent decline among new freshmen at USC.” — Christine Caldwell Ames

Retired history Professor Marc Cooper stabbed to death by a colleague

An instructor at Missouri State University has been arrested for allegedly murdering a Jewish retired professor by stabbing him to death in his living room in front of his wife.

Douglas Brinkley says the Clinton Foundation conflicts-of-interest will follow Hillary like Watergate

It’s pushing her into a defensive crouch, he says.

Yuval Noah Harari’s new book, "Homo Deus," claims data will destroy human freedom

Homo Deus is an “end of history” book, but not in the crude sense that he believes things have come to a stop. Rather the opposite: things are moving so fast that it’s impossible to imagine what the future might hold.

Who owns Iran’s history?

That depends who you ask as two Letters to the Editor of the NYT show.

Ernst Nolte, Historian Whose Views on Hitler Caused an Uproar, Dies at 93

Professor Nolte, a respected German scholar of fascism, suggested in a 1986 essay that Nazism had been a logical response to the “existential threat” of the Russian Revolution.

Japan should give formal apology for wartime aggression, says historian

Kurt Piehler, director of the Institute of World War II and the Human Experience with Florida State University, says a formal apology from Japan would go a long way toward creating a lasting peace in the region.

Historian Benjamin Madley says what whites did to Indians in the 19th century in California was genocide.

He estimates that between 9,000 and 16,000 Indians were killed by vigilantes, state militiamen and federal soldiers between 1846 and 1873, mainly a result of the Gold Rush.

Kevin Baker says America needs to bring back political machines

They were corrupt to the core–but they were also incredibly effective.

Covell Meyskens uses his blog to show what life was like under Mao. (Interview)

"We often hear about people’s lives which were destroyed by political oppression, but daily life was more nuanced.” — Historian Covell Meyskens.

Walter Laqueur remembers his own first encounter with Birobidzhan. Birobidzhan?

by Walter Laqueur

Birobidzhan was a “Jewish autonomous region” set up in the far east in 1928 to provide a home for Soviet Jewry.

Chinese Court Upholds Ruling Against Historian Who Questioned Tale of Wartime Heroes

The decision, over a story about five Communist soldiers said to have fended off Japanese troops during World War II, continues a crackdown on dissenting views.

Rumors that Henry Kissinger is going to back Hillary Clinton has some liberals upset

by Michael Tomasky

This liberal says on the Daily Beast the question is what kind of foreign policy she’d pursue.

William McNeil remembered for many things including his prophecies for the 21 st century

by Walter A. McDougall

"The travail of the U.S.S.R. and its satellites ought not to be counted as a clear and definitive victory for the United States and the American way of life." -- William McNeill in 1990

Retired Colonel William Astore says the military needs to embrace dissent

by William J. Astore

This is especially needed now that victory is elusive in wars that cost trillions.

Historian group discourages panels that are all white men

In a guide for prospective panels a blog post on the website of The Society of Historians of the Early American Republic (SHEAR) says the key to having a prospective panel accepted for next year’s conference in Philadelphia is ensuring that it isn’t all white men.

Historians put together a book of 650 pictures from New Jersey history

The odd thing: There wasn’t one single photo that could be said to represent NJ.

CIA sued to disclose a history of the Bay of Pigs by in-house historian

A Villanova professor wants access to the late Jack Pfeiffer’s full history of the disaster.

Criticism for the proposal by Graham Allison and Niall Ferguson for the creation of a White House Council of Historical Advisers

by Jeremy Adelman

Historian Jeremy Adelman says historians may be overselling their usefulness. Besides, it’s hard to be relevant.