Historians in the News

American diplomatic history criticized for its “limited intellectual range"

by Thomas Meaney

Few question that the US should remain the world’s superpower.

Senate Confirms Carla Hayden as 14th Librarian of Congress

The first African-American to head the LC, she replaces historian James Billington, who resigned in 2015 after 28 years.

William H. McNeill, Professor and Prolific Author, Dies at 98

Professor McNeill’s opus, “The Rise of the West: A History of the Human Community” (1963), took 10 years to write.

Activists have organized a new group: Historians Against Trump

by David Schlitt

Months in the works, the group has issued an open letter in advance of the Republican National Convention.

Cornell historian Russell Rickford reportedly claims the "Fraternal Order of Police is a terrorist organization"

At a rally in support of Black Lives Matter he said he was tired of waiting for reforms of police departments and small concessions from elected leaders on the issue of police brutality.

Spanish Historian Recounts Quest to Locate Last Inca Capital

To locate the place — Hatun Vilcabamba — Santiago del Valle used historical chronicles to reconstruct the four-day route that Spanish colonial troops used in 1572 in launching an attack on the final Inca ruler.

Princeton’s Jan Tomasz Gross's controversial research into Polish complicity in the Holocaust is again in the news

It comes on the 75th anniversary of the massacre of hundreds of Jews in Jedwabne, which he exposed.

Jill Lepore explains why she wrote a book about a man who’s unbearable

It’s about Joe Gould (1889-1957), a racist, anti-Semite Harvard graduate who claimed to have written the longest book.

Iceland: How a scholar of the nation’s Presidency swiftly became its Presidential front-runner.

by Adam Gopnik

"When I heard that the historian Guðni Jóhannesson was running for President of Iceland—not only running but entering the final weeks of the campaign as the clear favorite—I was intently curious to be present when and if he won."

What Nancy Isenberg shows in her history of “White Trash” is how prominent a role the white poor have played in American history

"Our very identity as a nation, no matter what we tell ourselves, is intimately tied up with the dispossessed."

Henry Kissinger in the 1950s backed the use of tactiical nukes

It’s now becoming a reality. Alas.

Nick Turse denounces celebrity generals who cash in on their fame

by Nick Turse

In an article in TomDispatch Turse reminds us that contemporary generals like David Petraeus have taken a markedly different path than Ike and George Marshall.

Historian Gerald Horne says the resolute insistence upon the Pledge of Allegiance plays into a racist narrative

The narrative is based on the collective denial that the American Republic was founded on the enslavement of people of African descent along with the expropriation of the land and property of the Native Americans, he said in an interview.

Nancy Isenberg shows how class shaped American history in her new book, “White Trash"

In an interview she says class is often overlooked because Americans prefer myth to reality.

Jean Edward Smith bio of Bush II lauded

Smith takes an almost unrelentingly negative view, calling Bush one of the worst presidents in US history.

Holocaust historian Elie Wiesel has died

More than anyone else, he seared the memory of the Holocaust on the world’s conscience.

Historian calls to an end of the boycott of Iraqi and Syrian academics

by Zainab Bahrani

Because of visa restrictions Iraqi and Syrian scholars have been unable to attend international conferences on heritage preservation that concern their own countries.

UCLA Professor Accused Of Sexually Harassing Grad Students Is Returning

History professor Gabriel Piterberg took a European fellowship while he was serving a suspension.

Somme 'myth': British troops were NOT inexperienced and should have won, says historian

"This was a seriously mismanaged battle and the tale of heroic sacrifice obscures that.” — Alexander Watson

Alison Winter, University of Chicago historian, dies at 50

She died of a brain tumor.