Historians in the News

Sharon Ullman says the work of historians is becoming increasingly invisible

by Sharon Ullman

Should we care, she wonders.

A historian discovers how to use social media site Tumblr to engage students

by Bianca Murillo

Students could browse each other’s posts as smaller thumbnails, minimizing the need to scroll through dozens of pages.

German Art Historian to Head the British Museum

Art historian Hartwig Fischer to take charge at the London musuem – second-most visited in the world after the Louvre in Paris and most popular visitor attraction in Britain

Ric Burns's "The Pilgrims" To Air On American Experience On PBS November 24 And Thanksgiving Day

This two-hour documentary endeavors to tell the true story of the Pilgrims, a small group of religious radicals whose determination to establish a separatist religious community planted the seeds for America's founding.

Historian Marina Rustow wins MacArthur Genius Award

Rustow is a professor in the Department of Near Eastern Studies and Department of History at Princeton University.

Non-profits focused on history are suffering

History organizations comprise almost a third of humanities non-profits with gross receipts of at least $50,000, but had only 17% of the revenues.

Niall Ferguson interview: ‘Public life these days is a cascade of abuse’

The firebrand historian on the ‘inconsequential quibbles’ of the left, our culture of Correct Politicalness and and why Henry Kissinger is misunderstood

Virginia High School Teacher Suspended for Using N-Word in Class

Lynne Pierce, who is white, used the term during a history class last week at Heritage High School in Newport News, Va.

Japanese University Humanities and Social Sciences Programs Under Attack

by Jeff Kingston

Japanese government officials are concerned that Japans universities don’t come out well in international rankings and apparently believe that focusing on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) is the fastest way to catapult more universities into the top 100 world rankings.

Mark Crispin Miller publishing controversial history books he says were silenced (Interview)

"The long effort to wipe out books of this kind has been pretty successful."

Historian writes a book about zombies to reach students

The book is a collaboration between historian Antonio Thompson and his wife, a biologist.

Sean Wilentz responds to his critics

by Matthew Pinsker

Critics have argued that in a recent NYT op ed Wilentz glossed over the pro-slavery dimensions of the 1787 Constitution. His response?

In her BBC2 series, The Ascent of Woman, Professor Amanda Foreman seeks to rescue women from obscurity

by Jessica Meyer

But by focusing on select unusual cases she silences women, says a critic, who do not fit a narrative of exceptional effort.

Gordon Wood says his 15 minutes of fame came with “Good Will Hunting” (Interview)

by Scott Porch

His latest work is a collection of significant Revolutionary War pamphlets put out by the Library of America.

How an art history class became more engaging with Twitter

Twitter encouraged active learning. It allowed students to comment on material and ask questions in real time.

NYT History Book Reviews: Who Got Noticed this Week?

by Erik Moshe

This week ... Books about Thurgood Marshall, Sandra Day O’Connor, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and a book about female friendship, another about ancestors, and still another about Detroit.

Report: History PhDs often spend less time at the coursework stage and more time at the dissertation stage

by Robert Townsend

Another finding: On average, recent humanities PhDs who relied primarily on personal savings or income take more than a year longer to earn their degrees—almost a year-and-a-half longer than graduates who relied on fellowships and assistantships.

75 Holocaust Scholars Protest Jailing of Historian

The scholars from around the world have signed a letter urging Austria's leaders to cancel the jail sentence imposed on a Jewish historian who omitted a relative's name in an application for the return of property confiscated by the Nazis..

Climate change could cause second Holocaust, says Yale historian

According to Prof. Timothy Snyder, the struggle to feed populations may ‘encourage new variations on Hitler’s ideas’

University of Kansas historian Jonathan Clark says Thomas Paine didn't write the account of the French Revolution included in the Rights of Man

by Jonathan C. Clark

Who did?  The Marquis de Lafayette, with whom Paine boarded for a time.