Historians in the News

NYT hosts debate including Eric Foner: How Americans should remember Reconstruction

"Reconstruction poses a challenge to Americans’ historical understanding because we prefer stories with happy endings." -- Eric Foner

William Leuchtenburg says historians and the media have been too hard on Obama

“The criticism I am hearing is much too harsh. Particularly, I think in the editorial pages of The Washington Post that much of the criticism has been extraordinarily severe and unjustified.”

Hugh Ambrose, historian who helped develop WWII Museum, dead at 48

Ambrose served as a consultant for the 10-part World War II HBO production “The Pacific” and wrote The New York Times best-selling companion book to the miniseries.

Historian discounts claim that Churchill and other British PM's were gay

by Dominick Sandbrook

Dominick Sandbrook says a biographer's claims are specious.

Nick Bunker Wins $50,000 2015 George Washington Book Prize

The prize for the best writing on early American history is for Bunker’s "An Empire on the Edge: How Britain Came to Fight America" (Knopf).

Niall Ferguson Vs. Robert Skidelsky

by Niall Ferguson

The economics historian Niall Ferguson says Robert Skidelsky, biographer of Keynes, was wrong about the British economy and should admit it.

Historians gloss over too many unpalatable truths, Antony Beevor says

Historians are too reliant on official accounts and have missed controversial facts about American and British troops in the First and Second World War, Antony Beevor says.

Historian shares his own experience with mental illness

Ohio State University professor Gleb Tsipursky decided to be honest despite negative stereotypes.

Daniel Pipes calls the rulers of Iran "madmen" on official Iranian TV

by Daniel Pipes

He tells Iranians that if the US doesn’t bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities, Israel should

A Professor Tries to Beat Back a News Spoof That Won’t Go Away

Historian Noel Ignatiev drew intense criticism from some conservative media outlets for comments he never actually made.

NYT History Book Reviews: Who Got Noticed this Week?

by Erik Moshe

This week the Times reviewed books about Goebbels, Waterloo, and Christian America.

Sean Wilentz is being called “Hillary’s Historian"

Why is this important? The lesson that he has drawn from his study of 19th century politics is that partisanship is a necessary element of the political process.

Hundreds of British historians challenge assumptions of “Historians for Britain” campaign

In an open letter they charge that "Britain's past is neither so exalted nor so unique” as is claimed.

Slate inaugurates a history of slavery

America's defining institution, as told through the lives of nine enslaved people. Enroll in the college course you wish you'd taken, learning from acclaimed historians and writers, alongside Slate's Jamelle Bouie and Rebecca Onion.

Should historians refer to slaves as slaves?

It’s not just an academic debate for historians of American slavery.

William Leuchtenburg has finished a book decades in the making

It’s “The American President: From Teddy Roosevelt to Bill Clinton,” scheduled for publication in December by Oxford University Press.

In commencement address Ken Burns says human nature doesn’t change (more or less)

by Ken Burns

"We have continually superimposed our complex and contradictory nature over the random course of human events."

What Joseph Ellis is Reading

His favorite presidential biographer is Edmund Morris.

Students at Sacramento State protest the plan to replace a history requirement with an anthropology course

by Vanessa Madrigal

An analysis of the syllabus of ANTH 101 clearly reveals that the course does not comply with the state mandated guidelines for administering a comprehensive knowledge of American history.”

Historians for Britain hope to shape the debate over Europe

by Rebekah Higgitt

But some complain the historians are employing the old discredited Whig history framework.