Historians in the News

David Brion Davis’s surprise finding was that it wasn’t rationalists who undermined slavery’s defense, but Christians

by Allen C. Guelzo

A review of his new book on slavery puts his contribution into perspective

Sean Wilentz weighs in on the debacle at the New Republic

by Sean Wilentz

He says philistinism wrecked the magazine

Harry V. Jaffa, Conservative Scholar and Goldwater Muse, Dies at 96

A professor and author of political histories, Dr. Jaffa traced the nation’s origins to the philosophies of Aristotle and John Locke and analyzed the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the contributions of Washington, Jefferson, Madison and other founders.

University of Evansville history professor's cartoon response to Paris shootings read around the world

Picked up by the news website Vox, James MacLeod's cartoon was soon featured among the cream of the crop of editorial cartoonists' responses published around the globe online and in print.

Economic historian Barry Eichengreen says our leaders ignored many of the key lessons of the Great Depression

by Neil Irwin

“Once we averted a Great Depression, we succumbed to the instinct to do less in order to sustain economic growth.”

Historian says the Koran Does Not Forbid Images of the Prophet

The University of Michigan's Christiane Gruber says "The Koran does not prohibit figural imagery."

"The radical historians lose again"

by Ron Radosh

The young radicals of the 1960s and ’70s received their Ph.D.s and began their “long march through the institutions.” They now dominate the profession.

Stephen Donches forced out at National Museum of Industrial History

Donches and the museum have been under intense scrutiny since 2012 when a Northampton County grand jury began investigating the museum. While the grand jury investigation found no criminal wrongdoing, it called on Donches to resign or be terminated.

Civil Rights Center former executive director speaks out in first extended interview since firing

Lacy Ward says he was fired because he wanted to attract all Americans to visit the place where 4 North Carolina students began the sit-in movement in Greensboro.

Carl Degler, Stanford Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, dies at 93

A leading post-World War II historian, Stanford Professor Carl Degler was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his groundbreaking 1972 book on slavery and race relations.

Colorado Professor Who Forced Students to Say Anti-American Pledge Is Cleared of Wrongdoing Following Investigation

Charles Angeletti, who teaches at Metropolitan State University of Denver, says that he wasn’t trying to indoctrinate students — just provoke fresh thinking.

Prof. Philip E. Converse, Expert on How Voters Decide, Dies at 86

Professor Converse, in “The American Voter,” concluded with three co-authors in 1960 that most voters were remarkably uninformed and based their preferences largely on party affiliation.

The Atlantic Names Historian Yoni Appelbaum as Its New Politics Editor

Appelbaum is a social and cultural historian with a Ph.D. in American History from Brandeis University, and joins The Atlantic from Harvard where he’s been a lecturer on history and literature.

Japanese historian says the government and the media are evading the fact that "comfort women" were sex slaves

"When women were brought to a comfort station (Ianjo), the Army must have recognized its criminality as they examined women who were going into the station."

Inside Account: How resolutions critical of Israel were defeated at the American Historical Association

by Jeffrey Herf

"University of Maryland Professor Jeffrey Herf helped lead the battle to defeat anti-Israel resolutions at the American Historical Association"

Quotes: What Historians Are Saying About the Controversy at the AHA About Israel

Quotes that have appeared in media and blogger accounts.

Sacvan Bercovitch, Scholar Who Traced America’s Self-Image, Dies at 81

Dr. Bercovitch argued that the Puritans did not see New England as an extension of European societies but as something new and exceptional.

How historians put Ferguson in context

Historians have an obligation to help students and society at large understand the context from which the recent protests emerged.

Historians Decide NOT to Debate Resolutions Critical of Israel

by Rick Shenkman

At the annual Business Meeting the members voted overwhelmingly not to suspend the rules to allow debate on two resolutions that had been submitted after the requisite deadline. 

Whose History of the Vietnam War Will Prevail?

With a substantial appropriation from Congress, the Pentagon has launched a self-serving multi-year commemoration of the war in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.  A movement is growing of those who were active against the war, as well as of friends who came after, to insure the Pentagon’s misleading version of Vietnam is effectively challenged.