Historians in the News

"Selling a Promise": What Did Silicon Valley Learn from Theranos?

Tech historian Margaret O'Mara offers insight on the culture of Silicon Valley and the safeguards against hype and fraud as Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes goes on trial. 

Stephen B. Oates, Civil War Historian, Dies at 85

In his best-known works, Dr. Oates explored the lives of four prominent figures — John Brown, Nat Turner, Lincoln and Dr. King — in what he called his “Civil War quartet.”

The Failed Plan to Replace the South's Black Labor Force with Chinese Immigrants

James Loewen's work "The Mississippi Chinese" is a touchstone for writer Jay Caspian Kang, who reflects on the connections between race and exploitation in history. 

Arguments on the Left: US History

The editors of Dissent present a collection of three essays by Barbara Ransby, Nikhil Pal Sing and Michael Kazin about how to frame the significance of racism in the nation's history and the prospects of fighting it. 

National Museum of American History Announces African American History Curatorial Collective

“African American history is inextricably central to U.S. history, and our growing curatorial team forms an essential force in creating innovative, essential interpretive approaches at a time when cascading crises have shown us how race-based disparities continue to exist,” director Anthea Hartig said.

What Did the Continental Congresses Do?

From the runup to the Revolution to the adoption of the Constitution, three Continental Congresses were the de facto national government. Here's what they did. 

Noel Swerdlow, U. of C. Professor who Won a Macarthur ‘Genius Grant,’ Dies at 79

Noel Swerdlow wove together the humanities and the sciences through his study of the history of science.

75 Years Ago: Did Truman Read John Hersey's "Hiroshima"?

by Greg Mitchell

"My research yielded amazing letters between "New Yorker" editor and the White House following publication of one of the most heralded and important articles of the century."

Podcast: Jelani Cobb on the Missed Lessons of the Kerner Commission

Cobb has edited a new annotated report of the Kerner Commission's findings, and argues that the report's unheeded recommendations are more important today than ever. 

Zelizer: Kabul/Saigon Comparisons are Bad History

Julian Zelizer tells "Here and Now" that the media are making lazy comparisons between the fall of Saigon in 1975 and the Taliban's recapture of Kabul. 

Professor’s ‘Comfort-Women’ Lecture Gets Him Indicted—And Sparks Debate on Academic Freedom

"In an interview, Mr. Lew said he had given that same lecture for more than a decade. Students always pushed back and they debated. But the discourse had never before become public."

Web of Connections: Emma Rothschild's Microhistories of France

by David A. Bell

Historian David Bell reviews an effort to relate three centuries of French history through the lives of the descendants of one undistinguished eighteenth century Frenchwoman. 

History Professors Consider How The Afghanistan War Will Be Remembered

NPR's Michel Martin discusses what the war in Afghanistan will mean in U.S. history with historian Kathleen Belew, retired U.S. Navy commander Ted Johnson and military judge Col. Gary Solis.

St. Louis Teachers: "Soul of History" at Stake in New History Wars

“What’s happening in the classroom is not critical race theory, but giving space and giving voice to other perspectives,” said Joseph Kibler, a history teacher at Hazelwood West High School. “It’s just things that happened that weren’t taught before are being taught now.”

Historian Gary Nash, Who Fought to Update History Teaching, Dies at 88

Dr. Nash led a project to update national history teaching standards which was denounced by Rush Limbaugh and other conservatives, after a long career as an influential scholar of early American history who reconstructed the lives of ordinary Americans.

Why Don't the French Celebrate Lafayette?

Two new books examine the life and legacy of the Marquis de Lafayette, whose reputation in the United States far exceeds his esteem in his native France. 

The Contemporary US Right’s Roots in 1930s Union-Busting: Interview with Kathryn Olmsted

The New Deal's support for labor rights pushed the large California agricultural interests, who previously embraced "big government" irrigation projects, to an aggressive anti-statist position based in keeping control over their workplaces and their profits. 

America Once was Eager for Chinese Immigration. Mae Ngai's Book Explains What Happened

The first wave of the California Gold Rush was "a nettlesome experiment in multiracial democracy that had little precedent in the country's history," but resulted in the development of institutionalized anti-Asian nativism as a political force.

Review: Geraldo Cadava's "The Hispanic Republican"

by Jerry González

Historian Jerry González says that "The Hispanic Republican is a wake-up call for progressives, particularly white liberals, who uncritically believe that rising Latinx population numbers will naturally shift the political winds."

James W. Loewen, Who Challenged How History Is Taught, Dies at 79

James W. Loewen, a sociologist and civil rights champion, took high school teachers and textbook publishers to task for distorting American history.