Historians in the News

A Southerner who abandoned the Lost Cause (Review)

West Point historian Ty Seidule's book traces his own personal path from venerating the Lost Cause myth of the Confederacy to rejecting it, including questioning the number of monuments to Robert E. Lee at the US Military Academy. 

A Century Ago, White Protestant Extremism Marched on Washington

"There still has to be a reckoning within white Christian churches about white supremacy. There need to be very careful conversations about this, not as, 'Individuals are prejudiced,' but about, 'This is the system that we all inhabit'."

Robert L. Herbert, 91, Dies; Saw Impressionism With a Fresh Eye

Robert Herbert's studies of impressionism revitalized the field by situating the work of artists in the context of theri social lives. 

The Filibuster That Saved the Electoral College

Powerful Southern conservatives Strom Thurmond, Sam Ervin, and James Eastland led the 1970 filibuster that stopped the Senate from approving a constitutional amendment to elect the president by the popular vote. 

The Never-Ending Frontier?

by Karl Jacoby

Karl Jacoby reviews Benjamin Hopkins's "Ruling the Savage Periphery" and traces a history of practices of imperial control from the American conquest of Native peoples, through the British Empire, to the 19-year-old US war in Afghanistan.

In America’s ‘Uncivil War,’ Republicans Are The Aggressors

Thomas Zimmer and Joanne Freeman represent historians among the scholars commenting on the asymetric polarization of American politics. 

He Became the Nation’s Ninth Vice President. She was His Enslaved Wife

Historian Amrita Chakrabarti Myers examines the erasure of Julia Chinn, the enslaved wife of Kentuckian Richard Mentor Johnson. 

How the GOP Surrendered to Extremism

by Ronald Brownstein

Historian Matthew Dallek says that the prominence of conspiracy theorists and the far right in the Republican Party's base means that there will be no move to push extremists out like there was after Barry Goldwater's 1964 candidacy. 

The Alabama Town That Could Defeat Jeff Bezos

The industrial suburb of Bessemer has a long history as a rare center of union activity in the South and now is the focal point of an effort to organize Amazon's warehouse workers. Historian Robin D.G. Kelley, who has written about interracial labor militancy in Alabama, gives context. 

“A New Jerusalem”–A Review Of The City-State Of Boston

Kristian Price reveiws Mark Peterson's study of Boston from its founding through the mid-19th century, which focuses on the contradiction of the Puritan ideal of a city of moral rectitude and the economic necessity of local merchants' enthusiastic participation in the slave trade. 

West Virginia Has Everyone’s Attention. What Does It Really Need?

by Emily Badger

The influence of Senator Joe Manchin in Washington has fueled speculation about federal aid to depressed communities in the Mountaineer State. But historians like William Hal Gorby and in-state activists say that there will be no quick fixes. 

On Baltimore: Narratives and City Making

by Bo McMillan

A Review of Mary Rizzo's "Come and Be Shocked: Baltimore Beyond John Waters and The Wire," which argues that development interests in the city have used popular culture to craft an image of eccentric white ethnic residents that erases the city's racial segregation and the interests of the city's Black majority.

America’s First Black Regiment Earned Their Freedom by Fighting Against the British

Philip Morgan says the decision to enlist both free and enslaved Black troops resulted both from Rhode Island's difficulty mustering a sufficient all-white force and George Washington's fear that Lord Dunmore's offer of freedom to enslaved men who joined the British army would undermine the slavery-based economy of Virginia and the southern colonies. 

The History of American Isolationism with Charles Kupchan: Thurs. Feb. 11

Join the John W. Kluge Center for a discussion of the evolution of U.S. statecraft with Charles Kupchan, author of a new book, Isolationism: A History of America’s Effort to Shield Itself from the World.`

Penn State Professor Studying Stories of Spanish Flu Survivors

An accidental archival discovery led John Eicher to examine testimonials of European survivors of the 1918 influenza pandemic; the subsequent COVID pandemic made his developing research suddenly relevant to the news. 

How the New Orleans Streetcar Revival Left Bus Riders Behind

A number of historical dynamics, including racial segregation and the growth of a tourist economy, account for decisions in the Crescent City that have refurbished a fraction of the old streetcar system at high cost while ignoring the health of bus systems that poor and working residents depend on, says NOLA transit historian Kevin McQueeney. 

A 'Community History' of Black America: The Brian Lehrer Show

Keisha N. Blain and Ibram X. Kendi's book "400 Souls" brings together 80 writers and 10 poets to collaboratively narrate the story of Black America. They discuss the work on the Brian Lehrer Show. 

The Conservative Case Against the Boomers

by Ben Wallace-Wells

Reviewed: Helen Andrews' "Boomers," which indicts the affluent and influential members of that generation from a conservative Catholic perspective for delivering freedom only for their advantaged cohort while establishing a debased and decadent set of cultural norms. 

Jakobi Williams, “​The Black Panthers, Here and Abroad”

Historian Jakobi Williams discusses the community-based organizing of the Black Panther Party and its national and global influence. 

Trump Taught Teachers Conspiracy Theories. Now They’re Teaching Them To Students

“More than anything else, teachers have to distinguish between what’s a real controversy and what’s a pseudo controversy,” said Jonathan Zimmerman, a University of Pennsylvania professor and education historian. “And a real controversy happens when the best-informed people disagree — a pseudo controversy is when they don’t.”