This page features brief excerpts of stories published by the mainstream
media and, less frequently, blogs, alternative media, and even obviously
biased sources. The excerpts are taken directly from the websites cited in
each source note. Quotation marks are not used.
Source: NPR
1/17/2021
Historians of the presidency and political rhetoric discuss how Biden's address on Wednesday may adapt the traditions of the inaugural address to an unprecedented context.
Source: Washington Post
1/19/2021
by Gillian Brockell
Washington Post "Retropolis" writer Gillian Brockell has a roundup of remarks by historians on the contents of the 1776 Commission document, featuring Jim Grossman, Eric Rauchway, Ibram X. Kendi, Alexis Coe, Kali Nicole Gross, Kevin M. Kruse, Sean Wilentz, Kevin M. Levin, and Adam Rothman.
Source: Washington Post
1/15/2021
by Thomas Geoghegan
A lawyer and labor advocate suggests that Donald Trump's actions both before and on January 6 expose him to civil liability under the Ku Klux Klan act of 1871.
Source: Slate
1/14/2021
by Rebecca Onion
It's tricky to draw any definitive lessons about how to deal with the Capitol insurgents from Reconstruction, particularly since many facile "lessons from history" make counterfactual assumptions. Historian Cynthia Nicoletti discusses the complex imperatives of justice, punishment, reconciliation, and national reunification that contributed to the course of Reconstruction.
Source: Chronicle of Higher Education
1/12/2021
Despite many professors' confidence in their ability to foster discussion of controversial subjects, studies suggest avoidance is a much more common approach. Historian of political rhetoric Jennifer Mercieca works to make students more direct and purposeful consumers of news.
Source: Washington Post
1/12/2021
Eric Foner discusses the application of the 14th Amendment to prevent Trump or any other officials implicated in inciting the attack on the Capitol from holding public office in Post commentator Greg Sargent's column.
Source: Keeping Democracy Alive
1/19/2021
Richard Kreitner, author of "Break It Up" joins Burt Cohen's podcast to discuss the history and future of calls to break up the United States.
Source: CNN
1/17/2021
A group of presidential historians including Timothy Naftali, Jeff Engel, Julian Zelizer, Laura Belmonte, Kathryn Brownell, H.W. Brands, Lindsay Chervinsky, Martha Jones, and Barbara Perry discuss what results of the Trump presidency – from resurgent white nationalism to battered norms of governing – will prove to be the most historically consequential.
Source: New York Times
1/17/2021
Historian Jonathan Petropoulous forged a relationship with Bruno Lohse, the art agent of Hermann Göring. That relationship proved ethically dubious when the professor did paid contract work for heirs of a German Jewish family to trace a stolen painting and the trail led to a foundation owned by Lohse.
Source: Salon
1/18/2021
by Mary Louise Wells
Republicans who continued to contest the legitimacy of the election after the Capitol riots should consider the German example, which shows the potential for disaster if people accept authoritarianism out of expediency.
Source: Conference on Faith & History
1/13/2020
The global organization of scholars of the relationship between Christian faith and history has issued a statement condemning the Capitol riots as "a gross violation of the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ."
Source: New York Times
1/12/2021
“'It breaks my heart that I can no longer access a building that has meant so much to me during my lifetime,' said Kenneth Bowling, a historian at George Washington University." Emily Badger writes that increased security will also impact the public spaces and parks accessible to the residents of the District.
Source: Washington Post
1/13/2021
by Gillian Brockell
Major General Smedley Butler (USMC) told Congress in 1933 that a group of business leaders had asked him to lead a coup against FDR. He insisted the plot was serious and credible. Has this episode faded from awareness because it was a hoax, or because Roosevelt and Congress all wanted to conceal how close it came to succeeding?
Source: Inside Higher Ed
1/12/2020
The University of Mississippi remained insistent that it was correct and justified in terminating the employment of history professor Garrett Felber.
Source: Bloomberg CityLab
1/14/2021
Historian Kyle Riismandel's new book “Neighborhood of Fear” examines the cultivation of a white suburban culture of vigilantism and the political exploitation of fear of community change in the late 20th century.
Source: Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting
1/12/2021
A discussion of the ongoing impact of Lost Cause mythologies includes the work of new HNN blogger Ann Banks.
Source: The Nation
1/11/2021
Critic David Klion considers the unexamined relationship between the late 20th Century rise of market-oriented liberalism and the 21st century rise of authoritarian nationalism (or, "why so many of her once-close friends have turned out to be fascists").
Source: The New Yorker
1/13/2021
Isaac Chotiner interviews Eric Foner on the echoes of Reconstruction-era political violence in last week's Capitol riots.
Source: Reckon South
1/12/2021
Historians John Giggie and Manisha Sinha weigh in on how the Capitol riots do and don't reflect patterns of violence in American history.
Source: Vox
1/8/2021
Historian Keisha N. Blain argues that the historic white entitlement to control government reared its head yet again on January 6.
