History News Network

Departments

Military History

In today's New York Post, Rich Lowry has an appropriately timed op-ed on the collapse of military history as a field staffed in History Departments.

A study of the top 25 History departments by former University of Wisconsin professor Edward Coffman reveals the same sort of pattern that I have seen in staffing decisions for political, constitutional, and diplomatic history: he found "that a mere 21 professors out of more than 1,000 listed war as their specialty

Lowry also cites the case of WVU professor Steven Zdatny, who World War I as one of his "teaching fields," but whose latest work is on "the French hairdressing professions" and the "evolving practices and sensibilities of cleanliness in 20th century France."

The battle for military history was lost years ago--despite strong student interest in the topic. But it's good to continue to shine a spotlight on hiring practices.

Posted on Monday, May 28, 2007 at 8:58 AM | Comments (5) | Return

Home Newsletter Submissions Advertising Donations Archives Internships About Us FAQs Contact Us All Articles