public engagement

• 
• 6/16/19
  

  Make History Accessible: The Case for YouTube

  by Rohit Kandala

  Youtube presents a great opportunity for both professional history educators and amateurs to enhance the public’s interest in history. 

• 
• 6/16/19
  

  The Cold War Spy and CIA Master of Disguise Writing the History of CIA Tactics in the Cold War

  by Aleisha Smith

  An interview with Jonna Mendez. A former Chief of Disguise with 27 years in the CIA, she discusses her latest book (co-authored with her husband Tony Mendez), her experience in the CIA, and her role at the Spy Museum.

• 
• 6/16/19
  

  Environmental Historian Sara Dant: "History Is As Relevant Today As Ever."

  by Korina Ike

  "We have many challenges - environment, politics, social, cultural - that are the end-product of our historical arc.  Understanding how we got here, what has worked and what hasn’t in the past, gives us the best chance of moving forward successfully."

• 
• 6/16/19
  

  Are Historians Doing Enough to Address Climate Change?

  by Walter G. Moss

  For too long historians also paid too little attention to the most important topic of our day.

• 
• SOURCE: Washington Post
  6/11/19
  

  What Naomi Wolf and Cokie Roberts teach us about the need for historians

  by Karin Wulf

  Without historical training, it’s easy to make big mistakes about the past.

• 
• 5/30/19
  

  What Should Historians Do About the Mueller Report?

  by Bruce W. Dearstyne

  We need to be more emphatic in asserting history's role in bringing clarity to complex public issues. 

• 
• 5/1/19
  

  Sidney Blumenthal on Abraham Lincoln and Why History Always Matters

  To celebrate the History News Network's arrival at the George Washington University, HNN hosted "Why History Always Matters." As part of the event, HNN Editor Kyla Sommers interviewed Mr. Blumenthal on the importance of history and his 5-part biography of Abraham Lincoln.

• 
• SOURCE: Crosscut
  4/22/19
  

  Why we need history majors to understand our future

  by Knute Berger

  Featuring Margaret O’Mara, a history professor at the University of Washington.

• 
• SOURCE: Salon
  4/22/19
  

  Resistance can't be tweeted: Social and political change is built on reading

  by Jim Sleeper

  What's the value of liberal education? Without intellectual exploration, we'll never make a better world.

• 
• SOURCE: Washington Post
  4/12/19
  

  How historians got Nike to pull an ad campaign — in under six hours

  by Megan Kate Nelson

  The multinational corporation dropped its “Lost Cause” ads after historians pushed back.

• 
• SOURCE: Washington Post
  3/19/19
  

  When bad actors twist history, historians take to Twitter. That’s a good thing.

  by Waitman Wade Beorn

  Engaging with the public isn’t pedantry; it’s direct engagement. 

• 
• SOURCE: Society for U.S. Intellectual History
  3/10/19
  

  Getting the Right History vs. Getting the History Right

  by L.D. Burnett

  An excellent summary of recent popular critiques of historians--and a rebuttal. 

• 
• SOURCE: Perspectives
  3/7/19
  

  What's Behind the Lamentations Over History?

  by James Grossman

  Max Boot’s questions imply change over time. But we can’t know why something has declined if we don’t know what conditions have changed.

• 
• 3/3/19
  

  Battlefield Tourism At Ypres and How Public History Sites Change

  by Mark Connelly and Stefan Goebel

  Modern Ypres or Ieper is a world forged and shaped in the furnace of a conflict that ended one hundred years ago this November. 

• 
• SOURCE: Washington Post
  2/26/19
  

  I wrote about the waning popularity of history at universities. Historians weren’t happy.

  by Max Boot

  Americans are in vital need of the instruction that historians can provide. Instead of responding defensively to criticism, historians would be better advised to think about what all of us — I include myself — can do to counter the abysmal ignorance that has made so many people susceptible to a demagogue like Donald Trump.

• 
• SOURCE: Patheos
  

  How Podcasts Help Historians “Speak to a Larger Public”

  And 5 historical podcasts you don't want to miss!

• 
• SOURCE: History Headlines
  2/20/19
  

  A quick response to Max Boot’s critique of historians

  by Glenn David Brasher

  Aren’t retention and anti-intellectualism the real problems?

• 
• SOURCE: The Way of Improvement Leads Home
  2/20/19
  

  Max Boot’s Screed Against Historians

  by John Fea

  Boot is the latest public intellectual to chide academic historians for failing to speak to public audiences. 

• 
• SOURCE: Washington Post
  2/20/19
  

  Americans’ ignorance of history is a national scandal

  by Max Boot

  You simply can’t understand the present if you don’t understand the past. 

• 
• 2/27/19
  

  UPDATED: What Historians are Saying: In Response to Max Boot's Op Ed on Historians

  Max Boot published an article saying historians are not engaged enough with the public. Here's how historians reacted.