Historians/History

• 
• 5/1/2022
  

  1968: A Year of Dashed Hopes

  by Walter G. Moss

  While people seek to confront life's challenges with hope and courage and banish fear and doubt, some years, like 1968, don't make that easy. 

• 
• 4/10/2022
  

  After His Bequest to Boost the Laboring Class, Ben Franklin Would be Shocked by Today's "Innovation" Economy

  by Michael Meyer

  Shortly before his death, Benjamin Franklin placed a bet on American workers, endowing a fund to lend money to the tradesmen he thought essential to the country's health. His bequest remains in play today, though America has parted ways from his vision. 

• 
• 3/27/2022
  

  The Women in Ben Franklin's Life Tell a Fuller Story of the Founder

  by Nancy Rubin Stuart

  The counsel of restraint and moderation advised by "Poor Richard" was hardly the core of Franklin's personality; his relationships with women show a man equally driven by passion and emotion. 

• 
• 3/27/2022
  

  Has Magellan's Time for Debunking Arrived?

  by Felipe Fernández-Armesto

  The historical record shows Magellan was an exemplar of the imperialist impulses for which other European explorers have been recently castigated. Myths about Magellan's achievements, intentions, and actions have, thus far, shielded him from such reevaluation. 

• 
• 3/13/2022
  

  Ukraine Shows We Need to Learn the History of Peace Movements to Break The Habit of War

  by Charles F. Howlett

  The history of peace movements, as opposed to fleeting opposition to particular wars, is needed today as never before. 

• 
• 2/20/2022
  

  Why the Short and Rebellious Life of Stephen Crane Still Matters

  by Linda H. Davis

  Though he quickly became a model of literary celebrity of the sort we would recognize today, Stephen Crane's more crucial legacy is of the pursuit of truth without regard to consequence.

• 
• 2/20/2022
  

  Lessons from the History Textbook Wars of the 1920s

  by Bruce W. Dearstyne

  Historians helped defuse a national tempest over allegedly unpatriotic textbooks in the 1920s by explaining the nature of professional historical research, interpretation, and dissemination, and insisting on the right and duty of professionals to exert expertise. That kind of work is needed again today. 

• 
• 2/20/2022
  

  The Revolution Whisperer

  by Greg Shaw

  The author hoped to write a biography of William Small, the Scottish polymath whose mentorship linked the political revolution of Thomas Jefferson and the industrial one of James Watt. Learning that another researcher had beaten him to the punch didn't diminish the author's admiration for the story in the least. 

• 
• 2/13/2022
  

  The Nazi in the Classroom

  by Gary B. Ostrower

  American student Edward Sittler adopted German citizenship after the outbreak of World War II and became a Nazi propagandist. After the war, his past was revealed to the public and the Long Island college where he had been teaching German, launching a debate about citizenship, loyalty, and the limits of academic freedom.

• 
• 2/13/2022
  

  New York Survived the 1832 Cholera Epidemic

  by Daniel S. Levy

  The 1832 Cholera epidemic roiled New York, terrorizing the city across lines of class and neighborhood. Today, the city's resilience can be a source of encouragement, but also a caution that today's pandemic won't be the last. 

• 
• 2/13/2022
  

  The Anti-Valentine: "Dear John" in Military Culture

  by Susan Carruthers

  The cultural phenomenon of the "Dear John" letter illustrates how wartime has created occasion for the policing of gendered norms of faithfulness and forbearance, as well as a script for breaking them. 

• 
• 2/6/2022
  

  Art's Historical License in Netflix's "The Edge of War"

  by Yoav Tenembaum

  The recent Netflix film's treatment of the Munich Accords reads backwards from the outcomes of Neville Chamberlain's appeasement policy to argue, wrongly, that the Prime Minister's intent was to buy time for the British to rearm. 

• 
• 2/13/2022
  

  The First Smallpox Vaccinator in the 1780s Got Abuse Instead of Thanks

  by Rod Tanchanco

  Benjamin Jesty correctly intuited that exposing himself and his family to cowpox could shield them from the recurrent smallpox pandemics of England. Twenty years ahead of Edward Jenner, he became a local pariah. 

• 
• 2/13/2022
  

  George Washington and the Legacy of the Flexible Cabinet

  by Lindsay M. Chervinsky

  The Presidential Cabinet, and its flexible relationship to the chief executive and the work of the executive branch, is the most important legacy of the Washington presidency. It has served some administrations well and been the ruin of others. 

• 
• 1/30/2022
  

  Richard Tregaskis Reported from "The Road to Tokyo"

  by Ray E. Boomhower

  War reporter Richard Tregaskis followed the success of "Guadalcanal Diary" with "The Road To Tokyo," embedded with the crew of the USS Ticonderoga and even riding on a bombing mission against the Japanese Kure Naval Arsenal in June, 1945.

• 
• 1/30/2022
  

  Neville Chamberlain: Unsung Hero of WWII

  by Luke Reader

  A new Netflix film should prompt a reassessment of the legacy of British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, who arguably succeeded in saving Britain and the European opposition to Hitler through a two-pronged strategy that used appeasement to buy time for rearmament. 

• 
• 1/30/2022
  

  Popular Histories Have Influenced World Leaders, Sometimes For the Better

  by Robert Brent Toplin

  Although the popular history genre is often maligned, historians should reflect on the role of Barbara Tuchman's 1962 "The Guns of August" in guiding JFK away from the brink of nuclear war and recognize the power of a story clearly told.

• 
• 1/23/2022
  

  A Ten Year Old's Witness to the Liberation of Auschwitz

  by Bernice Lerner

  Jerzy (George) Ogurek had beaten the odds to survive in Auschwitz for three months when the Red Army arrived to liberate the camp. 50 years later, none of his colleagues at Boston University knew of his ordeal.

• 
• 1/23/2022
  

  For Child Survivors of Auschwitz, "Who Am I" was the Most Difficult Question

  by Alwin Meyer

  For child survivors of Auschwitz, efforts to reunite them with families after forced separation in the camp often proved to be an ongoing source of pain and confusion.

• 
• 12/19/2021
  

  The Theodore Roosevelt Oral History Collection Proves There's More to Learn about TR

  by Michael Patrick Cullinane

  Seven audio recordings from the 1950s, found at the Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace, opened a window into the memories of TR's relatives and contemporaries of his political and social world, showing there's always more to discover about even the most famed figures of history.