Historians/History

• 
• 6/13/2021
  

  Valor Roll: American Newsies in the Great War and the Flu Pandemic

  by Vincent DiGirolamo

  Newsies were a critical labor force in the early 20th century, connecting Americans to information. The author of a history of Newsies shows that their service drew praise in the First World War but suspicion in the ensuing influenza pandemic.

• 
• 6/6/2021
  

  Why a Culture War Over Critical Race Theory? Consider the Pro-Slavery Congressional "Gag Rule"

  by Frank Palmeri and Ted Wendelin

  Like the Southern delegations who opposed discussion of slavery, opponents of Critical Race Theory believe that any discussion of persistent racial inequities in legal and other institutions is unacceptable because it is “divisive.”

• 
• 6/6/2021
  

  Paying People to Get Vaccines is an Old Idea Whose Time has Come Again

  by Margaret DeLacy

  John Haygarth devised a system for rewarding working-class residents of Chester for receiving the risky smallpox inoculation and maintaining social distance afterward. The effort was largely superseded by the more effective and safer Jenner vaccination, but was a foundational public health experiment that pays dividends today.

• 
• 6/6/2021
  

  America's First Peaceful (Just Barely!) Transfer of Power

  by Akhil Reed Amar

  While the selection of Thomas Jefferson as the third president in 1801 (after an electoral college deadlock) is touted as a crucial peaceful transfer of presidential power from one party to another, the transition was far more fraught with peril than most realize. 

• 
• 5/30/2021
  

  The War Beat, Pacific: How the American News Media Went to War Against Japan

  by Steven Casey

  Censorship, technological limitations, and competition with news from Europe in World War II made the early part of the Pacific theater a "shrouded war," but not for lack of effort by war journalists. 

• 
• 5/30/2021
  

  The Enduring Fascination – And Challenge – Of World War II

  by Earl Ofari Hutchinson

  This Memorial Day offers the chance to read about and reflect on World War II, particularly the stories of ordinary people trying to understand world-changing events, and consider our time's connections to past and future. 

• 
• 5/30/2021
  

  Preserving the Stories of the Second World War

  by Colin Heaton

  Colin Heaton's latest book of oral history (with Anne-Marie Lewis) is based on oral histories he conducted with five significant Allied Airmen from World War II. Here, he discusses his work collecting veterans' stories from all sides of the airborne war and why those stories matter. 

• 
• 5/23/2021
  

  The Age of Reason and the Restless Masses: Censoring Class Consciousness in the Nineteenth Century

  by Eric Berkowitz

  The ruling classes of nineteenth century Europe were gravely concerned about the potential of mass media to help upend the class structure or incite workers to revolution. Their actions didn't seek to expunge taboo ideas, but to restrict their circulation to the elites. 

• 
• 5/26/2021
  

  75 Years of CARE Demonstrate Americans' Potential for Compassion

  by William Lambers

  CARE, along with a group of charities, calls for world leaders to dedicate at least one day’s worth of military spending toward food aid.  There should be less resources for heavy armaments and more for programs like infant feeding. 

• 
• 5/16/2021
  

  FDR's Indispensable Right-Hand Woman Portrayed Unfairly – Again

  by Kathryn Smith

  A new PBS series on the Norwegian Royal Family's contact with FDR at the outset of World War II takes some liberties with the facts, but is particularly unfair to Marguerite LeHand, who was Roosevelt's de facto chief of staff for years. 

• 
• 5/16/2021
  

  Reverberations of the Photography of Jazz

  by Jeffrey Mifflin

  The photographs of William Gottlieb and other observers of jazz's golden age deserve more attention for capturing and creating the aesthetics of the music. 

• 
• 5/9/20201
  

  Climate, Catastrophe, and Faith

  by Philip Jenkins

  Temporary climate catastrophes have been an understudied contributor to changes in religious doctrine and practice throughout history. These episodes may preview spiritual and communal upheavals as climate change progresses.

• 
• 5/9/2021
  

  Mudlarking: Searching for Lost Treasure – and History – on the Banks of the Thames

  by Jason Sandy and Nick Stevens

  The Thames River's silty bottom and tidal patterns make its banks a repository of historical artifacts. Today's "mudlarks" have turned the old tradition of scavenging the banks for subsistence into a public archaeology project. 

• 
• 5/2/2021
  

  The 1940s Fight Against the Equal Rights Amendment Was Bipartisan and Crossed Ideological Lines

  by Rebecca De Wolf

  Discussion of the ERA often focuses on the way the New Right stopped ratification by the states in the 1970s. But earlier opposition to the proposed amendment involved a bipartisan and ideologically diverse coalition in Congress. 

• 
• 5/2/2021
  

  Locating the Present in the Past: a World History Teaching Challenge

  by Peter N. Stearns

  I have always believed that the primary goal of world history teaching was to help students place the world around them today in context of the past.

• 
• 5/2/2021
  

  Elijah Lovejoy Faced Down Violent Mobs to Champion Abolition and the Free Press

  by Ken Ellingwood

  In 1837, Elijah Lovejoy was killed by a pro-slavery mob in Illinois, and the press he used to publish his abolitionist newsletter was thrown into the Mississippi River. Lovejoy's championing of both abolition and the free press should inspire us today. 

• 
• 5/2/2021
  

  Another Bite at the Apple: Isaac Newton's Time as a Man of Politics and Economics

  by Patricia Fara

  Isaac Newton's life has been retold according to the values of successive historians. Until now, most have shied away from Newton's second career at the Royal Mint, during which he was part of the growth of a British prosperity that was rooted in colonialism and slavery. 

• 
• 4/25/2021
  

  Lights, Camera... Survey! Americans Give History a Screen Test

  by Pete Burkholder

  Americans access knowledge about the past through screens and especially moving images. What does this mean for the practice and teaching of history? New survey research suggests potential and pitfalls. 

• 
• 4/25/2021
  

  The "Doughboys" Made their Biggest Contribution Fighting Postwar Hunger

  by William Lambers

  At the anniversary of American entry into the first World War, we should remember the role of American troops in distributing food as part of the American Relief Administration. 

• 
• 4/18/2021
  

  Who Won the American Revolution?

  by Guy Chet

  Almost since the smoke cleared after the Battle of Lexington, Americans have debated the relative merits of the militias and the Continental Army in fighting the British. The relative esteem of each group has followed changes in the politics of the nation.