Historians in the News

Martha Hodes Reconstructs Her Memory of a 1970 Hijacking

At age 12, the historian, with her older sister, was a passenger on a jet hijacked by Palestinian militants. After decades of minimizing the story, her efforts to approach her past as a historian highlight the gaps in documentary records, the contradictory ways memory can fill those gaps, and the varying degrees of distance historians keep from their subjects.

Jeremi Suri: Texas Higher Ed Conflict "Doesn't Have to Be This Way"

The UT-Austin historian previously worked in Wisconsin when Governor Scott Walker went to war with the university system. He discusses the similarities and differences a decade later in Texas. 

Stanley Engerman, Co-Author of Controversial History of American Slavery, Dies at 87

His "Time on the Cross," published with Robert Fogel in 1974, ignited debate by arguing for the economic efficiency of enslaved labor and, critics said, downplaying the violence inherent in the system. 

Professor Helps Rescue "Lost" Asian American Silent Film

Denise Khor's research on film culture seemed to show that the prints of the 1914 film "The Oath of the Sword" had been lost. But one museum had a decaying copy in a vault, and a restored version has premiered as the oldest known Asian American film. 

Canada Day Festivities Spark Controversy over National History

The dispossession of indigenous peoples and the exclusion of Chinese immigrants are among the historical episodes that have complicated the celebration of Canadian nationhood in recent years. 

German Government Panel of Historians Begins Inquiry into 1972 Munich Olympics Killings

The government hopes to address ongoing questions raised by the families of murdered Israeli athletes about failures of security before the attack and as the crisis unfolded. 

The Other Mothers Fighting the School Wars

Although Moms For Liberty was the early entrant into the current battles over curriculum, race and LGBTQ policies in schools, other groups have mobilized their identities as mothers to fight the right's efforts. Historians Adam Laats and Stacie Taranto note that school politics have often hinged on who could leverage motherhood as a political force. 

Jeff Sharlet on the Intersectional Erotics of Fascism

by Annika Brockschmidt

In an interview with historian Annika Brockschmidt, journalist Jeff Sharlet discusses his new book on the "slow civil war" in America and the need to understand how the far right is sustained by the pleasure of ceasing to resist the tide of anger and instead being carried by it. 

Scholars Stage Teach-in on Racism in DeSantis's Back Yard

Yohuru Williams and the Institute for Common Power, directed by Terry Anne Scott, convened a 24-hour teach-in in St. Petersburg to draw attention to the connections between inclusive history lessons and functioning democracy. 

Paul Watanabe, Historian and Manzanar Survivor, Makes Sure History Isn't Forgotten

The UMass-Boston professor brings students each spring to the California desert to visit the site where his own family was interned for more than four years. 

Massachusetts-Based Historians: Book Bans in Florida Affect Us, Too

Kellie Carter Jackson and Kerri Greenidge explain how the push to restrict books and teaching on racism in Florida will affect teaching even in blue states. 

Deborah Lipstadt's Work Abroad as Antisemitism Envoy Complicated by Definitional Dispute

U.S. policy is guided by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's definition of antisemitism, though a growing coalition of scholars—including one of its original drafters—argue that the IHRA document is used to stifle criticism of Israel, particularly on campus. 

For the Shakurs, Black Liberation Became the Family Business

Santi Elijah Holley traces the lines connecting Afeni Shakur's Black Panther Party activism to the musical and political messages of her son Tupac. 

George Yancy and Joe Feagin on How to Fight Back Against Book Bans

The sociologist, whose books on racism have been banned, argues "U.S. book banning has been widespread and routinely targeted books with diverse ideas and perspectives for centuries now, especially those challenging white conservative sociopolitical ideas, norms and values."

A Biography of Writer Lydia Marie Child Exemplifies a Revisitation of 19th Century Women

by Susan Cheever

A biography of the writer seeks to rectify a widespread phenomenon: women influential in their own time whose significance has been obscured in later histories. 

The Latest Big History Thesis: It's All Nepo Babies

by Maya Jasanoff

Maya Jasanoff reviews Simon Sebag Montefiore's history of humanity through its dynastic families, which presents a much bloodier and creepier gloss on "family values" in ancient and modern times. 

Review: Are Basic Income Programs Captive to the Power of the Market?

by Simon Torracinta

Two historians argue that the basic income is an idea that is circumscribed by the assumption that society will be organized around markets. A reviewer says the programs are the starting point for politics that escape that constraint. 

American Students Deserve Better than the AP System

Annie Abrams: "If we want to expand access to college, why aren’t we doing that by employing Ph.D.s? If we want to support high school teachers and strengthen curriculum, why aren’t we fostering collaboration? Instead, we’re outsourcing that work."

Discovery: Vast Network of Connected Mayan Cities in Guatemala

The discovery, using LIDAR technology, of more than 400 settlements connected by more than 100 miles of highways suggests that the Mayan civilization was even more developed than previously believed. The discovery also raises major issues of preservation and public access to the site. 

For First Time, UN Commemorates Palestinian Nakba

Rashid Khalidi discusses the history of Palestinian displacement and the struggle to have the Palestinian side of the Arab-Israeli conflict recognized.