Historians in the News

Conservatives press the case against the new AP framework for US history

"Five Reasons The College Board’s U.S. History Talking Points Are Wrong"

Who wrote the new AP US History framework? Now we know.

"We reiterate our belief that the Curriculum Framework will result in a better AP course for students and their teachers."

Pro-Israel groups going after federal support of Middle East Studies

"We, the undersigned, are deeply concerned about the misuse of federal funds under Title VI of the Higher Education Act (“HEA”). "

100th Anniversary of Beard's 'An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution' commemorated

100 years later, what should we make of Charles Beard's contributions? 

University of Illinois Bigwig to Native American Studies scholar Jean O’Brien: Drop Dead

by Claire Potter

"OK, University of Illinois Board of Trustees chair Chris Kennedy did not exactly say that to University of Minnesota Native American Studies scholar Jean O’Brien, who had written to express her distress over the Steven Salaita #HireFire."

2 of 21 MacArthur Fellows for 2014 are historians

Pamela O. Long is a historian of science and technology. Tara Zahra is a historian of modern Europe.

Ken Burns electrifies Jon Stewart show

Burns describes in riveting detail what drove TR, FDR and Eleanor ... Fear.

Historians share their EUREKA! moments

Here, eleven historians share the ‘Eureka moment’ that set them on course to specialising in their chosen field.

Why we're still fighting over U.S. history

by Nathan Pippenger

There’s trouble afoot in Texas, where a recent watchdog review of proposed new social studies textbooks for Grades 6-12 has found a whole slew of problems.

‘The Power Broker’ Turns 40: How Robert Caro Wrote a Masterpiece

Forty years ago today, Caro’s magisterial 1,296-page life of New York master builder Robert Moses rewrote the rules of biography.

How historian Shlomo Sand "stopped being a Jew"

“Is not the very fact of defining oneself as a Jew within the State of Israel an act of affiliation to a privileged caste which creates intolerable injustices around itself?”

Columbia University Releases Eric Foner’s Civil War MOOCs. It's Free!

Free history courses to reach educators and students worldwide, expanding Columbia’s online teaching initiatives

Historian Geoffrey Ward tells CBS: Fox News would have ‘loved’ to show FDR with polio ‘at his most helpless’

“I think if he were running now, sadly, I think TV crews would compete with each other to see who could get the footage that showed him at his most helpless. He had to be carried in and out of buildings. He had to be helped to remove his braces and so on.”

Eric Hobsbawm is remembered as a polyglot of a kind that's vanished

"On display is a kind of intellect now so rare as to be endangered, if not extinct."

Once again Ken Burns turns to Geoffrey Ward to write his script, this time about the Roosevelts

Ward, who himself contracted Polio as a child, goes on camera in the new series--a first.

Historian warns that countries go into decline when they become rigid, oppress minorities, and become weak militarily

That’s the lesson of the decline and fall of the Safavid Empire (Persia)

NYT praises Kissinger’s new book as right for the times

Given the multiplying foreign policy emergencies in the headlines, from the advance of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) to the face-off between Russia and Ukraine, the subject of Henry Kissinger’s new book, “World Order,” could not be more timely.

Critics question accuracy of new conservative-leaning social studies textbooks up for adoption in Texas

"The reviewers laid out numerous errors and shortcomings in the books, such as political cartoons that make fun of affirmative action programs and present “ideologically slanted” views on government and social security taxes."

With debate, State Board lays U.S. history flap to rest

Members of the State Board of Education Wednesday got it from both sides in the culture wars controversy over the new Advanced Placement U.S. history course and test.

Cornell History Professor Calls President's Speech High on Rhetoric Low on Action

"If someone is dangerous enough to fight then you fight to win."