interviews

Martha Hodes Talks "My Hijacking" with HNN

by Michan Connor

In 1970, when she was 12, Martha Hodes was held hostage for nearly a week in a campaign of airline hijacking that captured world attention. She discusses trauma and erasure in the historical record, the roles of remembering and forgetting in shaping views of the past, and how she investigated herself as a historial actor. 

Keri Leigh Merritt on the Politics of Grief and the Power of Historians' Witness to COVID

Three years since the public became aware of the seriousness of the COVID pandemic, a recent collection of essays turns the skills of historians toward reflection on grief, survival, and connecting understanding of the past to a better collective future.

Interview: Joyce Berkman on the Value of History and the Historian's Mindset

by Erik Moshe

“It’s much better to develop one’s mental toolbox, one’s skills, rather than necessarily master huge bodies of knowledge.”

Heather Cox Richardson White House Interview with Joe Biden

Historian Heather Cox Richardson talks with President Joe Biden about his views on American democracy in the 21st century.

Peter Richardson on Hunter S. Thompson and the Long Shadow of the Counterculture

by Aaron J. Leonard

"His historical significance, I think, lies in his willingness to challenge the nation’s political class, including the leaders of both major parties. He didn’t do that in established journals of opinion."

"No There There": Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor on the Future of the Left

"I’m sitting in the car, barreling down the highway, asking myself, 'What happened in my life that has put me in this position where I have to like listen to this &%$*@ nonsense?' I needed to leave. But like most people, I needed the health insurance."

'The Words That Made Us': Scholar Akhil Reed Amar On How To Better Understand The Constitution

"Scholar Akhil Reed Amar says the one thing every single American shares is the United States Constitution. He shares why he wants Americans to better understand the words that made us."

On Popular History: Rebecca Traister

by Alexis Coe

Historian Alexis Coe interviews writer and essayist Rebecca Traister on the historical research informing her work and the links between popular and academic audiences for historical knowledge. 

Interview: A Rich Man's War, A Poor Man's Fight

Historian Keri Leigh Merritt, interviewed about the history of labor organizing in the South, links the history of Southern policing to the maintenance of exploitative labor practices after the Civil War and explains how the fight to unionize Amazon's Bessemer, Alabama facility extends the politics of the Civil Rights Movement.

Merrittocracy with Keri Leigh Merritt: Kevin Kruse on the 2020 Election

Kevin Kruse joins host Keri Leigh Merritt to discuss his new book on the Department of Justice in the Civil Rights Era and the relevance of that history to the 2020 election. 

An Interview with Ian W. Toll, author of "Twilight of the Gods: War in the Western Pacific, 1944-1945"

by James Thornton Harris

"Military histories have tended to take a “stay in your lane” approach, adhering to accounts of battles and operations. I prefer to weave the strands of politics and foreign policy into the fabric of the narrative."

Dr. Carol Anderson: The 2020 Election and Beyond (video)

Historian Carol Anderson joins Merrittocracy host Keri Leigh Merritt to discus Trump, racism, and the state of democracy leading up to the 2020 election.

Lessons Unlearned: HNN Features Editor Robin Lindley Interviewed

HNN's Features Editor Robin Lindley was interviewed by Nibir K. Ghosh about the need for historical understanding today.

Book Interview: Heather Cox Richardson on “How the South Won the Civil War”

"The biggest argument, though, and the one into which I poured my best intellectual energy, was the argument at the center of the book: that politics is driven by language, and America’s peculiar history has given oligarchs the language to undercut democracy."

HNN's Robin Lindley Interviews Medical Historian Frank Snowden

by Robin Lindley

Professor Frank Snowden discusses the situation in Italy, the progress of COVID-19 and governments' responses to it, and his career researching the history of epidemics.  

"My Entire Career has Led Me to this Project": HNN Interviews Kevin Kruse

by Chelsea Connolly and Hana Hancock

"This pandemic is global in scale and personal in impact, and as a result, it’s touching and transforming virtually every topic that historians have studied. We have a duty to share our insights with the larger world. They’re interested in what we have to say. (And, let’s remember, most of them are stuck at home looking for something to read!)"

Historian Edward Achorn Interviewed by the NY Times About His Book Every Drop of Blood

24 Tense Hours in Abraham Lincoln’s Life

Karin Wulf Interviews Alexis Coe About Her Cheeky New George Washington Biography

by Karin Wulf

Alexis Coe’s cheeky biography of the first president pulls no punches

‘Well Worth Saving’

by Scott Jaschik

Laurel Leff discusses her book on the failure of American universities to rescue scholars seeking to flee Nazi Germany.

Investigating Technology and the Remaking of America

by Robin Lindley

A conversation with Acclaimed History Professor Margaret O’Mara on Her Career and Her Groundbreaking New Book on Silicon Valley