The “History Wars” rarely seem to be out of the news these days. In The New Yorker, Emma Green has a long article that returns, yet again, to the controversy stirred up by former American Historical Association president James Sweet last year, when he criticized “presentism” in a maladroit column for the association’s monthly newsletter. Meanwhile, over at
Thank you, David. Opening paths of inquiry rather than caricaturing, or closing them down. May more researchers and authors of "stories ... in the prestige mainstream media" choose to follow suit.
Well said, especially here: "Very little about the autonomous practices of scholarship gets into the overheated coverage of the 'History Wars,' which gives readers a very distorted idea of how historians actually go about their craft." I have written in a similar spirit. incidentally, about the relationship between the free expression wars and the actual practice of teaching here: https://www.chronicle.com/article/a-better-way-to-protect-free-speech-on-campus
Thank you, David. Opening paths of inquiry rather than caricaturing, or closing them down. May more researchers and authors of "stories ... in the prestige mainstream media" choose to follow suit.
Well said, especially here: "Very little about the autonomous practices of scholarship gets into the overheated coverage of the 'History Wars,' which gives readers a very distorted idea of how historians actually go about their craft." I have written in a similar spirit. incidentally, about the relationship between the free expression wars and the actual practice of teaching here: https://www.chronicle.com/article/a-better-way-to-protect-free-speech-on-campus