popular history

Historians Should Follow C. Vann Woodward: Write for a Broad Public and Show Why the Discipline Matters

by James C. Cobb

One historian suggests that the unheeded advice of C. Vann Woodward is the reason for the discipline's decline and risk of extinction. 

With Academic History in Crisis, can Departments Pivot to Reach Interested Audiences?

by Elizabeth Stice

Americans don't actually hate history; they often begin to appreciate it after their undergraduate years and outside of the classroom. Does this point in a possible direction for securing the future of the profession? 

Mistakes Historians Make on TV

by Julian Zelizer

Presenting the complexity of history in a quick and accessible way is tough. But some tropes hurt more than they help. 

Fifth LBJ Volume by Caro "In Works"

The latest volume is planned to cover the years from Johnson's first full year in the presidency in 1964 until his death in 1973.

How Should Popular Culture Convey History?

by Walter G. Moss

A recent plot point in Netflix's "The Crown" was based on a falsification of historical events. Historians who want to influence public knowledge of history need to be able to match the narrative appeal of television with a commitment to telling the truth. 

Consolidated Cultural Elites and the New York Times Book Review

by David A. Bell

Historians shouldn't be alarmed by the number of historians on the Times's list of the best nonfiction titles of 2022. They should be alarmed by how big publishing houses seem to have an inside track to the platform. 

Qatar's World Cup Echoes Brutal American Labor History

by Jason Steinhauer

Exposés of the brutal conditions faced by migrant laborers who built Qatar's World Cup facilities echoes the history of American public works, where workers' bodies and lives were subordinated to budgets and timetables. 

Thomas Cahill, Popular and Scholarly Historian of Ireland, Dies at 82

Cahill's 1995 surprise bestseller emphasized the role of isolated Irish monks in preserving religious and literary scholarship after the fall of Rome. 

What Happens When People Who Don't Know Historical Methods Spout Off About Historical Methods

by Bret Devereaux

"It is going to end up being rather involved because to explain why a shallow critique of a discipline’s methods is shallow, you have to explain how that discipline functions and why it does so."

The Personal is Critical: How Should Early Americanists Think of David McCullough as a "Gateway" to History?

by Rebecca Brenner Graham

Historians' tributes to David McCullough underscore the need to respect popular "gateways to history" but to also find gateways without gatekeeping. 

Ultimately, David McCullough Succeeded by "Writing the Book I Wanted to Read"

by Cary Heinz

When the author loaned his father a copy of McCullough's Truman biography, "he not only read it, but loaned it to enough people that I eventually got it back with the book’s spine split in half," a testament to his narrative gifts.

The Rediscovery of David McCullough

by Lindsay M. Chervinsky

A presidential historian now at work on her own book on John Adams reflects on how McCullough's blockbuster inspired her own career, and his hits and misses as a chronicler of overlooked or forgotten people and events in American history. 

Two-Time Pulitzer Prize Winner David McCulloch Dies at 89

"Mr. McCullough, long regarded as a master storyteller of American daring, endeavor and perseverance, died Aug. 7 at his home in Hingham, Mass. He was 89."

Dirtbag Historicism

by Leland Renato Grigioli

While historians have long been embattled to demonstrate that their discipline contributes to some external standard of usefulness, the profession now must also content with the political abuse of history through narratives of identity-based nostalgia. 

Journalists and Academics: Stop Fighting!

by Maggie Doherty

How can academics and journalists better understand the relationship between their two camps? 

The Popular Medieval History Hated by Medievalists

by Daniel Lavery

"It’s the most prominent example of a type of book that fascinates me: The amateur/popular history of an entire field that’s largely beloved (or at least successful) outside of said field and widely loathed within it."

Popular Histories Have Influenced World Leaders, Sometimes For the Better

by Robert Brent Toplin

Although the popular history genre is often maligned, historians should reflect on the role of Barbara Tuchman's 1962 "The Guns of August" in guiding JFK away from the brink of nuclear war and recognize the power of a story clearly told.

What "Big History" Misses

by Ian Hesketh

"Big History" has become established in the popular media and in some academic quarters, telling global-scale narratives of human and even planetary history. After 30 years, it's time to evaluate its successes and failures. 

What Can We Learn from Historians vs. Malcolm Gladwell?

by Gregory A. Daddis

As the discipline's claims to authority are under attack, it would be a mistake for historians to sacrifice rigorous pursuit of truth to be "interesting."

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.