Sidebar Editorial: Notes on the American Historical Association Annual Meeting and the Teaching of History

The History of the Americans

Your podcaster spent the weekend just passed in San Francisco at the Annual Meeting of the American Historical Association. I learned a lot, but especially how transparently politicized so many professional historians seem have become. This episode recounts some of what I saw and heard, and concludes with my many thoughts on the greatest benefit of learning history, whether history should be "useable," and why deploying history for partisan political purposes, as is now happening widely and overtly, corrupts history absolutely. Along the way I suggest both philosophical and utilitarian reasons why overtly partisan historians are not doing their profession, or their students, any favors. X (Twitter): @TheHistoryOfTh2 Facebook: The History of the Americans Podcast