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Joseph
S. Lucas and Donald A. Yerxa, Editors
Randall
J. Stephens, Associate Editor
Historically
Speaking: The Bulletin of the Historical Society
March/April 2008
Volume IX, Number 4
DO YOU NEED A
LICENSE TO
PRACTICE HISTORY?
One
year ago, we published Maureen
Ogle’s winsome account of leaving
academic history to “go popular.” Two issues
later, the Historical Society’s president, Eric Arnesen, himself a
frequent writer of reviews
for the Chicago Tribune,
wrote an essay
expressing concern that so-called popular historians do
not make sufficient effort to incorporate
the fruits of academic
historical scholarship in their books. Arnesen selected two books to
illustrate his concern. One of them was Adam Hochschild’s Bury the Chains,
on the abolition of the British slave trade and slavery.
Hochschild, an accomplished writer and editor, responded to Arnesen
with a thoughtful letter that we published
in the November/December 2007
issue. He also suggested that he would
welcome further discussion on the relationship between popular and
academic history. We invited Hochschild to write a think-piece,
“Practicing History without a License.” Historically
Speaking editor
Donald A. Yerxa then recruited a good number of prominent historians
and editors to respond to Hochschild. These include several authors of
bestselling history books (one of whom won the Pulitzer Prize), editors
of publications geared to general readers, and an editor of one of the
world’s leading
academic presses (which also has a trade division). Hochschild then
drafted a rejoinder.
H. W. Brands
John
Ferling
Felipe
Fernández-Armesto
Thomas Fleming
James Goodman and
Louis Masur: A Correspondence
John
Lukacs
Joyce Lee Malcolm
Wilfred M. McClay
Greg Neale
Barry Strauss
Derek Wilson
John Wilson
Jay
Winik
More about Historically Speaking
Join
the Historical Society and subscribe to Historically Speaking
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Fax: (617) 358-0250
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