Should professional historians write for the general public? If so, who is the "public" they are trying to reach? And when historians do write for the public how do they manage to make their work readable and accessible without sacrificing scholarly integrity? What role does politics, and even activism, play in popular history writing? These are questions that the historical profession, and in some respects, the nation, are currently wrestling with. Our guest today, historian Nick Witham, author of Popularizing the Past: Historians, Publishers, and Readers in Postwar America, reminds us that these questions are not new. Some of the country's most prominent writer-historians, including Richard Hofstadter, Daniel Boorstin, John Hope Franklin, Howard Zinn, and Gerda Lerner, grappled with how to reach the public with good historical scholarship.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Episode 64: Protestants and American Conservatism
Episode 63: The 1619 Project
Episode 62: Drew's Farewell
Episode 61 - Impeachment 101
Episode 60 - Springsteen's Hometown
Episode 59: Miss America's God
Episode 58: The Reverse Underground Railroad
Episode 57: Not Your Father's Military History
Episode 56: Evangelicals and Oil
Episode 55: The History of "Free Enterprise"
Episode 54: Why College?
Episode 53: When Musicians Study American History
Episode 52: History for the iPhone Generation
Episode 51: Temples of the Marketplace
Episode 50: The Religious Beliefs of the Adams Family
Episode 49: Why is America So Divided?
Episode 48: The Color of Compromise
Episode 47: Reacting to the Past
Episode 46: Elizabeth Warren and American Indian Identity
Episode 45: A City Upon a Hill
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The Modern West
Voices of Misery Podcast
House of Whimsical Terror
Dairyland Frights
Stuff You Should Know
Timcast IRL