The Barton Lies: A Roundtable on the Career of Fundamentalists’ Favorite “Historian”
Beck and Barton’s plans raise a number of questions for activist historians and professional historians more generally.
Category: Issues
Review: The World before Modern Times, Unit 1 of Jackson Spielvogel’s World History: Modern Times
Unit 1 of Jackson Spielvogel’s high school history textbook World History: Modern Times is by far the most expansive, covering the period from the Neolithic Age to the Renaissance and a geographical area that encompasses Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas. By far its biggest issue is its privileging of European knowledge systems.
Review: Creating a Nation, Unit 1 of Joyce Appleby’s The American Vision
This unit does not ask questions of the materials it includes that would provide a greater voice for disenfranchised communities like women, Native Americans, and African Americans.
The Other Activist History: An Editorial Response to Glenn Beck and David Barton’s “History Training Camp”
Our hope, as we move forward, is that our work might inspire others to support our own version of activist history at Barton’s expense—one grounded in fearlessly examining history and its implications for the present.
Review: The Crown and Decolonization
It is important to recognize The Crown is not about decolonization directly; it is fundamentally a drama about internal palace tensions and the Queen’s relationship with her people and government.
Time for a Revolution
Revolutions afford a peculiar opportunity for a discussion of how historians think about time more generally. Does a revolution always represent a fundamental rupture within historical time?
“In Our Own Interests”: The Destructive History of Nationalism in the Habsburg Monarchy and What It Means for White Nationalists
The triumphalism in [nationalist] narrative[s] ignores the destructive nature of nationalism while also legitimizing it as a real and natural occurrence, despite the bulk of nationalist theory showing that it is far from that. By relying on this narrative, we may fail to see the danger present in new nationalist movements such as the recently emergent White Nationalism.
American Consumer Empire in Puerto Rico
Puerto Ricans were forced to become “Porto Ricans” – adopting Anglo customs and holidays all while subsidizing American profits – without the hope of equality.
Dark Side of Jacksonian Democracy: Revolution and Racist Oppression
President Jackson and Trump’s particular brands of democracy share a streak of racist oppression and both inspired especially personal resistance movements.
‘Domestic Insurrections Amongst Us’: A Critical Historiography of Slave Flight in the American Revolution
These scholars have forced historians of all persuasions to take slave flight seriously. The historical canon will be better for it.
The Activist History Review 