Writing American history in uncertain times
The United States of America's history and politics have always been closely connected, but in recent years we鈥檝e seen extraordinary reckonings with the USA's past 鈥 especially with histories of race and slavery 鈥 and an unprecedented backlash against historians and scholars who diverge from what former president Donald J. Trump termed 鈥減atriotic education鈥.
On 22 June 2023, Jesus Fellow Nicholas Guyatt, Professor of North American History at the University of Cambridge, led a panel and audience discussion alongside Eric Rauchway (University of California-Davis), Honor Sachs (University of Colorado-Boulder), Karine Walther (Georgetown University-Qatar), and Nathan Connolly (Johns Hopkins University).
In this discussion we heard from a group of leading USA historians 鈥 all contributors to the forthcoming Oxford Illustrated History of the United States 鈥 who offered dispatches from the front lines of the USA's history wars, including the unprecedented efforts of conservative politicians to use legislation and intimidation to restrict teaching and research in schools and campuses across the United States.
We also considered the difficulties of writing about past events in the midst of a brutal 鈥榳ar on woke鈥, and looked ahead to 2026 鈥 the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence 鈥 to ask whether USA citizens can still find common ground in their shared understanding of the past. The audience, as expected, made significant connections to and comparisons with our own 鈥榟istory wars鈥 here in the UK.
