History in Focus

Introducing the latest entry in our podcast collaboration series: a terrific and thoughtful African history podcast called AfriWetu . In this episode, host and producer Mona Nyambura Muchemi explores the history of the East African Kingdom of Buganda with special emphasis on the women of Buganda's society.

What story can be told of the American welfare state when you broaden the view beyond established government programs and official actors? We kick off season 3 with a conversation with historians Salonee Bhaman, Bobby Cervantes, and Salem Elzway on their AHR article "A New Welfare History."

Producers Daniel, Matt, and Conor reflect on season 2 and talk history podcasting generally. Plus a preview from Daniel on what's coming in season 3.

Elizabeth Chatterjee examines the dynamics of the climate/food/energy crisis that shook India in the 1970s. And Andrew Highsmith discusses his feature review of three recent books on environmental crisis and recovery in the cities of Flint and Detroit.

Arlene Díaz and Kalani Craig discuss their piece exploring the Spanish American War, the use of digital methods, and the place of collaboration in historical research. Then, with Hettie Williams, we revisit the life and work of historian Marion Thompson Wright.

Producer Matt Hermane speaks with Agnieszka Aya Marczyk, Abby Reisman, and Brenda Santos about their #AHRSyllabus piece "Teaching Historiography: Testimony and the Study of the Holocaust." Then Conor Howard hears from Woody Holton on his article "Chilling Affects: Newly Troubled about Triggering, the Far Right Takes Aim at Black History."

Producer Matt Hermane speaks with historian Brenda Child about the March 2024 History Lab feature on Contemporary Indigenous Art and History, part of AHR's ongoing series on "Art and Historical Method." Then we revisit now past AHA president Edward Muir's presidential address—titled "Conversations with the Dead"—at this year's AHA Annual Meeting in San Francisco.

Sarah Abrevaya Stein presents her History Unclassified piece "Eating on the Ground: Picnicking at the End of Empire" on the picnicking practices of Sephardic Jewish communities in the late Ottoman Empire. Then History in Focus producers take you around the bustling corridors of this year's American Historical Association annual meeting in San Francisco.

Debra Blumenthal examines slave markets in 15th century Spain and their influence on conceptions of women's health. And Beeta Baghoolizadeh discusses the legacy of racialized forms of enslavement in 19th and 20th century Iran.

Historian Tore Olsson discusses designing a history course around the popular video game Red Dead Redemption 2 . And Kalani Craig introduces the AHR's new guidelines for Digital Media Submissions.

Durba Ghosh introduces the AHR forum "Mismonumentalizing and Decolonizing: Public History as History for the Public." We also hear from one of the forum's contributors—Thomas Adams and Sue Mobley—on their work on recent efforts to rename streets in New Orleans.

Historians Darrell Meadows and Joshua Sternfeld discuss the AHR Forum they assembled on AI and the practice of history. And Brian DeLay delves into his article on the role of the international arms trade for revolutions in the Americas.

We discuss the current state of teaching history, from K12 through the college level, and the AHR's first major entry into the teaching discussion with the new #AHRSyllabus Project. Organizers Kathleen Hilliard, Laura McEnaney, and Katharina Matro join two of the first syllabus contributors, Saniya Lee Ghanoui (for the podcast Sexing History) and William Tullett (for the historical smells research...

For nearly half a century, Curtis Boyd and Glenna Halvorson-Boyd have devoted their lives to providing safe and affirming abortion care. Curtis, a former Baptist minister, began providing abortions in Texas before the procedure was legal in the state. After Roe v. Wade, with the help of an interfaith network of clergy, Curtis opened up a clinic in Dallas. In the 1970s, Glenna came to work there as...

AHR editor Mark Bradley talks with Pure+Applied designers Paul Carlos and Urshula Barbour about the AHR's first major redesign in over fifty years. This work was recognized with a design award from the Association of University Presses in April 2023.

Anna Krylova examines the complicated role of agency in history. And Denise Ho discusses the multilayered interactions along the Hong Kong–China maritime border in the mid-twentieth century through the lens of oyster producing communities.

On January 5, 2023, the American Historical Association Council approved Guidelines for Broadening the Definition of Historical Scholarship . In this special episode, we explore the guidelines with AHA executive director Jim Grossman and guidelines committee chair Rita Chin.

More than a year since our first check in, we revisit Odeuropa , an interdisciplinary team of researchers investigating—and recreating—the smells of Europe's past. Project lead Inger Leemans updates us on the project as a whole while smellscape researcher Kate McLean takes us back through the smell walk she led for the 2023 AHA national meeting in Philadelphia.

What does it mean to do transnational history? What has this field of research accomplished over the last few decades, and what remains to be done? Paul Chamberlin discusses the transnational history forum he convened for the AHR. And we hear from three of the forum's contributors—Rebecca Herman, Maria John, and Hussein Fancy.

Historian Megan Robb discusses her article "Becoming Elizabeth: The Transformation of a Bihari Mughal into an English Lady, 1758-1822" with producer Matt Hermane. Plus, Daniel checks in with AHA meetings manager Debbie Ann Doyle on the recent AHA annual meeting in Philadelphia and looks ahead to the next one in San Francisco.

Historian Lydia Walker discusses international advocacy for Tibet on the part of the US and India in the early Cold War and how those efforts resulted in a sort of humanitarian commodification of the Tibetan cause. And AHR editor Mark Bradley looks ahead with Daniel at what's coming up at the 2023 AHA Annual Meeting and in upcoming issues of the AHR.

Historian Elizabeth Hinton explores W.E.B. Du Bois's 1935 magnum opus Black Reconstruction . We also hear from Eric Foner, Chad Williams, Sue Mobley, and Kendra Field. The AHR chose not to review Black Reconstruction when it was first published. A review by Hinton appears in the December 2022 issue.

Art critic Lee Weng-Choy discusses his and curator Zoe Butt's conversation on historical practice in contemporary art. And Kate Brown speaks with Martha Hodes about her article exploring the process of writing about her childhood experience as a passenger in an airplane hijacking in September 1970.

Andrew Preston offers a reassessment of America's Liberal Protestants, especially on the subject of race. And Pete Burkholder and Dana Schaffer discuss the national survey "History, the Past, and Public Culture." In both parts, the question What is history? hovers just below, or above, the surface.

Historian Alexis Dudden and graphic artist Kim Inthavong discuss their collaborative work on history, memory, and activism in Okinawa, Japan. Their piece, "Okinawa: Territory as Monument," appears in the History Lab section of the September issue of the AHR. Inthavong's graphic panels illustrating Okinawans' present-day struggle over U.S. military presence in the islands can be previewed at americ...