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HNN Hot Topic:  Selma, the movie

53 historians weigh in on Barack Obama’s legacy

Carl Degler, Stanford Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, dies at 93

Historians Against the War (HAW) calls out critics for falsely claiming the group backed a boycott of Israel

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Should the Federal Government Be in the Business of Policing History? by Anthony Clark Defenders of LBJ are less interested in history than in hagiography.

Republican History Lessons by Scot Faulkner How should Republicans govern in the 114th Congress to assure their positive place in history?

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An Unsettled Chapter in Martin Luther King’s Legacy The children of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. continue to fight in court over, among other things, his Bible and Nobel Peace Prize medal.

Lawmaker Compares Obama to Hitler in Tweet on Paris Attack The tweet juxtaposes Hitler's visit to the vanquished city after his troops invaded in World War II, and Obama's failure to join dozens of world leaders at an anti-terror march through Paris on Sunday.

Contrary to "Selma," tapes of LBJ show cordiality with King (Video) The new movie "Selma' took in more than $11 million at the box office this weekend, second only to "Taken 3." There as been a lot of controversy about the historical accuracy of "Selma," especially its portrayal of President Lyndon Baines Johnson. We checked the record.

Debate Over Puzzling Demise Of Easter Island Population May Finally Be Over What really happened to the native Polynesians who once lived on Easter Island?

Rahm Emauel takes charge of Obama library battle “I said when it started we were going to do everything possible to make sure that Chicago had its best foot forward so it was an easy choice for the president and the First Lady to pick the city of Chicago.”

Richard III was a “great king” who achieved more than the Elizabeths and Henry V says screenwriter The perception of Richard III as a nasty villain who murdered his nephews is “one of the greatest injustices of history” according to Philippa Langley, a screenwriter who led the search for the remains of the former king

The Roots of Obama’s Ambitious College Plan The roots of President Obama’s ambitious proposal for free community college can be found in a 2008 book by the economists Claudia Goldin and Lawrence Katz called “The Race Between Education and Technology.”

The aggressive Nazi-bred cows that caused havoc on a modern farm Reintroducing aurochs "into the German landscape was part of a larger project of constructing a national identity based on mythic foundations." Aurochs?

Finally, there will be a national memorial to WW I in Washington DC Achieving approval to establish a national World War I memorial in the District of Columbia took longer than the war itself.

Historians in the News

What follows is a streamlined list of stories.  To see the full list:  Go Here!

Historians Against the War (HAW) calls out critics for falsely claiming the group backed a boycott of Israel by Van Gosse HAW says the facts were readily available.

After three-year search, Nixon library finally has new director: ex-Great Park CEO Michael Ellzey Michael Ellzey, former CEO of the Orange County Great Park Corp., will take over as the director of the Nixon Presidential Library & Museum.

Not all loyalists disapproved of Nixon library's Naftali The bitter conflict between Timothy Naftali, federal director of the Nixon Library & Museum from 2007 to 2011, and the private Nixon Foundation lingers over the Yorba Linda institution, and resolving that friction is a key goal for the incoming director.

53 Historians Weigh In on Barack Obama’s Legacy New York Magazine survey finds that historians are most divided about Obama’s foreign policy legacy.

David Brion Davis’s surprise finding was that it wasn’t rationalists who undermined slavery’s defense, but Christians A review of his new book on slavery puts his contribution into perspective

Sean Wilentz weighs in on the debacle at the New Republic He says philistinism wrecked the magazine

Harry V. Jaffa, Conservative Scholar and Goldwater Muse, Dies at 96 A professor and author of political histories, Dr. Jaffa traced the nation’s origins to the philosophies of Aristotle and John Locke and analyzed the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the contributions of Washington, Jefferson, Madison and other founders.

University of Evansville history professor's cartoon response to Paris shootings read around the world Picked up by the news website Vox, James MacLeod's cartoon was soon featured among the cream of the crop of editorial cartoonists' responses published around the globe online and in print.

Economic historian Barry Eichengreen says our leaders ignored many of the key lessons of the Great Depression “Once we averted a Great Depression, we succumbed to the instinct to do less in order to sustain economic growth.”

Historian says the Koran Does Not Forbid Images of the Prophet The University of Michigan's Christiane Gruber says "The Koran does not prohibit figural imagery."

"The radical historians lose again" The young radicals of the 1960s and ’70s received their Ph.D.s and began their “long march through the institutions.” They now dominate the profession.

Stephen Donches forced out at National Museum of Industrial History Donches and the museum have been under intense scrutiny since 2012 when a Northampton County grand jury began investigating the museum. While the grand jury investigation found no criminal wrongdoing, it called on Donches to resign or be terminated.

Civil Rights Center former executive director speaks out in first extended interview since firing Lacy Ward says he was fired because he wanted to attract all Americans to visit the place where 4 North Carolina students began the sit-in movement in Greensboro.

Carl Degler, Stanford Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, dies at 93 A leading post-World War II historian, Stanford Professor Carl Degler was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his groundbreaking 1972 book on slavery and race relations.