1/Thought-provoking interview with Jill Lepore in the @chronicle, but I just can't buy her argument that we historians have left public engagement to the journalists and the non-academic presidential historians. chronicle.com/article/The-Ac…
2/ I've made this argument before, and I will again: if you look at the pages of our major newspapers, including @nytimes and @washingtonpost, it's a veritable golden age for historians engaging the wide public.
3) The notable change from the days when Hofstadter and his ilk roamed the earth is that there are far more historians who enter the public fray today. The range of voices is greater than it was in the past, reflecting changes--to the better--in our profession.
4) Political historians are strong voices in the popular media--and most of them haven't as Sean Wilentz suggests in his opening quote--lost their academic credibility for their public writing. Consider, Wilentz himself, or @julianzelizer or @PastPunditry, or Eric Foner.
5) So many cutting edge historians weighing in on major issues of the day: @marthasjones_ on birthright citizenship: theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…
7) I mean I could go on nearly forever, just based on my last few months reading major periodicals and newspapers: @HC_Richardson on the GOP, Matt Lassiter and Lily Geismer in the NYT on suburban politics, @hthompsn nearly everywhere on mass incarceration, just to name three.
8) Can any intelligent reader talk about human rights without engaging @samuelmoyn's essays? About authoritarianism without @TimothyDSnyder or @ruthbenghiat?
9) One of the most exciting outlets for historians--from giants like Dan Rodgers to beginning scholars like @pedrorgld who are on their way to becoming public intellectuals--is the Made By History series in the Washington Post. Read it early and often. washingtonpost.com/news/made-by-h…
10) The @NewYorker, perhaps because of Lepore's influence, has been giving voice to historians, most notably her brilliant colleague @jelani9. Hell, even I have penned a few pieces for them online.
11) I haven't even gotten to social media, especially the wild and wonderful world of #Twitterstorians, where @KevinMKruse has more followers than most celebrities. BTW, Kevin's list of historians whom he follows include a lot of people whom you should follow.
12) Lepore writes about the real challenges of women historians gaining recognition for their authority #womenalsoknowhistory. Fortunately, there are some powerful women tweeting the past. Get to know @ProfCAnderson, @SassyProf, and @nataliapetrzela, @GilmoreGlenda, and more.
13) The historian as public intellectual isn't dead. But we are swimming against strong tides. Lepore blames humanists for their own failures. She's right that many scholars lose readers with unnecessary jargon. Too many authors bury their important arguments in turgid prose.
14) Overall, though, we face far bigger hurdles than murky prose. The corporatization of universities stifles humanistic and social scientific research. Insecure academic employment silences many voices. Public history venues are wobbling because of years of austerity.
15) My comments, so far, mostly focus on historians writing in the media or online. To be fair, Lepore talks mostly about book writing. Here too, historians face obstacles. most not of their making. Some are internal: namely universities' narrow criteria for tenure.
16) The publishing market matters even more. Biographies of presidents and prominent people sell. But with all due respect to some of my favorite authors, do we really need the 21,462nd Lincoln biography or yet another tome, however crisp and jaunty, on the Founding Fathers?
17) Another big obstacle: the decline of serious book reviewing. Yes, @nybooks and @nytimesbooks are alive and well, as are feisty upstarts like @BostonReview, the wonderful @PublicBooks, and @LAReviewofBooks. But it's harder for smart, serious authors to get public attention.
18) Still, I'm heartened historians are still reshaping public debate. We are more diverse in our topics and voices than ever before. But we have to spend less time longing for the days of Hofstadter and instead amplify the voices of our own Mary Ritter Beards & W.E.B. DuBoises.
19) Keep working fellow public historians and #Twitterstorians. Listen harder journalists and editors. Celebrate our gains. Work harder to lift the obstacles that are still in our way. Promote each others' work. Fin.
Postscript: Several commentators on this thread mention other important ways that historians engage publics. I agree. Here is a letter that I sent to the @NYTimes in 2014 about the myriad ways we bust out of the Ivory Tower (in response to a similar argument by @NickKristof) 
