becoming president of the AHA does not automatically bring a deep knowledge of the history of the historical profession in the US. nor does reading That Noble Dream. to offer a narrative of historians' "influence" in American life is to attempt to do #USIH.
it's fine for historians trained in other fields/periods to broaden their research interests. an early modern Africanist narrating historians' (supposed) former v. current place in American society is actually attempting to do American cultural/intellectual history. #USIH
again, this is fine...if you are aware that this is what you are doing and have done your homework. but simply being an historian in America today doesn't automatically make you knowledgeable about the history of the profession's place in American public life. #USIH
lots of historians in lots of subfields are appalled by the AHA piece. but none so much as Americanists, and for good reason: the essay is not just a bad take on historical thinking in general, but it is quite specifically bad American cultural/intellectual history. #USIH
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