History Department News and Research

Regionally based strikes like the one in Oakland "are very, very uncommon in US history," said Andrew Wender Cohen, professor of history, adding that for some time now there have been only 20 to 30 larger strikes per year in the entire country. 

Margaret Susan Thompson, associate professor of history and political science, compares the volume of leaks coming out of the Trump administration to the Nixon administration and its handling of the Watergate scandal.

Michael Ebner, associate professor of history, describes how fascism emerged in Italy as a response to the growing power of socialists, and how fascist violence was used to break their hold on local administration and labor organizations.

Margaret S. Thompson, associate professor of history and political science, believes the nearly 3 million women and men who came out to Women's Marches nationwide will impact the future. “If even 10% of those actually become actively involved, in talking with their representative and lobbying for policies that they think are important, we’re going to see some remarkable change.”

Alan Allport, associate professor of history, analyzes that the British government has been “cagey” on what it intends to do with EU citizens. Glyn Morgan, associate professor of political science, adds that Britain is expecting to get support from the United States during its transition away from the EU’s single market system.

"The survival of our democracy requires public confidence in the country's institutions—a confidence that has been shaken by this election. Cynicism promotes resignation and non-participation and a dangerous and thoughtless acceptance of facile, misleading and false promises," writes James Roger Sharp, professor emeritus of history.

Andrew Cohen, professor of history, argues that looking at early 19th century American trade policies, and the effort to police smuggling goods and contraband, gives us some telling insight about the transformation of America into what it is today.

"Diplomats in Washington I’m sure want to make sure that if nothing else, that American-Japanese relations are very good,” says Alan Allport, professor of history.

Osamah Khalil, assistant professor of history, says that "President Obama rhetorically argues that he is in favor of democracy in the region...and yet, the actual reality on the ground is that the United States is siding with very conservative forces in the region, particularly those in the Persian Gulf."

The Tenth Decade Scholars award demonstrates how citizenship cuts across the disciplines.