Last week I posted a thread on Twitter that got more than two million impressions, on the sad state of the academic discipline of history.
I decided: I guess people are interested in this.
So I took a glance just now at what this year's conference of the Organization of American Historians looked like.
Let me share with you an entirely representative sample of the workshops held over that weekend. You may notice an extremely subtle preoccupation. Extremely subtle, I say:
Race and Gender in Nineteenth-Century America
Way-Makers, Shape-Shifters, and Trailblazers: Black, Latina, and Asian Women’s Political Activism of the 1970s
Y’all Means All: Doing Queer Southern Public History Now
A Discussion on Public Discourse: Race, Ethnicity, and Citizenship in the Late-Nineteenth and Early-Twentieth Century South
The Contradictions of Freedom: Race, Gender, and Citizenship in the Antebellum U.S.
Solidarity and the Archives: A Roundtable Discussion of Antiracist Public History
Getting the Story Straight: Queering Regional Identities
Fear of a Socialist America: Black Radicals face Right-Wing Anti-Communism
Partnering for Queer History: Community-based Archive/Oral History Work in LGBTQ+ History
Queering Public History and Remembering Our Queer Past
Queering the U.S. History Survey and Beyond
Supporting Pregnant-Capable Students in Abortion-Ban States [TW note: I think "Pregnant-Capable Students" is my favorite expression in this list]
New Histories of Marriage, Incarceration, and Two-Spirit and LGBTQ Lives in the U.S.
Proposition 187 at 30: Mexican-Origin Labor, Immigration, Social Reproduction, Structural Exclusion, Racial Capitalism, and the White Nation in Historical Perspective
Queer Spirits of New Orleans
Teaching Gender in 2024: Opportunities, Challenges, and Future Directions
Teaching K–12 History in an Educational Culture War: What Scholars Can Do to Strengthen Antiracist Education
Queering Work: LGBT Labor Histories
I realize it's all very subtle, but if you look closely you may find a slight emphasis on particular kinds of topics (but of course no political bias at all, since that would be inappropriate in an academic organization).
If you can believe it, this year marks the 20th anniversary of the publication of my book The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History, which was my effort to shake up the complacent left-wing consensus.
The New York Times editorial warning people about my book didn't actually correct me. It instead took the form of: "Can you believe he said X? And Y?"
Our critics really are sad. They won't debate us because that would be to dignify us, etc., but when it occasionally does happen -- as when Dave Smith debated Christ Cuomo -- we discover the real reason: they're dopes.
In this atmosphere, I have decided not to charge for my US history courses anymore but instead to give them away for free.
If you want them, they're yours. If you suffered from educational malpractice, here's how to learn what they should have taught you but didn't:
And don't forget to join me for the event of the decade: the Tom Woods Cruise, featuring amazing special guests, my biggest murder mystery dinner party ever, and plenty of fun:
P.S. For my business owners out there who'd like to give their results a nice boost (and who wouldn't?): my online Junior Mastermind is reopening to new members, and that means being part of a group of smart and ambitious people who can give you specific advice (not pointless b.s. like "have a positive attitude" or "wake up early in the morning") that can take that business to the next level. Early-bird bonus expires tomorrow, so check it out here: https://www.TheJrMastermind.com