History professors often look for ways to use the past to inform present debates. With long-past events, that sometimes requires some acrobatic leaps over centuries or millennia, but in my own courses on violence in American history, the connections are often pretty obvious. Every day, a stream of new or ongoing violent events invite historical … Continue reading Why Study the Ugliest Moments of American History? Reflections on Teaching Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States