History in Focus

Anna Krylova examines the complicated role of agency in history. And Denise Ho discusses the multilayered interactions along the Hong Kong–China maritime border in the mid-twentieth century through the lens of oyster producing communities.

On January 5, 2023, the American Historical Association Council approved Guidelines for Broadening the Definition of Historical Scholarship. In this special episode, we explore the guidelines with AHA executive director Jim Grossman and guidelines committee chair Rita Chin.

More than a year since our first check in, we revisit Odeuropa, an interdisciplinary team of researchers investigating—and recreating—the smells of Europe's past. Project lead Inger Leemans updates us on the project as a whole while smellscape researcher Kate McLean takes us back through the smell walk she led for the 2023 AHA national meeting in Philadelphia.

What does it mean to do transnational history? What has this field of research accomplished over the last few decades, and what remains to be done? Paul Chamberlin discusses the transnational history forum he convened for the AHR. And we hear from three of the forum's contributors—Rebecca Herman, Maria John, and Hussein Fancy.

Historian Megan Robb discusses her article "Becoming Elizabeth: The Transformation of a Bihari Mughal into an English Lady, 1758-1822" with producer Matt Hermane. Plus, Daniel checks in with AHA meetings manager Debbie Ann Doyle on the recent AHA annual meeting in Philadelphia and looks ahead to the next one in San Francisco.

Historian Lydia Walker discusses international advocacy for Tibet on the part of the US and India in the early Cold War and how those efforts resulted in a sort of humanitarian commodification of the Tibetan cause. And AHR editor Mark Bradley looks ahead with Daniel at what's coming up at the 2023 AHA Annual Meeting and in upcoming issues of the AHR.

Historian Elizabeth Hinton explores W.E.B. Du Bois's 1935 magnum opus Black Reconstruction. We also hear from Eric Foner, Chad Williams, Sue Mobley, and Kendra Field. The AHR chose not to review Black Reconstruction when it was first published. A review by Hinton appears in the December 2022 issue.

Art critic Lee Weng-Choy discusses his and curator Zoe Butt's conversation on historical practice in contemporary art. And Kate Brown speaks with Martha Hodes about her article exploring the process of writing about her childhood experience as a passenger in an airplane hijacking in September 1970.

Andrew Preston offers a reassessment of America's Liberal Protestants, especially on the subject of race. And Pete Burkholder and Dana Schaffer discuss the national survey "History, the Past, and Public Culture." In both parts, the question What is history? hovers just below, or above, the surface.

Historian Alexis Dudden and graphic artist Kim Inthavong discuss their collaborative work on history, memory, and activism in Okinawa, Japan. Their piece, "Okinawa: Territory as Monument," appears in the History Lab section of the September issue of the AHR. Inthavong's graphic panels illustrating Okinawans' present-day struggle over U.S. military presence in the islands can be previewed at americanhistoricalreview.org.