History as Political Thought

"History as Political Thought" invites readers to reconsider the politics of history and the history of politics. Rejecting histories as merely detached or apolitical accounts, these authors explore history as a field of living commitments and contestations. From Thucydides’ account of the violence he encounters in his fifth-century present to Trump’s assault on critical histories of America’s formation, the essays examine the uses and abuses of the past. At a moment when fascists seek to reclaim and weaponize history, this volume provides a crucial intervention, listening to history’s political force and imagining new historical futures.

Andrew Poe
Associate Professor of Social and Political Thought
Australian Catholic University


The American celebration of the semi-quincentennial of the Declaration of Independence has been paralleled by contestation about its meaning. The essays in this volume remind us that history is always intertwined with politics and thus always contested; moreover, they reveal new ways of thinking about how politics and time intersect.

Dr. Kevin M. Cherry
Associate Professor, Department of Political Science
University of Richmond


The United States is currently in the midst of the most intense battles in its history about how its history should be told—and rarely has the outcome of those battles, and the nation's future in general, been so unclear. The stimulating essays collected in “History as Political Thought” are therefore incredibly timely, illuminating the character of current difficulties, while they also provide valuable reflections on the perennial, inescapable, yet always problematic intertwining of politics and history.

Dr. Rogers M. Smith
Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Emeritus Professor of Political Science
University of Pennsylvania