I worry that the impulses driven by anti-intellectualism and anti-science play such a major part in shaping our political landscape today. - Jacqueline Jones

Q. What do you value most about the history profession? A. It seems to me that the profession has avoided the bitter in-fighting over methodology that has wracked other disciplines over the last few decades. I think historians are welcoming of different kinds of methodologies and different topics of study. And I think we pretty much agree among ourselves that we know good history when we see it.

I have seen first-hand the corrosive effects of the notion that the study of the humanities in general and history in particular is less valuable to undergraduates than the study of science, math, and engineering. In fact, an understanding of history is a critical component of citizenship—for citizens of the United States, and citizens of the world.

...Even white abolitionists and other reformers were indifferent to the plight of Black workers who could not find decent jobs. That disconnect — between a rhetoric of equality and a reality of prejudice — characterized not only mid-19th century Boston, but to some extent certainly the history of the United States in general.