Tuesday, November 18, 2025 in the Library Gallery, come hear
Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins present "Dark Times: The Uses and Abuses of
History in an Authoritarian Era."
Until
Recently, the History profession has expressed skepticism about using
history to understand contemporary events. Fear of political bias,
anachronism, and simply bad historical comparisons were behind such
skepticism. However, Brexit, COVID-19, and the current political turn
toward authoritarianism have all led to an explosion of historical works
attempting to make sense of the confusion that defines our present
moment. This lecture explains the origins of the recent turn to the
present, while looking at its promises and perils for the field.