> Skip to content
FEATURED:
  • The Evolution of Race in Admissions
Sign In
  • News
  • Advice
  • The Review
  • Data
  • Current Issue
  • Virtual Events
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
Sign In
  • News
  • Advice
  • The Review
  • Data
  • Current Issue
  • Virtual Events
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
  • News
  • Advice
  • The Review
  • Data
  • Current Issue
  • Virtual Events
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
Sign In
ADVERTISEMENT
Blog Logo

Letters: Article on Book Controversy Was Reported and Presented Poorly

Correspondence from Chronicle readers.

  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Show more sharing options
Share
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Email
  • Copy Link URLCopied!
  • Print

Article on Book Controversy Was Reported and Presented Poorly

April 15, 2015

To the Editor:

The latest issue of The Chronicle carried an article about our recent book, The History Manifesto, and the worldwide discussion it has inspired. The article’s headline — “Historians Attack the Data and the Ethics of Colleagues’ Manifesto”

We’re sorry. Something went wrong.

We are unable to fully display the content of this page.

The most likely cause of this is a content blocker on your computer or network. Please make sure your computer, VPN, or network allows javascript and allows content to be delivered from c950.chronicle.com and chronicle.blueconic.net.

Once javascript and access to those URLs are allowed, please refresh this page. You may then be asked to log in, create an account if you don't already have one, or subscribe.

If you continue to experience issues, contact us at 202-466-1032 or help@chronicle.com

To the Editor:

The latest issue of The Chronicle carried an article about our recent book, The History Manifesto, and the worldwide discussion it has inspired. The article’s headline — “Historians Attack the Data and the Ethics of Colleagues’ Manifesto” — may have misled readers about both the content of the article and the substance of the broader debate the book addresses.

The article picked out five critical voices out of the many who have found the book beneficial to the debate and to academia’s current challenges. Following their critique, the article stated that “[s]ome readers accuse Ms. Guldi and Mr. Armitage of being less than transparent” about changes made to the online text of the book. When concerns were raised, we immediately addressed them with a post on the book’s open-access website and by taking action to clarify the record of publication with the help of our publisher, Cambridge University Press. There was no intent to deceive readers and therefore no question of an ethical breach.

The article then goes on to follow the critique of Deborah Cohen and Peter Mandler in The American Historical Review that “the question of data takes on added significance here, because The History Manifesto argues for the importance of large data sets and the role of historians interpreting them.” We have addressed those charges at greater length and presented new data in the course of replies to our critics in The American Historical Review and in Annales.

Readers should also be aware that The Chronicle’s reporter made no attempt to contact one of the book’s two authors, David Armitage, at any point. Nor were either of us given the chance to respond to charges made in the article by the historian Lynn Hunt.

ADVERTISEMENT

The History Manifesto tackles questions of the first importance for historians, humanists, and academics in general: among them, the “crisis of the humanities,” in the United States and beyond; the role of scholars in public debate; the opportunities afforded by new technologies and new media for research, scholarship, and publication. Unbalanced reporting under a misleading headline poorly serves the serious issues at stake for students, scholars, and the wider public addressed in The History Manifesto.

At a time when the liberal-arts curriculum is under attack, the academy as a whole desperately needs a positive vision of how the humanities and social sciences can contribute new forms of publishing and research for the public good. The global reaction to The History Manifesto — more than 80 reviews and responses from at least 18 countries in the six months since publication — has shown the urgency of these questions for a very wide range of readers. It also puts the objections of a handful of critics into broader perspective.

David Armitage
Professor of History
Harvard University
Cambridge, Mass.

Jo Guldi

ADVERTISEMENT

Assistant Professor of History
Brown University
Providence, R.I.

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
  • Explore
    • Get Newsletters
    • Letters
    • Free Reports and Guides
    • Blogs
    • Virtual Events
    • Chronicle Store
    • Find a Job
    Explore
    • Get Newsletters
    • Letters
    • Free Reports and Guides
    • Blogs
    • Virtual Events
    • Chronicle Store
    • Find a Job
  • The Chronicle
    • About Us
    • DEI Commitment Statement
    • Write for Us
    • Talk to Us
    • Work at The Chronicle
    • User Agreement
    • Privacy Policy
    • California Privacy Policy
    • Site Map
    • Accessibility Statement
    The Chronicle
    • About Us
    • DEI Commitment Statement
    • Write for Us
    • Talk to Us
    • Work at The Chronicle
    • User Agreement
    • Privacy Policy
    • California Privacy Policy
    • Site Map
    • Accessibility Statement
  • Customer Assistance
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise With Us
    • Post a Job
    • Advertising Terms and Conditions
    • Reprints & Permissions
    • Do Not Sell My Personal Information
    Customer Assistance
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise With Us
    • Post a Job
    • Advertising Terms and Conditions
    • Reprints & Permissions
    • Do Not Sell My Personal Information
  • Subscribe
    • Individual Subscriptions
    • Institutional Subscriptions
    • Subscription & Account FAQ
    • Manage Newsletters
    • Manage Your Account
    Subscribe
    • Individual Subscriptions
    • Institutional Subscriptions
    • Subscription & Account FAQ
    • Manage Newsletters
    • Manage Your Account
1255 23rd Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20037
© 2023 The Chronicle of Higher Education
  • twitter
  • instagram
  • youtube
  • facebook
  • linkedin