Stanford's newest history professor explores "the use and abuse of history," and how historical awareness, when flawed or incomplete, can lead to malicious interpretations of the present.

Tagged: history, International Issues, On Campus, Humanities & Sciences

Josiah Ober, a professor in Classics and Political Science, offers some thoughts about how Barack Obama might benefit from re-visiting the tenets of Athenian democracy as he begins his presidency.

Tagged: democracy, history, International Issues, Humanities & Sciences

American history professor, Gordon Chang, was drawn into the world of art when another professor stopped by to ask about his late father, Chinese artist Chang Shu-chi. That meeting and the events it triggered have resulted in Asian American Art: A History, 1850-1970, published this fall.

Tagged: Asia, history, Arts & Creativity, International Issues, Humanities & Sciences

A person’s memory may only last a lifetime, but the collective human memory has endured for eons. The stories of those who came before us are told to us through their books, art and language. Though the value of these lasting works is undeniable, their very existence in the present day must lead the inquisitive reader to wonder: “How did this book, so far from its original place of production and reception, reach me in the present?” This is the very question posed by Stanford professor, Jennifer Summit, in her new book, Memory’s Library, which explores the origins of the modern library.

Tagged: history, libraries, Humanities & Sciences

Fifty-two people trudged down a residential street in Prague, wearing feathers and heels, tuxedos, gloves and sequins. A woman walking nearby nudged her husband. "Why can't we ever dress up?" was her implied message.

There was more to it than that, as a keen observer might have guessed, for the women weren't wearing elegant stilettos but durable and slightly worn "character shoes." This was Vintage Dance Week in Prague, and the group was being spirited down the street by Stanford dance historian and choreographer Richard Powers, one of the pioneers in a burgeoning field. More than a burgeoning field, really, vintage dance is almost a cultural earthquake. And thanks to Powers, Stanford is one of its epicenters.

Tagged: dance, history, Arts & Creativity, Humanities & Sciences

Ancient documents, discarded by early Egyptians and used to paper over mummies, are now providing priceless clues to everyday life in the Ptolemaic Era.

Tagged: Egypt, history, International Issues, Humanities & Sciences, Faculty

The National History Education Clearinghouse, an online project that brings U.S. history teachers high-quality support and resources, has been launched by Stanford and George Mason University.

Tagged: history, online, teaching, United States, K-12 Education, Education

The nation's leading heroes, in the eyes of its youth, are African Americans, according to a study by Stanford Education Professor Sam Wineburg and alum Chauncey Monte-Sano, an assistant professor of education at the University of Maryland.

Tagged: heroes, history, K-12 Education, Education