Dr. Jesse Lemisch, professor of history at John Jay College, is a pioneer
New Left historian. In a famous talk delivered to the December 1969
American Historical Association, Dr. Lemisch exposed the
present-mindedness and political predilections of a whole generation of
cold-war historians.
"The politics which mainstream historians have admired are unreal and
unprincipled; their history has aimed further to insulate those politics
from reality. we will simply not allow you the luxury of continuing to
call yourselves politically neutral while you exclude all of this from
your history."
-- from Jesse Lemischs On Active Service in War and Peace; Politics and
Ideology in the American Historical Profession
"I dont know how you can tell him that he simply cannot do this, and that
he certainly cannot do it in the pages of the Journal [of American
History]. He probably believes that he can, which says something about
how far he and his ilk are estranged from civilization." -- an outside
reader commenting on why the above named article should not be published
in the Journal of American
How, in the midst of the consensus/ cold war history of the 1950s, did a
New Left historiographical position develop? Dr. Lemisch will share his
experience and go through the history of the New Left historiography's
development in our next special Forum In History.
Friday, November 8
4 pm- 6 pm Room 1555, Grace Building (43 West 42nd St)
refreshments and
discussion following