Being a Historian in the 21st Century: An Op-Ed by James M. Banner, Jr.

Since the 1970s, largely because of repeated academic employment crises and not (initially at least) because of any larger vision of history’s role in society, history departments have broadened their preparation of historians. Yet despite many effective efforts to alter the preparation of historians, the structure of history institutions, and the practices pursued by historians, no one has endeavored to assess where we’ve come in those 50 years, where we might still travel, and what we still must face.