My thoughts on the importance of history are currently in the works. But for those of you who are curious, here is a small sample of what I have so far:

History ought properly to inspire humility, not in the face of a mythical past of deified and semi-deified mortals but rather humility born of confronting our frailties both as students of history (the limits of our ability to know the past) as well as historical actors (the limits of our ability to anticipate the consequences of our own actions in the present). Perhaps this is not a ‘civic’ virtue but it is still a virtue I think ought to be cultivated.

I am currently working through a couple of additional issues. First, I want to be sure that my justification that incorporates both teaching and research less like two divergent branches of the same tree but more like two sides of the same coin or two legs of the same chair. Also, I'm unsure whether the benefits of working on (relatively) long gone European history are/can be/should be the same as those of contemporary American history, or contemporary (or ancient) Chinese history for that matter. I generally prefer techniques and habits of mind over content, but content does matter.

I don't want to turn this space into a collective one and whatever "final" product I wind up with will be mine alone (especially in its vices but also in its virtues). But! If you have ideas you think I should consider or want to attempt something similar on your own, do email me because there is no way this will come to a good end without some kind of collaboration. This goes double for those of you who may some day want to assemble a teaching portfolio.