January 6, 2026
by Peter Feinman
This blog is a summary blog and the sessions at the annual conference of the American Historical Association in 2025. There were too many presentations I consider to be of interest to the history to include in one blog. Instead I grouped various topics into separate blogs and listed them all in this summary blog.
History is still in the news. We are learning about the Monroe Doctrine and its reincarnation as the Donroe Doctrine. Gunboat diplomacy is now alive and well. Greenland is now part of the defense of the United States.The countries under attack all have immigrant populations here in the United States.
It is safe to say the past isn’t even past. At the New College of Florida, The Odyssey is now required reading. Not everyone has welcomed that mandated by the Governor in the effort to create a curriculum emphasizing the tradition Western canon with “The Odyssey” serving as a foundational text. The change has caused problems.
Some of Dr. (April) Flakne’s old colleagues grumble about “The Odyssey” and say that students would rather read a book that would be more relevant to their lives.
Why, they ask, teach a 3,000 year-old book?
“I hate that many of the students in the Odyssey don’t want to be there,” Dr. Flakne said of her course. But she added that she understands the desire to provide a common and cross-generational experience to students.
She said she finds “The Odyssey” to be “super approachable” for first-year students, as it raises questions about adventure, fathers and sons, marriage, identity.
“It’s a foundational book,” she said, springing to her bookshelf and grabbing some evidence — “Omeros,” Derek Walcott’s retelling of the Iliad and the Odyssey, transposed to the Caribbean. (A version of this article appears in print on Dec. 28, 2025, Section A, Page 1 of the New York edition with the headline: DeSantis Push Is Making Over Liberal College.)
On the other hand,Then there is Christopher Nolan. He has pursued awe and scale through innovative uses of IMAX film and projection. Almost alone among directors who came to prominence this century, he seems cleareyed not only about Hollywood’s capacity for grandiose mythmaking, but also about its necessity for the continuance of the art form.
Tellingly, his next film is about one of humanity’s most enduring myths, an adaptation of Homer’s Odyssey. The movie isn’t due in theaters until summer 2026, but early sales of 70-mm. IMAX screenings — the giant analog tech that is the filmmaker’s preferred format — have already sold out.
Mr. Nolan is making an epic, in every sense. Hollywood needs more of them.
We are a storytelling species and history has great stories. (“Hollywood Is Bleak> It Must Remember What Makes It Special,” (NYT, December 29, 2025, print)
One final session from the conference was the general business meeting. It even made the news.
Who knows what will happen as this year’s conference? |
Peter
This is a very useful post. Thanks for doing all the work
Carol