Author Profile

David Kaiser

David Kaiser taught history at Harvard, Carnegie Mellon, the Naval War College, and Williams College from 1976 through 2013. He is the author of nine books, including Politics and War: European Conflict from Philip II to Hitler; American Tragedy: Kennedy, Johnson, and the Origins of the Vietnam War; No End Save Victory: How FDR Led the Nation into War; and A Life in History. He lives in Watertown, Massachusetts.

Articles by David Kaiser

Why Students Have Turned Away from History

Jun 10, 2020 · David Kaiser · No Comments

I taught history from 1976 through 2013 at Harvard, Carnegie-Mellon, the Naval War College, and Williams College. The 37 years of my career coincided with a drastic change in the nature of history as it is taught in our colleges and universities. That led to an extraordinary decline in student interest in history, reflected in … Continue reading “Why Students Have Turned Away from History”

Did You Know? UNC Schools Delay In-person Classes Jan 21, 2021
The fall 2020 semester did not go as planned for most students and many felt that their universities failed them. The spring 2021 semester isn’t looking too promising for them, either. Some colleges, such as UCLA, will not reopen until an “effective vaccine or advanced therapeutics have been developed and are available to the majority … Continue reading “Did You Know? UNC Schools Delay In-person Classes”
The Harvard Professor Who Bemoans Higher Education Jan 20, 2021
Most college professors applaud what American higher education does and want to see it expand to include even more students. One dissenter of note, however, is Harvard philosophy professor Michael Sandel. In his latest book, The Tyranny of Merit, he argues that higher education has become a big part of the problem he sees with … Continue reading “The Harvard Professor Who Bemoans Higher Education”
Teaching Students Civil Dialogue in a Culture Hostile to Free Speech Jan 18, 2021
It can be disheartening to witness how college culture has become inhospitable to viewpoints that fall outside of the ideological mainstream. For example, a March 2020 report by three professors at UNC-Chapel Hill revealed that UNC students across the political spectrum, but particularly conservative students, sometimes engage in self-censorship for fear of what others may … Continue reading “Teaching Students Civil Dialogue in a Culture Hostile to Free Speech”

Teaching Students Civil Dialogue in a Culture Hostile to Free Speech Jan 18, 2021
It can be disheartening to witness how college culture has become inhospitable to viewpoints that fall outside of the ideological mainstream. For example, a March 2020 report by three professors at UNC-Chapel Hill revealed that UNC students across the political spectrum, but particularly conservative students, sometimes engage in self-censorship for fear of what others may … Continue reading “Teaching Students Civil Dialogue in a Culture Hostile to Free Speech”
Did You Know? Disrupt Texts Is the Latest Attack on the Western Canon Jan 14, 2021
Penguin Classics is partnering with Disrupt Texts to replace Shakespeare and Homer with Ibram X. Kendi. What is Disrupt Texts? For the uninitiated, it is a new radical movement in classrooms which seeks to disrupt the “hegemony of English” and the Western canon by replacing them. According to its own website, Disrupt Texts is a “crowdsourced, grassroots effort by … Continue reading “Did You Know? Disrupt Texts Is the Latest Attack on the Western Canon”
The Spurning of Old Books: The Devaluation of the Past Threatens Higher Ed Jan 13, 2021
Alan Jacobs’ new book, Breaking Bread with the Dead: A Reader’s Guide to a More Tranquil Mind, is a coaxing argument to read “old books that come from strange times.” Readers of his previous works The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction and How to Think will not be surprised that Jacobs, distinguished … Continue reading “The Spurning of Old Books: The Devaluation of the Past Threatens Higher Ed”

Biden Could Shake Up Higher Ed—If He Doesn’t Endorse the Status Quo Jan 22, 2021
Now that President Biden has been sworn in as the 46th president, he wants to hit the ground running and attend to urgent priorities. One of his first moves was to extend student loan payment deferrals until October, buying time for further reforms to America’s higher education system. Deferrals will be one small part of … Continue reading “Biden Could Shake Up Higher Ed—If He Doesn’t Endorse the Status Quo”
Did You Know? UNC Schools Delay In-person Classes Jan 21, 2021
The fall 2020 semester did not go as planned for most students and many felt that their universities failed them. The spring 2021 semester isn’t looking too promising for them, either. Some colleges, such as UCLA, will not reopen until an “effective vaccine or advanced therapeutics have been developed and are available to the majority … Continue reading “Did You Know? UNC Schools Delay In-person Classes”
The Harvard Professor Who Bemoans Higher Education Jan 20, 2021
Most college professors applaud what American higher education does and want to see it expand to include even more students. One dissenter of note, however, is Harvard philosophy professor Michael Sandel. In his latest book, The Tyranny of Merit, he argues that higher education has become a big part of the problem he sees with … Continue reading “The Harvard Professor Who Bemoans Higher Education”