Studying History
Peter Stansky encourages the link between the past and present in history.
At the moment the historical profession, along with other humanities, seems to be in a crisis. This may be more true in the United States than in England. Recently, I had an illuminating experience on this latter point when a question arose concerning what subject my English niece and nephew might read at Oxford. Since they had done well in English, I thought perhaps they should pursue that. Their parents did not seem pleased, however, at the suggestion, as reading history is regarded as a far more practical subject in England, more likely to lead in a natural way to a career choice. For better or worse, such is not the state in America, where in the eyes of parents, and frequently of their children, history is regarded as being as intensely impractical as any other subject in the humanities.
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