On January 6, 2021, more than two thousand rioters stormed the doors of the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C., hoping to interrupt the peaceful transfer of power from former president Donald Trump to his successor, Joseph Biden. The deaths, property damage, and vicious rampage that ensued were witnessed on live television as an unprecedented attack on the democratic process and those who strive to protect it.
As an installment of UGA Press's History in the Headlines series, this book offers a rich discussion between highly respected scholars on the historical backdrop and context for contemporary issues from the headlines. In addition to the historical context, this conversation demonstrates how historians speak to one another about contentious topics and how they contribute in meaningful ways to the public's understanding of momentous events. This volume focuses on the historical context of the January 6 attack and employs a free-flowing conversation style that allows the historians a more unconventional format. The participants discuss if-and if so, how-historians should engage in public debates and what that engagement means to their roles as academic authorities in the public.
"I want to applaud the organizers of the forum, including Jim Downs and Catherine Clinton, for hosting such a humane and lively conversation on a topic that wrenches the heart of every informed citizen. This important book makes plain that January 6 was a singular and portentous event whose implications we ignore at our peril."
Elizabeth Cobbs
"January 6 and the Politics of History is essential reading for anyone interested in learning more about how and to what extent historians should engage with the public, especially during uncertain and troubling times like ours."
