Imagined Histories
Science fiction and fantasy provide their adherents with imagined histories of future or alternate worlds. These stories are shaped by the present circumstances of their composition, among them the real histories of this world. This second Perspectives issue on fiction, like its predecessor in December 2021, celebrates and explores the connections between history, imagination, and reality that sci-fi and fantasy present. From the shifting historical memory of the American Revolution to video games and icosahedrons, everything has a history—even the future.
Image: Emanuel Leutze, Washington Crossing the Delaware, Metropolitan Museum of Art, public domain; NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, The Pillars of Creation, CC BY 4.0.
Staff
Townhouse Notes
C’est quoi Gritty?” (What the heck’s a Gritty?) asked a reader of Le Monde in November 2020. “[Un] icône de…
Remembering Aidan
On the morning of August 21, 2020, my 17-year-old son, Aidan, died from an accidental fentanyl overdose. He had been…
Richard Herr (1922–2022)
Richard Herr, professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, lived a long, rich life filled with purpose, achievement, and…
Elizabeth York Enstam (1937–2022)
Elizabeth York Enstam died September 15, 2022, in Dallas, Texas, where she had lived for the past 54 years. She…
On “The National History Center and the AHA”
To the Editor: James Grossman’s announcement that the National History Center is to be absorbed into the American Historical Association…
On “Townhouse Notes: Boo”
To the Editor: Leland Renato Grigoli’s “Townhouse Notes: Boo” (October 2022) is worthy of the New Yorker’s “Shouts & Murmurs.”…
On “Two Separate Societies, Divided by Color’: Race, Colonialism, and Bridgerton”
To the Editor: In her smart and cleverly written examination of race (and its absence) in the Regency period drama…
AHA23 Slogan Contest
Have a funny slogan about history that you’d love to see on a piece of merch? The AHA will soon…
AHA Member Spotlight: Aimee Loiselle
Aimee Loiselle is an assistant professor of history at Central Connecticut State University. She lives in Springfield, Massachusetts, and has…
Announcing the AHA23 Slogan Contest Finalists
The AHA staff announces the 2023 AHA Slogan Contest finalists. These especially witty slogans have been submitted by members and…
AHA Member Spotlight: Fumiaki Kubo
Fumiaki Kubo is the president of the National Defense Academy of Japan and professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo.…