p>While we gather in New Orleans for the AHA’s annual meeting, the latest issue of Perspectives on History is in the mail, with immediate access to its content also available online (as usual, select articles are available only in the members section until February 1).

In this issue:

• Incoming AHA President Kenneth Pomeranz uses the election-year debates over data-driven pundits as an opportunity to discuss why historians cannot live by numbers alone.

• AHA Executive Director James Grossman writes about a proposal in Florida to create a differential tuition model—one which would make majors deemed not economically vital more expensive.

• The AHA’s Vice President, Professional Division, Jacqueline Jones, reflects on her appearance with Lionel Richie on Who Do You Think You Are? She goes on to explore potential opportunities for collaboration between genealogists and historians.

• AHA Deputy Director Robert Townsend provides two important state of the field reports in this issue—one on the academic job market for historians, and another on what an AHA survey revealed about the different career paths of men and women in the academic history profession.

• In our “Teaching” section, we feature a diverse selection of approaches and techniques:

• We are pleased to publish a practical and inspirational guide to “History Harvests” by Professors William G. Thomas, Patrick D. Jones, and Andrew Witmer. This innovative approach takes students out of the classroom and into communities to document and preserve the history around them.

• Recognizing that failure can be a powerful if humbling teacher, Richard E. Bond courageously shares some examples of failed lessons, and discusses how teachers can learn from his mistakes.

• Ben Lowe, drawing inspiration from Joan Scott’s groundbreaking essay, argues for greater inclusion of sexuality in history courses, and provides guidance on how this can be done.

• Bradley L. Carter has a particular set of teaching challenges: he teaches military history to military officers. In his article, he discusses what the “useful past” means in this context.

• Also in this issue: Vanessa Varin, assistant editor, web and social media, summarizes a busy month in the AHA’s online discussion spaces; Julia Brookins, special projects coordinator, brings news of two new grant-funded projects; Debbie Ann Doyle, coordinator, committees & convention assistant, provides tips on getting into next year’s annual meeting program; the AHA Nominations Committee calls for members’ input; and the new editor of Perspectives on History discusses the future of the AHA’s newsmagazine.

This post first appeared on AHA Today.