Applied History Project

The mission of Harvard’s Applied History Project is to revitalize applied history by promoting the production and use of historical reasoning to clarify public and private challenges and choices. Founded by Professors Graham Allison and Niall Ferguson in 2016, the Applied History Project builds upon the foundation laid by Professors Ernest May and Richard Neustadt in the 1980s, reflected in their book Thinking in Time: The Uses of History for Decision Makers. 

Advancing its mission, the Project sponsors the Applied History Working Group of faculty members across Harvard University to organize discussions with scholars and practitioners; supports historians and policymakers in producing Applied History; develops courses in Applied History; funds the Ernest May Fellowships in History and Policy for pre- and post-doctoral students; and holds Applied History Events open to the Harvard Community and the public. Harvard’s project is one of the leaders among a rapidly expanding network of universities and think tanks that are furthering the discipline of Applied History by clarifying predicaments and choices to inform better decisions.

The Project gratefully acknowledges the Stanton Foundation's generous support for its Applied History endeavors. 

Quote of the Week 

“Choice is a very important part of history and of writing history. The cure to misunderstanding history is to read more, not less.” – Joseph S. Nye, Understanding International Conflicts: An Introduction to Theory and History (1993)  

(More Quotes ») 

Article of the Week 

“Joseph Nye Was the Champion of a World That No Longer Exists” – Suzanne Nossel, Foreign Policy, May 9, 2025. 

The Applied History Project is among those mourning the loss of Joseph S. Nye, whose “intellectual leadership, teaching, policy guidance, and diplomatic efforts shaped five decades of U.S. foreign policy,” as Nossel aptly describes. The lesson and call to action for “Nye’s intellectual progeny,” she argues, is to “navigate—and perhaps one day again bridge—the gap between a beloved nation and the treasured values that its current government has left behind. As we lament the loss of Nye, we must also grieve the vanishing world he bequeathed us”—one that Nye believed was made stronger by “U.S. leadership and liberal internationalism.”