Applied History Project Supports Essay Contest, Hosts Notable Speakers

The Applied History Project is excited to support the Stanton Foundation's 2021 Applied History Essay Contest, with several of its members—Graham T. Allison, Calder Walton, and Anne Karalekas—serving on the contest's Selection Advisory Committee alongside scholars at Stanford's Hoover Institution and the University of Chicago. Building on the success of the Foundation's 2020 Applied History competition, this new contest will reward the best Applied History essay that both clarifies the challenge of reuniting America and identifies initiatives the U.S. government or others could take to address it. The author of the winning essay will win a prize of $10,000 and up to two runners-up will win prizes of $5,000 each. For more details, including on eligibility and submission deadlines, see the Stanton Foundation's website here.

At a time when the post-COVID economic recovery around the world remains uncertain, World Bank Chief Economist Carmen Reinhart analyzed history's lessons for economic recovery during a discussion in May with the Applied History Working Group.  Moderated by Graham Allison, discussions during the semester have included a number of distinguished historians and scholars. In April, historians Paul Kennedy and Stephen Wertheim discussed the evolution of America's role in the world since World War II.  Earlier, Jon Meacham, a distinguished historian of the presidency and occasional advisor to President Joe Biden, spoke on how to reunite our divided nation.  The Project also hosted globally recognized journalist Fareed Zakaria, who analyzed the rich lessons history offers for "building back better" in the world of the 2020s and beyond. And the Project's Co-Chair Niall Ferguson presented a compelling case on how the "Cold War II" analogy can inform U.S. thinking on the China challenge. 

Opened to the broader Harvard Kennedy School community, this series of events has attracted hundreds of participants and sparked a broader engagement with the Applied History Project's mission: to illuminate current challenges and choices by analyzing historical precedents and analogues. To learn more about the Project, visit the Applied History website, which has been redesigned this semester to support a more effective and engaging layout.