Uploaded October 2025 | Updated September 2026, 4 hours ago
History has empowered humans to weigh the present against the past. For many, an uncensored teaching of history is crucial to understanding who we are and where we came from. However, certain constraints have led the subject of history to be taught more as a series of key periods than as a comprehensive sweep of our lives and civilizations. Sensitivities around controversial or violent pasts, or the holding of important but flawed figures in a favorable light, have also affected how history is taught. Meanwhile, certain historical events are repressed or even banned in autocracies around the world. If history is meant to promote a better future and a more enlightened population, is it ever necessary or desirable to rewrite it?
Featured:
Jennifer Delton, professor of history, Skidmore College
Martin Johnes, professor of modern history, Swansea University
Chandra Manning, director, Georgetown Institute for Global History
Jennifer Scott, director, Dulwich Picture Gallery, London
Michael Scott (moderator), senior dean, Blackfriars Hall, Oxford
Sanford J. Ungar (moderator), director, Free Speech Project, Georgetown University
Recorded Oct. 22, 2025
History has empowered humans to weigh the present against the past. For many, an uncensored teaching of history is crucial to understanding who we are and where we came from. However, certain constraints have led the subject of history to be taught more as a series of key periods than as a comprehensive sweep of our lives and civilizations. Sensitivities around controversial or violent pasts, or the holding of important but flawed figures in a favorable light, have also affected how history is taught. Meanwhile, certain historical events are repressed or even banned in autocracies around the world. If history is meant to promote a better future and a more enlightened population, is it ever necessary or desirable to rewrite it?
Featured:
Jennifer Delton, professor of history, Skidmore College
Martin Johnes, professor of modern history, Swansea University
Chandra Manning, director, Georgetown Institute for Global History
Jennifer Scott, director, Dulwich Picture Gallery, London
Michael Scott (moderator), senior dean, Blackfriars Hall, Oxford
Sanford J. Ungar (moderator), director, Free Speech Project, Georgetown University
Recorded Oct. 22, 2025
