History worth reading.

We're creating a new home to celebrate nonfiction history books. Book reviews, interviews, craft essays, publishing news, and more.

Considering and Reconsidering Ulysses S. Grant
Book Reviews

Considering and Reconsidering Ulysses S. Grant

Two new books add nuance, but no firm conclusions, to historians’ reassessments of the general and president

—
Jennifer A. Jordan and the Craft of Hands-On History Research
Podcast Episodes

Jennifer A. Jordan and the Craft of Hands-On History Research

Episode 121 of the Drafting the Past Podcast

—
What It's Like to Be On A Book Prize Committee
First Person

What It's Like to Be On A Book Prize Committee

Megan Kate Nelson pulls back the curtain in our debut "first person" column

—
A New Debs For a New Era
Book Reviews

A New Debs For a New Era

This New Biography Contextualizes America’s Socialist Past Within Its New Socialist Moment

—

Subscribe to Drafting the Past

Get new book reviews, craft essays, author Q & As, and more delivered to your inbox.

Book Reviews

Craft Essays

Q & A with Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Marcia Chatelain

Q & A with Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Marcia Chatelain

Podcast Episodes

Jennifer A. Jordan and the Craft of Hands-On History Research

Jennifer A. Jordan and the Craft of Hands-On History Research

Soyica Diggs Colbert Writes the History of Icons Through Their Friendships

Soyica Diggs Colbert Writes the History of Icons Through Their Friendships

Recent Posts

Considering and Reconsidering Ulysses S. Grant

Considering and Reconsidering Ulysses S. Grant

Two new books add nuance, but no firm conclusions, to historians’ reassessments of the general and president

—
Jennifer A. Jordan and the Craft of Hands-On History Research

Jennifer A. Jordan and the Craft of Hands-On History Research

Episode 121 of the Drafting the Past Podcast

—
What It's Like to Be On A Book Prize Committee

What It's Like to Be On A Book Prize Committee

Megan Kate Nelson pulls back the curtain in our debut "first person" column

—
A New Debs For a New Era

A New Debs For a New Era

This New Biography Contextualizes America’s Socialist Past Within Its New Socialist Moment

—
Durba Mitra On Doing Feminist History Now

Durba Mitra On Doing Feminist History Now

Episode 120 of the Drafting the Past podcast

—
Q & A with writer and coach Helen Betya Rubinstein

Q & A with writer and coach Helen Betya Rubinstein

You might not agree with every take on writing and education in her provocative new craft book, but she'll certainly make you think

—
10 New Books We Want to Read This November

10 New Books We Want to Read This November

Snails, telephones, musical theater, and other subjects that caught our attention

An Incomplete Guide to the Female Monster

An Incomplete Guide to the Female Monster

A new but limited history of the women who have always terrified men

—
Soyica Diggs Colbert Writes the History of Icons Through Their Friendships

Soyica Diggs Colbert Writes the History of Icons Through Their Friendships

Episode 119 of the Drafting the Past podcast with the author of Freedom's Gate

—
Getting Through Getting Stuck

Getting Through Getting Stuck

Struggling to write that history project? One of these ideas might help

—

Subscribe to Drafting the Past

Get new book reviews, craft essays, author Q & As, and more delivered to your inbox.