Person

David A. Bell

Bylines

The Empty Throne: From Kings to Presidents

Both France and the United States were born in revolutions that overthrew kings, yet neither has ever stopped searching for a leader to embody the nation.

by David A. Bell via Villa Albertine on January 15, 2026
My Freedom, My Choice

A new book illuminates how freedom became associated with choice and questions whether that has been a good thing—for women in particular.

by David A. Bell via New York Review of Books
This publication restricts nonsubscriber access to some or all of its articles.
on June 5, 2025
Ego-Histories

The more that historians make their own experiences an explicit part of their work, the harder it will become to let the sources speak clearly.

by David A. Bell via New York Review of Books
This publication restricts nonsubscriber access to some or all of its articles.
on June 1, 2023
Two Cheers for Presentism

An essay by the president of the American Historical Association generated a firestorm of criticism — but got some things right.

by David A. Bell via The Chronicle of Higher Education
This publication restricts nonsubscriber access to some or all of its articles.
on August 23, 2022
What is Left of History?

Joan Scott’s "On the Judgment of History" asks us to imagine the past without the idea of progress. But what gets left out in the process?

by David A. Bell via The Nation
This publication restricts nonsubscriber access to some or all of its articles.
on May 2, 2022
The Zelensky Myth

Why we should resist hero-worshipping Ukraine’s president.

by David A. Bell via New Statesman
This publication restricts nonsubscriber access to some or all of its articles.
on March 24, 2022
Whose Freedom?

On the ways that people have conflated freedom with whiteness but pays too little attention to the force of freedom as a concept.

by David A. Bell via New York Review of Books
This publication restricts nonsubscriber access to some or all of its articles.
on September 2, 2021
Are We Living in an Age of Strongmen?

A new book by Ruth Ben-Ghiat discusses the past and present challenges posed by authoritarianism, but misses the conditions in which it arises.

by David A. Bell via The Nation
This publication restricts nonsubscriber access to some or all of its articles.
on April 3, 2021
The Contagious Revolution

For a long time, European historians paid little attention to the extraordinary series of events that now goes by the name of the Haitian Revolution.

by David A. Bell via New York Review of Books
This publication restricts nonsubscriber access to some or all of its articles.
on December 19, 2019
Where Does Truth Fit into Democracy?

In modern democracies, who gets to determine what counts as truth—an elite of experts or the people as a whole?

by David A. Bell via The Nation
This publication restricts nonsubscriber access to some or all of its articles.
on January 24, 2019
Is it Still Okay to Venerate George Washington and Thomas Jefferson?

The president's stand on the Confederate hero represents the kind of moral relativism that conservatives usually decry.

by David A. Bell via Washington Post
This publication restricts nonsubscriber access to some or all of its articles.
on August 17, 2017

Men on Horseback: The Power of Charisma in the Age of Revolution

Viewing 1–9 of 9

“The Course of Empire: The Consummation of Empire,” by Thomas Cole (1835-36), depicting Greek classical style buildings and opulence.

History Is Always About Politics

What the recent debates over presentism get wrong.

by Joan Wallach Scott via The Chronicle of Higher Education on August 24, 2022

Painting of: Napoleon Bonaparte in Egypt, 1867, by Jean-Leon Gerome.

What Is the Relationship Between Democracy and Authoritarianism?

The Age of Revolution inaugurated a new era in modern history defined not only by new democratic institutions but also by despots and charismatic leaders.

by Tyler Stovall via The Nation on December 14, 2021

Simon Bolívar Crossing the Andes, after a painting by Arayo Gómez, 1857; it is based on Jacques-Louis David’s Napoleon Crossing the Alps

Democracy’s Demagogues

A new history of five heroes of the revolutionary period considers the power and instability of charismatic leadership.

by Ferdinand Mount via New York Review of Books on January 14, 2021

Beyond the End of History

Historians' prohibition on 'presentism' crumbles under the weight of events.

by Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins via The Chronicle of Higher Education on August 14, 2020

Charismatic Models

There is, and always has been, a vanishingly thin line between charismatic democratic rulers and charismatic authoritarians.

by Scott Spillman via The Point on July 26, 2020

Illustration of twp revolutionary men, one holding the Corsica Constitution and the other holding the American Constitution.

Revolutionary Who Led Fight for Independence in Corsica Also Inspired America’s Rabble-Rousers

Pasquale Paoli was a “small fish fighting an entire empire.” Four thousand miles away, the founding fathers were watching and taking notes.

by Anna Richards via Smithsonian Magazine on April 2, 2026

John Gast's "American Progress" painting with the woman representing manifest destiny cut out.

Missed America

When all the bad things America did are true, but none of the good things, something is amiss.

by Johann N. Neem via The Hedgehog Review on July 7, 2023

Collage including the Statue of Liberty, Donald Trump, and the U.S. flag.

The Habit America’s Historians Just Can’t Give Up

If fact-checking could fix us, we’d be a utopia by now.

by Matthew E. Stanley, Paul M. Renfro via Slate on January 9, 2023

‘Flight of Lord Dunmore’; postcard, 1907.

The Paradox of the American Revolution

Recent books by Woody Holton and Alan Taylor offer fresh perspectives on early US history but overstate the importance of white supremacy as its driving force.

by Sean Wilentz via New York Review of Books on December 24, 2021

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