Donald Kagan: A Scholar Retires

When I attended college in the mid-1960s, a history major was a rather common pursuit. And the subject itself was a rather common focus on the "big picture," being subdivided mostly by geography and a few broad themes. Specialization really didn't occur until graduate studies. A decade later, the undergraduate study of history had been dissected  by the "Me Decade" mentality into a series of narrow, highly politicized  studies of gender, race, and class often dumping on the historical "glue" that held the field together. Today, it's just about impossible to find the kinds of introductory history I was exposed to in college. In fact, it's hard to find a university requiring a single history course as part of its core curriculum or even for graduation. This is a tragic circumstance for liberal arts and for American culture. Who will carry the tradition into the future?

One of the torchbearers has been Donald Kagan, a liberal turned conservative in 1969 partly in response to the surrender of the academy to the student mob. He went on to become one of the nation's most beloved, controversial, and respected scholars. Kagan, Sterling Professor of Classics and History at Yale University, is retiring at the end of this semester after a long, distinguished career. Obviously, Kagan has specialized over the years, but he remains a valued teacher/scholar who understands the value of the traditional "big picture" approach to who we are a people.

Power Line's Scott Johnson has a brief tribute to Kagan containing a multitude of links either written by Kagan or related to his work. Check it out if you have an interest in the future of the study of history and the liberal arts or just want to enjoy reading what an extraordinarily fine writer has to say about our world.