This interview with Eric Foner,DeWitt Clinton Professor of History at Columbia University and President of American Historical Association,focuses on several major issues,including:the main characteristics of the 30-year transformation of the study of American history in the U.S.,the impact of the New American History on the teaching and public knowledge of American history,and challenges to the profession at the turn of the century.While praising the changes in the field,Foner also points out that the profession must develop a new method that combines the strengths of narrative and modern social history.The interview also touches on the issues relating to the intellectual growth of Foner as a historian and people who have profoundly influenced him in this process,inlcuding his father and Richard Hofstadter.
