There’s No ‘There’ There: Reflections on Western Political Historiography

Johnston reflects on Western political historiography. He perceives a kind of exhaustion, where "western history" primarily represents not a proud, self-conscious subdiscipline with any sense of unity but is simply a placeholder for scholars doing Indian history or environmental history or the history of the borderlands. So while those who are today identified primarily as western historians currently take delight in queering, greening, and otherwise deconstructing their subjects, they seem reluctant to explore or seriously question what on the surface appears to be their most fundamental professional identity. Here, he also examines the works of some scholars, including Michael Kazin, Thomas G. Andrews, and Lisa McGirr, who neglect regionalism.