David Detmer, a philosophy professor at Purdue University Northwest, spoke about his new book to Bradley students and faculty on Oct. 3 in the Wyckoff Room.
The history department brings speakers to campus through the Armstrong lecture series. Detmer initially contacted Brad Brown, the chair of the history department, about coming to give a lecture.
“Dr. Detmer is presenting a philosopher’s view of the world of historians,” Brown said. “He has found that among historians, we are not always as careful as we should be about examining carefully, precisely, accurately, scrupulously the claims of outsiders.”
Detmer began his talk by introducing author and professor Howard Zinn, a political activist who published popular books and plays, such as “A People’s History of the United States.” Detmer was a student of Zinn’s, so he was interested when former Indiana governor Mitch Daniels wanted to ban the teaching of Zinn’s book in the state.
“Mitch Daniels was the governor of my state and he had just become the president of my university. So it’s my former professor, my governor, my president; I should get involved,” Detmer said. “I didn’t initially think it was going to be a book. I thought it might be a short article or something, but then as I was doing the research, it evolved into a big, long book.”
“Zinnophobia: The Battle Over History in Education, Politics, and Scholarship,” Detmer’s book, addresses criticisms against Zinn’s work. In his speech, Detmer provided many examples of
Zinn’s critics and their arguments.
“Zinn wrote an unconventional history he has been savagely attacked for that,” Detmer said. “And I have tried to make the argument that the attacks are unsound. That his project is a legitimate one.”
Students and faculty attending the talk learned about errors made by Zinn’s critics when evaluating the author’s work. Junior history and Spanish double major Lorena Chica read “A People’s History” and wanted to attend the talk to learn about the claims made against the book.
“I think the reason that I loved the book was because it spoke on marginalized groups, whereas in my previous years, I really hadn’t learned anything about people who look like me,” Chica said. “I was already kind of dubious about the claims themselves, especially because most of the people who criticized Zinn’s book are cis white males, and so they… have their own kind of agenda to keeping history the way that it’s supposed to be, in my opinion.”
Detmer taught at Bradley from 1986-87. The lecture was his first time back on campus since working as a professor.
“The people here were so nice to me, to invite me,” Detmer said. “They’ve just been very generous and very kind. And since I taught here 30 some years ago, I’m just so delighted to come back because I have such fond memories of this place.”
