Alex Keyssar joins Archon Fung and Stephen Richer to examine the broader issue of political violence in the U.S.
The recent assassination of conservative political activist Charlie Kirk drew impassioned responses from across America’s political spectrum. This week on Terms of Engagement, Alex Keyssar, Matthew W. Stirling, Jr. Professor of History and Social Policy at Harvard Kennedy School, will join Archon Fung and Stephen Richer to examine the broader issue of political violence in the U.S.—whether it is truly increasing, how today compares with other moments in American history, and the urgent question: Can we continue to profoundly disagree without it resulting in physical harm and tragedy?
Alexander Keyssar is the Matthew W. Stirling Jr. Professor of History and Social Policy. An historian by training, he has specialized in the exploration of historical problems that have contemporary policy implications. His book, The Right to Vote: The Contested History of Democracy in the United States (2000), was named the best book in U.S. history by both the American Historical Association and the Historical Society; it was also a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the Los Angeles Times Book Award. A significantly revised and updated edition of The Right to Vote was published in 2009. His 1986 book, Out of Work: The First Century of Unemployment in Massachusetts, was awarded three scholarly prizes. Keyssar is coauthor of The Way of the Ship: America's Maritime History Reenvisioned, 1600-2000 (2008), and of Inventing America, a text integrating the history of technology and science into the mainstream of American history. In addition, he has co-edited a book series on Comparative and International Working-Class History.
In 2004/5, Keyssar chaired the Social Science Research Council's National Research Commission on Voting and Elections; he writes frequently for the popular press about American politics and history; and he works closely with several pro-democracy reform groups. Keyssar's latest book, entitled Why Do We Still Have the Electoral College? (Harvard University Press, 2020), was named a 2020 book of the year by The New Statesman.