Author Archive

Amy Tyson

Creative nonfiction as public history: a Q&A with author Miles Harvey

22 December 2020 – Amy Tyson 1

Q&A, nonfiction, methods, public engagement, community history, memory, creative writing

Editor’s Note: Miles Harvey is author of The King of Confidence, A Tale of Utopian Dreamers, Frontier Schemers, True Believers, False Prophets, and the Murder of an American Monarch, which tells the story of James Jesse Strang, a 19th-century con man, who—as a self-proclaimed prophet and king of the universe—led a sect of the Mormon faith called the Strangites. Read More

Top Gun "Introduction to Public History" for general education?

24 February 2015 – Amy Tyson 2

education, training, methods, scholarship

In 2006, when I arrived as “the public history hire” at DePaul University, in Chicago, my charge was to create an undergraduate public history concentration for history majors. At the time, the only public history course actively being taught was “Introduction to Public History,” a lower division course that served the university’s general education requirements.

"Ask a Slave": A front-line fantasy?

09 September 2013 – Amy Tyson 6

digital media, projects, public engagement, employment, race

“Ask a Slave” is a brand-spanking new comedy web series that is going viral in certain circles. In the series (just two episodes at time of writing; there will be six total), actress/comedienne/NYU grad Azie Mira Dungey portrays the character “Lizzie Mae” who is supposed to be an enslaved housemaid for America’s founding couple–George and Martha Washington. Read More