Some blame the perception that diplomatic history is mainly about dead white males. Some concede that the problem could be that it is mainly about dead white males. Others point to the attitude that with the end of the Cold War, foreign relations no longer matter. It may simply boil down to boredom. At last April's O.A.H. conference, one scholar from another field volunteered her opinion of diplomatic history to this reporter by shutting her eyes, clasping her hands together beside her head, and settling into a pretend snooze.
Diplomatic historians say such scholars have been sleeping through a renaissance.
So, apparently, have hiring panels. Northwestern University, the University of California at Los Angeles, the University of Iowa, and the University of Texas at Austin have either not replaced departing senior scholars or have filled their spots with junior people less inclined toward the archival work that is the field's mainstay. You can have theory forever, but if it's irrelevant to what actually happened, it's not going to be very good theory. Fortunately, he says, there's a younger generation of scholars who can blend documents and theory. Her book is filled not only with the murmuring of diplomats, but with the holler of pop culture as well.