contemporary history
History still unfolding
Contemporary history is the period of history within living memory—roughly from World War II to the present, though the boundary shifts as generations pass.
The term distinguishes recent events, where witnesses and participants remain alive, from earlier periods known only through documents and artifacts.
She specializes in contemporary history, focusing on the Cold War era.
People who directly observed
- testimoniesSworn statements by witnesses
- survivorsThose still alive after
- veteransFormer armed forces members
- oral traditionCulture passed by speech
personal accounts · memoirs · reminiscences · interviews · documentaries · recollections · diaries · letters
Prolonged East-West standoff
- decolonizationEnding imperial control
- postcolonialismStudy of imperial aftermath
- globalizationWorldwide economic and cultural integration
- space explorationInvestigating the cosmos beyond Earth
nuclear age · digital revolution · civil rights movement · World War II · Holocaust · European Union · 9/11 · climate crisis
Firsthand historical evidence
- scholarshipEducational funding or erudition
- peer reviewExpert evaluation before publication
- monographSingle-topic scholarly work
- dissertationExtended academic treatise
periodization · secondary sources · footnotes · bibliography · interpretation · revisionism · methodology · chronology
Guaranteed individual legal protections
- feminismAdvocacy for sex equality
- suffrageRight to cast ballots
- emancipationRelease from legal bondage
- activismDirect effort for reform
reform · equality · liberation · environmentalism · secularism · progressivism · diversity · inclusion
eyewitnesses
People who directly observed
- testimoniesSworn statements by witnesses
- survivorsThose still alive after
- veteransFormer armed forces members
oral tradition · personal accounts · memoirs · reminiscences · interviews · documentaries · recollections · diaries · letters · autobiographies
Cold War
Prolonged East-West standoff
- decolonizationEnding imperial control
- postcolonialismStudy of imperial aftermath
- globalizationWorldwide economic and cultural integration
space exploration · nuclear age · digital revolution · civil rights movement · World War II · Holocaust · European Union · 9/11 · climate crisis · Arab Spring
primary sources
Firsthand historical evidence
- scholarshipEducational funding or erudition
- peer reviewExpert evaluation before publication
- monographSingle-topic scholarly work
dissertation · periodization · secondary sources · footnotes · bibliography · interpretation · revisionism · methodology · chronology · tenure
civil rights
Guaranteed individual legal protections
- feminismAdvocacy for sex equality
- suffrageRight to cast ballots
- emancipationRelease from legal bondage
activism · reform · equality · liberation · environmentalism · secularism · progressivism · diversity · inclusion · grassroots movements
- historical sciencespaleography, numismatics, epigraphy, heraldry, genealogy
contemporary historyancient history
Study of earliest civilizations
prehistory · medieval history · classical antiquity · antiquity · early modern history
contemporary, history, contemporaneous, contemporaneously, contemporaries, historic, historical, historically, historian