The Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations (SHAFR) is the leading learned society for the academic study of the history of United States foreign policy.
Founded in 1967, SHAFR is best known for two activities. First, the society's journal, Diplomatic History, is generally regarded as the most prestigious journal in its field. Secondly, the society holds an annual conference each June. It generally alternates between Washington, D.C., and various other North American towns and cities with major universities. Recent hosts have included The University of Kansas (2006), The University of Texas at Austin (2004) and the University of Georgia (2002).
In 1986, Professor Betty Miller Unterberger of Texas A&M University became the first woman president of the organization, then 99 percent male in membership.
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“One of the many to whom, from straightened circumstances, a consequent inability to form the associations they would wish, and a disinclination to mix with the society they could obtain, London is as complete a solitude as the plains of Syria.”
—Charles Dickens (1812–1870)
“Nations without a past are contradictions in terms. What makes a nation is the past, what justifies one nation against others is the past, and historians are the people who produce it.”
—Eric J. Hobsbawm (b. 1917)
“The keynote of American civilization is a sort of warm-hearted vulgarity. The Americans have none of the irony of the English, none of their cool poise, none of their manner. But they do have friendliness. Where an Englishman would give you his card, an American would very likely give you his shirt.”
—Raymond Chandler (1888–1959)
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—Ron Taffel (20th century)
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—Aleister Crowley (1875–1947)