This is the first of three spaces in the run-up to my discussion with Chris Rufo about the corruption of America's institutions of education by the Left. Here I discuss the meaning of historiography, the four waves of the Left in 20th century America, the consequences of industrialization, and the rise of the public 'intellectual' in America as a result of the emergence of the modern university in America along with the infiltration of intellectuals in socialist and Marxist movements in America.