Was It Bad Luck or Climate Change?
By Sam White
The Latest 
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Ken Burns’s War Stories
Bob Buzzanco
He’s more storyteller than historian and that weakens his series considerably.
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The Media’s Silence on Climate Change During Irma Was Deafening
Frank Palmeri
They are doing the oil corporations’ work by harping on the industry’s publicity campaign of doubt.
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Roundup Top 10!
This week's broad sampling of opinion pieces found on the Internet, as selected by the editors of HNN.
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What You Can Do to Stop Nuclear Tests
William Lambers
Try joining a peace walk. They worked in the past.
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A Negotiated Curbing of North Korea's Nuclear Capabilities Is Good, But Not Good Enough
Lawrence Wittner
We should recognize that the danger of nuclear annihilation will persist as long as any nations possess nuclear weapons.
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What Historians Are Saying About the New Vietnam War Documentary by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick
The 10 part documentary is being broadcast on PBS.
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World Citizenship Is More Popular Than You Might Think
Lawrence Wittner
Zealous nationalists have been garnering headlines, but they’re in the minority.
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We Traded in One of the Most Self-Disciplined Presidents for the Most Undisciplined President
Walter G. Moss
The country is paying a price for this recklessness.
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Let’s Keep the Central Park Statue of Dr. James Marion Sims
Steven Lomazow
He’s getting a bum rap from critics.
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It’s Good to See the Mainstream Media Debunking Conspiracy Claims, but Where Were They Years Ago When RFK’s Death Became Fodder for Nutty Stories?
Mel Ayton
Hopefully they’ll do better next year on the 50th anniversary.
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What I’m Reading: An Interview with Stanford’s Richard White
Erik Moshe
“I live among dead people, which sometimes frightens my wife.”
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When the USSR Waged War Against Israel. (No, that’s Not a Misprint.)
Karl Pfeifer
An interview with Gideon Remez.
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Few Want to Admit It, but the French Saved America During the Revolution
Tom Shachtman
Myths stop us from conceding the truth.
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Review of Noam Maggor’s “Brahmin Capitalism: Frontiers of Wealth and Populism in America’s First Gilded Age”
Daniel Lazare
Inside Noam Maggor’s somewhat over-stated examination of nineteenth-century capitalism is a modest little study struggling to get out.
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This Year’s NYC Mayoral Election: Boring. Not So 100 Years Ago!
David Pietrusza
When Red Mike crushed the Boy Mayor (who later got a hero’s funeral when he died in a plane accident while serving in World War 1).
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Peter Pan Finally Gets Off the Runway
Bruce Chadwick
A new version of the play has debuted in New York in time for the 70th anniversary of Peter Pan. The final third is great! The first 2/3rds? Ugh.
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Lessons from German History after Charlottesville
Jeffrey Herf
What we do – and do not – have to worry about.
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What It Was Like Living Through Irma at a Shelter
Pearl Duncan
A geologist’s experience and the lessons she learned.
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Why Did the Neo-Nazis in Charlottesville Chant “Blood and Soil”?
Yoni Anijar
The history of the phrase is frightening.
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Another German Lesson We Should Think About in the Wake of Trump’s Attack on DACA
Richard E. Frankel
The cost to a country that drives out young people.
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They Majored in History. Today They’re Powerhouses in Politics.
Erik Moshe
10 of the most powerful people who earned a history degree in US politics today.
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Roundup Top 10!
This week's broad sampling of opinion pieces found on the Internet, as selected by the editors of HNN.
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The Best Seller Historians Shouldn’t Overlook
Jennifer Freilach
It’s Michael Lewis’s new book about the psychology pioneers Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman.
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Review of Eric Foner’s “Battles for Freedom: The Use and Abuse of American History”
Ron Briley
In reading this collection of essays from Foner one is struck by the continuing relevance of his writings.
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What I’m Reading: An Interview with Civil War Historian George C. Rable
Erik Moshe
His favorite saying? “We cannot escape history” by Abraham Lincoln.
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Another Way in Which Jackson and Trump Are Linked (And It’s Disturbing)
Donald J. Fraser
The followers of both men believe that you have to be white to be a true American.
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Why We Should Remove the Central Park Statue of Dr. James Marion Sims
Alan Singer
Even by the standards of his own day, his operations on black slave women were abhorrent.
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“I Wanted to Tell the Story of How I Had Become a Racist”: An Interview with Historian Charles B. Dew
Robin Lindley
His new book is “The Making of a Racist.”
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It’s Been 398 Years since the Arrival of Kidnapped Blacks in America – And Still We Haven’t Come to Terms with It
James Thornton Harris
What will the president say on the 400th anniversary in two years?
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Trump Is Everything the Founding Fathers Feared in a President
Jeremi Suri
The widening gap between power and values produced President Donald Trump, elected to promote raw power above all.
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Down with Stonewall Jackson! He’s Just Like Lenin.
David Mould
All around the world statues of historic figures are falling. Removing them is just like editing inconvenient ideas from textbooks.
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What I’m Reading: An Interview with Civil War Historian Gary W. Gallagher
Erik Moshe
“I can say with great firmness that I did not choose [history] in the hope of retiring early with a large bank account!”
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Review of Kevin Gutzman’s "Thomas Jefferson: Revolutionary"
M. Andrew Holowchak
This short biography makes the case that Jefferson’s legacy as a statesman has been sorely underplayed.
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The Mega Star of the 1930s and 40’s: Marlene Dietrich Rides Again
Bruce Chadwick
"Dietrich Rides Again" is a sprightly show that tells you a lot about Dietrich that most people already know but gives some intriguing glimpses into her personal life with which people, even fans, are not familiar.
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What People Are Talking About
Links to important discussions about topics in the news this week.
News
- In Trump’s America, is the Supreme Court still seen as legitimate?
- The Republican Plan to Repeal Obamacare for Everybody But Alaska Might Be Unconstitutional
- Parliament Square in London Is Closer to Having First Female Statue
- Battle Over Confederate Monuments Moves to the Cemeteries
- German WW1 U-boat found off Belgian coast
- Yale history department now emphasizing global history in undergraduate courses
- University of Utah appoints first Mormon Studies professor
- Eric Foner discusses the manipulation of history
- Male historian tapped to lead Department of Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies at the University of Kansas
- Decline in History Majors Continues, Departments Respond
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