The Latest 
-
Blog
To His Followers, Trump is a Folk Hero
Steve Hochstadt
Villainy unalloyed by any goodness has also propelled many people, almost all men, into the ranks of folk heroes, like Jesse James, Butch Cassidy, and Bonnie and Clyde. These criminals captured the...
-
The Value of Rating Presidents
Susan Swain
Presidential rankings are quick, fun, and highly shareable on social media. They foster lively debate about contemporary presidents and even help resurface some of our most obscure presidents.
-
The History of the Meaning of Life
Michael Ruse
And how we can find meaning in a "Darwinian existentialism.”
-
Slavery and the Electoral College: One Last Response to Sean Wilentz
Alan Singer
As historians and public figures, we have an obligation to defend democratic institutions and expose vestigial anti-democratic elements like the Electoral College that threaten democracy, which includes a careful examination of their origin and history.
-
The Unseen Significance of Jefferson’s Natural-Aristoi Letter to Adams
M. Andrew Holowchak
Jefferson’s Radical Redefinition of “Aristoi” for a Thriving Jeffersonian Republic.
-
We Judge Presidents in part by Who Precedes and Follows Them
Ronald L. Feinman
Some Presidents are fortunate to come before or after a President who was not a great success so they seem like a better president in comparison. Others follow and precede a President who was perceived as successful, dimming their reputation.
-
The Middle East, Land Disputes, and Religious History
Zaman Stanizai
Can a land be claimed on the basis of the scriptural myths of one religion with implied exclusion of all other religious communities?
-
Civil War History Brought to Life
Elisabeth Pearson
"What better, than to see in motion, the very people or places you are reading about."
-
A History of Huntington Disease and Beyond
Robin Lindley
A Conversation with Pioneering Neurogeneticist Dr. Thomas Bird
-
Presidential Personality and Politics
Jerome Braun
A review of American Dialogue: The Founders and Us by Joseph J. Ellis.
-
Do Those Closest to Trump Think He's Fit for Office?
Vaughn Davis Bornet
If Trump can’t or won’t support a rational federal government in all three branches, something will have to be done about it.
-
Roundup Top 10!
This week's broad sampling of opinion pieces found on the Internet, as selected by the editor of HNN.
-
Blog
American Jews Versus Israeli Politics
Steve Hochstadt
The latest Israeli elections suggest there will be no solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
-
Blog
I Stuck with Nixon. Here’s Why Science Says I Did It.
Stone Age Brain
And what that reveals about Trump supporters.
-
The Sorrow of Watching Notre Dame Burn
Ed Simon
"In this age of uncertainty, of rage, of horror, and of violence; of the decline of democracy and the heating of the planet; it can feel as if Notre-Dame’s fire is as if watching the very world itself be engulfed."
-
Benny and Joon and a Good Look at Schizophrenia
Bruce Chadwick
It is the story of how all mental illnesses affect families. We need more of these stories.
-
-
President Donald Trump, HIV/AIDS, and Black Lesbian and Gay Activism
Darius Bost
Trump’s plan to end AIDS within this decade came as a surprise given his history with communities most impacted by HIV/AIDS.
-
Health Care for All – A Cautionary Tale from the 1970s
Richard Moe
If the ultimate goal is to expand affordable health care to every American, Jimmy Carter and Ted Kennedy offer important lessons.
-
Ilhan Omar is a Reconstruction Reformer
William Horne
The failure to hold the race-baiting press, politicians, and vigilantes responsible during Reconstruction undermined any semblance of equality for more than 100 years. We can't make the same mistake.
-
Oh, What a Beautiful Piece of American History
Bruce Chadwick
The story of young settlers as they try to find their place in Oklahoma, America, and the world. It is a nicely told saga told within all of those memorable tunes.
-
When Women Ran Hollywood
Juliette Fay
Their names may no longer be widely recognizable, but women built and ran early Hollywood, shaped the industry in myriad ways, and influenced what we see on the silver screen even today.
-
Trump’s War on Civil Rights and Beyond: A Conversation with Acclaimed Political Analyst and Civil Rights Historian Juan Williams
Robin Lindley
"We need to understand how much blood, sweat, and tears it took to create the thriving Black America of today and protect us from those who, like President Trump, couldn’t care less."
-
Teacher Pay, Presidential Politics, and New York’s Modest Proposal of 1818
Adam Laats
When underpaid teachers threaten to walk away, school leaders have always considered desperate plans to fix desperate financial problems.
-
How did President Reagan Deal with Violent Radicals In His Own Party?
Jeffrey Kaplan
Trump's reaction to the tragedy in New Zealand and the series of domestic church and synagogue shootings bring to mind an earlier day and a very different president.
-
Is the Western World Declining and Russia Rising?
Walter G. Moss
Yes, according to Glenn Diesen’s 2018 book The Decay of Western Civilization and Resurgence of Russia. But this isn't the first time scholars have made such a prediction and been wrong.
-
The Spies' Marathon before Patriots Day
William Lambers
A tale of a spy mission gone wrong and the history behind Patriots' Day.
-
The Israeli Elections and What We Can Learn from History
Yoav J. Tenembaum
To understand the Israeli electoral process one has to delve more deeply into Israeli society and the way it has evolved.
-
Roundup Top 10!
This week's broad sampling of opinion pieces found on the Internet, as selected by the editor of HNN.
-
Why the Second Summit Between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un Failed
Benjamin R. Young
Despite more than sixty years since the armistice declaring the end of the Korean War, the U.S and North Korea seemed closer to peace than ever before.
-
The Long History of Anti-Immigration Legislation and "Crimes Involving Moral Turpitude"
Stephanie Hinnershitz
The Supreme Court's Nielsen v. Preap decision is just the latest example of using this concept to deport immigrants.
-
A Response to Rebecca Spang's "MMT and Why Historians Need to Reclaim Studying Money"
Maxximilian Seijo
Rather than rely on economists that used to tell us that we can’t afford to care of people, MMT gives us the precise tools to do so.
-
The Golan Heights: Its History and Significance Today
Moriel Ram
Donald Trump’s decision to recognise Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights might have serious repercussions for the future but to understand exactly why, and how, it’s necessary to first understand the past.
-
Blog
Senator Chuck Schumer says corporations used to care; here's how historians responded
Checkered History
Seven historians responded to Senator Schumer's claim of a golden age of corporate responsibility.
-
James Madison Responds to Sean Wilentz
Alan Singer
The Electoral College may not have been expressly designed only to protect African slavery, but based on Madison’s notes, it was the mode most preferred by pro-slavery forces.
-
Venezuela and the Birth of the American Empire
Benjamin Welton
Why is a nearly 200-year old document still relevant today?
-
The Propaganda Posters That Won The U.S. Home Front
Albinko Hasic
Artists suddenly became soldiers on the front to win the hearts and minds of the American public.
-
The Secret Life of CIA Spymaster James Jesus Angleton
James Thornton Harris
The Ghost, a new biography of Angleton by Jefferson Morley, a Washington journalist, provides an intriguing look at this powerful, enigmatic Cold Warrior.
-
-
What I’m Reading: An Interview With Historian of Mexico Pablo Piccato
Erik Moshe
He hopes historians claim a stronger voice in the public sphere to talk about the present under the light of the past.
-
Roundup Top 10!
This week's broad sampling of opinion pieces found on the Internet, as selected by the editor of HNN.
-
The Red Scare: From the Palmer Raids to Joseph McCarthy to Donald Trump
Ronald L. Feinman
Trump has learned very well from prior anti-Communism crusaders, and it requires vigilance and activism to cope with the threat he represents every day.
-
ROOAARRRR: 66 Million Years of Tales about the Big, Bad T-Rex Dinosaur
Bruce Chadwick
If you love dinosaurs and/or being chased by one, this exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History is for you. Bring the kids.
-
The Temptations: Born in the Turmoil of the 1960s and Still Conquering
Bruce Chadwick
Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations, is out and out hit, and a great window on entertainment history.
-
MMT and Why Historians Need to Reclaim Studying Money
Rebecca Spang
Historians need to reclaim money as something to be studied in specific social and political contexts.
-
Elizabeth Blackwell, MD., Hero, Humanitarian, and Teacher
Charles F. Howlett
She used her skills as a teacher to become not only the first American female physician but also its first female professor of medicine.
-
The Perils of Criminal Justice Reform
Tony Platt
It will take nothing short of a broad-based movement, a revitalized imagination, and reckoning with a historical legacy that bleeds into the present to make the criminalized human again and end the tragedy of the carceral state.
-
E-Carceration: Are Digital Prisons The Future?
Christopher Twarowski
Digital “shackles” have been utilized by the U.S. criminal justice system for more than 30 years but their use has increased a whopping 140 percent throughout the past decade.
-
Immigration Restriction by Remote Control
Elliott Young
While much of the coverage of immigration has focused on the Border Wall, we have forgotten that for over 100 years, most immigration restriction has happened beyond the borders of the United States.
-
The Psychotherapy of Marcus Aurelius
Donald Robertson
Did one of Rome’s wisest and most revered emperors benefit from an ancient precursor of cognitive psychotherapy?
-
The Holocaust and the Christian World
Patrick Henry
A new book offers reflections on the past of antisemitism and challenges for combatting it today.
-
How Hollywood has been fooled by Robert F. Kennedy assassination conspiracy theorists
Mel Ayton
Sirhan Sirhan is guilty.
-
Blog
The Weakness of Democracy
Steve Hochstadt
When we extend our gaze beyond the US, we can more easily perceive that democracy often works badly.
-
Roundup Top 10!
This week's broad sampling of opinion pieces found on the Internet, as selected by the editor of HNN.
-
A Heartwarming Lost Chapter on Immigrants Emerges
Bruce Chadwick
Playwright Harelik does not just tell his grandfather’s personal story in The Immigrant; he tells the story, in one way or another of all immigrants.
-
A Scorching Look at a Word War II Jewish Ghetto in Poland
Bruce Chadwick
The play is a deep, rich and thoroughly frightening story of the Jews’ battle for survival in the city of Vilna.
News
- From Reconstruction To WWII, How The U.S. Census Has Been Used For Both Good And Bad
- For Sri Lanka, a Long History of Violence
- Ancestry.com's racist ad tumbles into a cultural minefield
- Vermont passes bill abolishing Columbus Day in favor of Indigenous Peoples’ Day
- ‘The President himself may be guilty’: Why pardons were hotly debated by the Founding Fathers
- Newly released recordings of Citizens’ Council Radio Forum show white supremacy’s evolution through the civil rights era in real time
- Author Sarah Rose Writes the Women’s History of World War II With ‘D-Day Girls’
- What Was the Biggest Political Scandal in American History? 7 Historians Make Their Picks
- New Website aims to preserve Detroit’s civil rights history
- 3 More Colleges Go Test Optional; Doctoral Program Drops GRE
Trending Now
