History News Network

Historians/History

UCLA Historian Carla Pestana Debunks Myths About the Pilgrims and the Plymouth Colony

James Thornton Harris

Alert Tom Cotton: Plymouth Rock, the Mayflower Compact, and the origins of Thanksgiving are just a few of the things Professor Carla Pestana finds in need of historical revision.

News at Home

The Devil and Mary Lease

Alan J. Singer

Populist and feminist agitator Mary Lease advised farmers to "raise less corn and more hell." Her brand of hell-raising, however, included a strong current of antisemitism that needs to be widely known.

Blog

Nuclear Deterrence and Things Left to Chance

(R)evolutionary Biology

A beguiling, if horrifying, paradox of nuclear deterrence theory is that the credibility of a nuclear threat requires introducing uncertainty into the equation; one party must convince the other th...

News at Home

Biden will Confront Systemic Conservatism Despite a Mandate for Change

Steven F. Lawson

If Joe Biden wants to implement progressive change, he'll be stopped not by a lack of popular support, but by the conservatism built into American institutions.

Historians/History

A Surprise Encounter with Zora Neale Hurston

Fred Zilian

The genius of Zora Neale Hurston has fascinated recent scholars, but one reader found traces of her legacy in an unexpected place.

Historians/History

Take a Lesson from the Persistence of the Founder of Modern Thanksgiving

William Lambers

Sarah Josepha Hale pushed Abraham Lincoln to declare a national Thanksgiving holiday as a day to seek healing and unity. Fighting to end hunger is a way to recommit to the spirit of the holiday.

Blog

I Dare Call it Treason

Steve Hochstadt

Having a traitor in the White House was the fantasy of the TV thriller “Designated Survivor”. Now life imitat...

HNN

HNN Will Be Off for the Week

History-related news will return on November 30, along with HNN's annual fund drive--until then, enjoy a restful and safe holiday!

Roundup

The Roundup Top Ten for November 20, 2020

The week's top op-eds by historians from around the web.

News at Home

Reckoning with Marcus Whitman and the Memorialization of Conquest

Cassandra Tate

The same period that saw the public affirmation of the Confederate Lost Cause myth saw a proliferation of monuments that portrayed the conquest of the indigenous people of the west as virtuous pioneering. The case of Marcus Whitman shows a national reckoning is in order.

Historians/History

Recovering Acts of Progressive Patriotism: Teaching Through Protest Music

Matthew Lindaman

A history professor reflects on a course teaching critical perspectives on patriotism through protest and music that articulates an inclusive and progressive nationalism.

Historians/History

A Medieval Perspective on the Public Acceptance of Women as Leaders

Erika Graham-Goering

Whether in medieval France or in modern democracies, women's exercise of leadership has been constrained by gendered ideas of who can lead.

Blog

How John Hersey Exposed the Human Face of Nuclear War: Lesley Blume on Her New Book "Fallout: The Hiroshima Cover-Up and The Reporter Who Revealed It to The World"

Robin Lindley

HNN interviews Lesley M.M. Blume about her new book on John Hersey and the government's effort to control the public perceptions of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

News at Home

Affirmative Action Goes Down to Defeat in Deep Blue California

James Thornton Harris

The defeat of California's Proposition 16 exposes some significant fault lines in the multiethnic coalition the Democratic Party hopes will support its future success.

News Abroad

Can the COVID Crisis Create a New Civilian-Military Trust in Argentina?

David M. K. Sheinin y Cesar R. Torres

Many Argentinians have been suspicious of military involvement in civil affairs since the end of the country's military dictatorship in 1983. Two scholars ask if the COVID crisis presents an opportunity for healing and reimagining the military's role in Argentina.

News at Home

Why the Odds Are Good that Biden Can Reduce Our Political Polarization

Walter G. Moss

A recent HNN essay took a pessimistic view of President-Elect Biden's ability to govern a polarized nation. Walter Moss takes a longer view and finds more cause for optimism.

Blog

Who Will Form the Biden Cabinet?

Ronald L. Feinman

A presidential and political historian suggests choices for a Biden cabinet that will please (most) of the Democratic base, have a chance to win nomination by the Senate, not put any Democratic Sen...

Roundup

Roundup Top Ten for November 13, 2020

The top opinion writing by historians from around the web this week.

Books

How Two French Introverts Quietly Fought the Nazis

Jeffrey H. Jackson

Two introverted French Lesbian artists conducted a campaign of subversion against the Nazis occupying the Island of Jersey that a trial judge called "more dangerous than soldiers." A new book explains how.

News at Home

There is Nothing Sacred About the Military Vote

Rachel Gunter

After a patient count, Joe Biden has claimed victory, and fears that late-arriving military absentee ballots could be subject to litigation that might decide the election have receded. This is fortunate, because history shows parties won't hesitate to interfere with the military vote for political advantage.

News at Home

Will Trump's Last Fight be Against Howard Zinn (and America's History Teachers)?

Robert Cohen

A scholar of history education says Howard Zinn's papers show that the late (and lately demonized) historian achieved something Trump fears even more than left-wing propaganda: helping students critically engage with the past.

Historians/History

The End of an Era? Athens After Empire

Ian Worthington

“Hellenistic” Athens may not shine as brightly as Classical Athens, but it has lived unfairly in the shadow of its famous predecessor. It’s time it emerged from that shadow.

News at Home