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History News Network

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Roundup Top 10!


Weimar on the Aegean

by Paul Krugman

Greek debt and the lessons of history.


When Jim Crow Got Cut From Spring Training

by Michael Beschloss

By the time President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which desegregated public accommodations throughout the United States, every major league squad that trained in Florida was lodging its black and white players together.


What Actually Causes American Fear of Islam and Muslims?

by Daniel Pipes

"Maybe it's Islamists who are prompting powerful and spontaneous responses through their threatening behavior. Maybe we critics are not 'intentionally spreading lies' but honestly interpreting Islamist aggression and supremacism."


We are not a Christian nation: Ronald Reagan, John F. Kennedy and the eternal lie of the “city upon a hill”

by Peter Manseau

John Winthrop's "city upon a hill" dominates presidential rhetoric and our self-understanding. Here's the problem


This Is What’s Missing from Black History Month

by Mike McQuillan

The trivialization of black history – reducing the movement to MLK and Rosa Parks – denies young people their rightful awareness of Jim Crow racism’s systemic nature.


Excessive Presidential War Power

by Ivan Eland

Barack Obama, after six months of fighting against the brutal group ISIS, has finally decided to ask for congressional approval of his war.


Despite ceasefire, Ukraine could be going the way of Yugoslavia

by Erika Harris

To stop Ukraine taking the catastrophic Yugoslav route, the outside world must take the ethno-national aspects of the conflict seriously.


Why Teens Become Terrorists and What Schools Can Do

by Alan Singer

American young people are not immune to the attraction of Islamic fundamentalism and fighters, although the number that have joined ISIS is probably much smaller.


President Obama and Whig History

by Ross Douthat

Finishing up business left undone last week, I’m grateful to Ta-Nehisi Coates for taking the time to critique my own critique of President Obama’s prayer breakfast speech. A few thoughts in response, working my way around his points.


How a Look Inside a Slave Ship Turned the Tide Toward Abolition

by Sheldon Cheek

For the first time, British society could grasp the horrific conditions experienced by people who had little control over their fate. Centuries later, the haunting imagery of the ship’s cargo still resonates.