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History News Network

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Roundup Top 10!


On the Use and Misuse of History: The Netanyahu Case

by James Fallows

"I take the Iranian threat seriously. But I suspect hysteria is unhelpful—and if that's true, so is raising the specter of the Holocaust, as Netanyahu does every time he discusses this topic." A historian on the current state of debate


It’s worse than Scott Walker and Ted Cruz: Secrets of conservatives’ decades-long war on truth

by Heather Cox Richardson

The right knows that facts and reason have a liberal bent. That's why their decades-long strategy is to deny facts.


Proposed 1920s orphanage study just one example in history of scientific racism

by Michael Yudell

Respected scientists within the recently formed National Research Council proposed building orphanages to study nature vs nurture with respect to racial differences.


The Moynihan Report, Then and Now

by William H. Chafe

Few research documents in recent history have made as smashing an impact as Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s study of the black family fifty years ago.


The Riot That Sparked the Selma March

by Gary May

The racist violence in Selma, Alabama, 50 years ago lives in history as ‘‘Bloody Sunday,’’ but do not forget the February night of vigilantism in Marion that inspired the Selma March.


Let’s embrace competition in advanced-placement testing

by Stanley Kurtz

The battle over the College Board’s standards for its Advanced Placement (AP) U.S. History course reflects not only our political polarization but also some profound moral disputes.


Obama Must Explain Why the Iran Deal Isn’t North Korea Redux

by Michael Rubin

As the Obama administration rushes into a nuclear deal with Iran, it pays to remember the last time the United States struck a deal with a rogue regime in order to constrain that state’s nuclear program and the aftermath of that supposed success.


America’s Forgotten Images of Islam

by Peter Manseau

Popular early U.S. tales depicted Muslims as menacing figures in faraway lands or cardboard moral paragons


Debunking the Civil War Tariff Myth

by Dr. Marc-William Palen

Academic historians agree slavery caused the Civil War, so where did the myth come about that the tariff was key?


L.B.J. and Truman: The Bond That Helped Forge Medicare

by Michael Beschloss

Lyndon B. Johnson was often derided for being egocentric, but when it came time to sign his landmark bill creating Medicare, 50 years ago this July, he graciously insisted on sharing the credit with the 81-year-old Harry Truman.