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History News Network

History News Network puts current events into historical perspective. Subscribe to our newsletter for new perspectives on the ways history continues to resonate in the present. Explore our archive of thousands of original op-eds and curated stories from around the web. Join us to learn more about the past, now.

Roundup Top 10!


Pop Culture Roundup: This Week

This week: World War II movies, Nat Turner, Obama: the movie, the Holocaust, colorizing historic photos, and much much more!


Social Media News: This Week

Simon Schama, Annette Gordon-Reed, Henry Louis Gates, Timothy Garton Ash and more.


Crazy, Fascinating & Horrifying: Latest Edition

This Week: Dressing up as Nazis, presidential campaign ads, feudal taxes, Lorem Ipsum, ice cream and more!


CIA reveals its secret briefings to Presidents Nixon and Ford

by Tim Naftali

For years the CIA shielded from public view every single one of the briefings that it produces daily for the president's eyes only, arguing that even letting go one 50-year old briefing could harm national security.


Has Anything Changed for Female Politicians?

by Kate Walbert

Familiar echoes in the candidacy of Jeannette Rankin, the first woman elected to Congress.


The U.N. Is Commemorating Haiti’s Role in Ending the Slave Trade. Here’s Why.

by Manisha Sinha

The nation was a beacon for the anti-slavery cause.


America Is Safer Than It Used to Be. So Why Do We Still Have Calls for ‘Law and Order’?

by Beverly Gage

By its own historical standards, America circa 2016 is a safe place. This would seem to be news to Donald Trump.


Living in LBJ’s America

by Kevin Baker

How two of his least celebrated accomplishments shaped the battle between Clinton and Trump.


Ban the Burqa, Allow the Burkini

by Daniel Pipes

It’s the Burka that’s a threat to public safety.


The Case for Extreme Immigrant Vetting

by George J. Borjas

It’s a practice as American as apple pie—and for good reason.


The Perilous Lure of the Underground Railroad

by Kathryn Schulz

Hardly anyone used it, but it provides us with moral comfort—and white heroes.


The President Isn’t the Only Hothead Who Could Start a Nuclear War

by Clive Irving

Not only the commander in chief has to keep calm when Armageddon threatens. The case of the JFK vs. Gen. LeMay is a scary warning.


When Protectionism Dominated American Politics

by Marc-William Palen

How the 1888 elections decided the protectionist course of U.S. economic expansion for decades to come.