Current Events that Relate to History
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Book ExcerptThe Mystic River Massacre
How John Winthrop’s “city upon a hill” descended into the cataclysm of the Anglo–Pequot war.Lapham’s Quarterly -
LongreadSilicon Valley Circuits
Route 85 in California now inspires dread. Some of us remember when it was a vision of the future.Places Journal -
Origin StoryThere Was No American Regional Cuisine Until One ‘Virginia Housewife’ Compiled Diverse Recipes
Mary Randolph, an in-law of the Jefferson family who was influenced by enslaved cooks, didn’t change Southern cooking with her 1824 cookbook…she originated it.Smithsonian Magazine -
LongreadSo Bad It’s Dangerous?
Amazon and Barnes & Noble won’t sell "The Turner Diaries." But is this novel really responsible for the hatred and danger it’s said to have led to?Arc: Religion, Politics, Et Cetera -
Origin StoryHow Germans Made America
Hot dogs and lager are only the star.UnHerd -
ComparisonReflecting on Apollo in the Age of Artemis
The recent Artemis II launch reminds us that moon missions are grounded not only in technologies, but in the social and political realities of their time.Clio and the Contemporary -
ExplainerAmerican Independence as a Supply Chain Crisis: The Case of Nova Scotia 1783-94
Faced with starvation, post-Revolution Nova Scotia bypassed British trade bans to import essential grain from the United States.NiCHE
From the HNN Archive
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Newsletter Features
Young Washington Is Old History
A new movie relies on 19th century myths to portray the very British George Washington as a moralistic proto-American ready to pursue independence. -
Excerpts
A Danger to Civilization
Lothrop Stoddard believed that the concept of “natural equality” between people was a threat to America. In the 1920s, it was hardly a fringe idea. -
Excerpts
The Bicentennial Made American History Look Ridiculous
Many Americans felt the U.S. had failed to live up to its ideals on its 200th anniversary. They hoped it might improve by the Declaration’s next big celebration. -
Newsletter Features
An Appeal for Inaction
On the United States’ 150th birthday, Calvin Coolidge said that the country’s work was done. Not everyone agreed. -
Newsletter Features
What Has His Billion Dollars Made of Him?
Finding shades of Elon Musk in Upton Sinclair’s 1937 novel about Henry Ford. -
Newsletter Features
Declaring “Revolution”
Even after the fighting started, it took years before American Patriots started calling their cause a “revolution.”