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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.

Week of October 21, 2013

#1 Kennedy, the Elusive President
by Jill Abramson

Was Kennedy really a great president?

NEW YORK TIMES


#2 Who Earns More: Professor or Fry Cook?
by Alberto A. Martínez

The professor beats out the fry cook -- barely.

CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION


#3 U.S. Government Secrecy Making Historical Research Difficult
by James McGrath Morris

By redacting all documents, no matter how benign, the government is throwing its past down the memory hole.

AL JAZEERA AMERICA


#4 Chris Christie Ahead of the GOP Curve on Same-Sex Marriage
by Julian Zelizer

Even among Republicans, the progress on same-sex marriage has been rapid.

CNN


#5 Recalibrating the Poverty Line
by John E. Schwarz

For its 50th anniversary, the poverty line calculation should be rejiggered to reflect reality.

LOS ANGELES TIMES


#6 How to Claim a Continent
by Adam Clulow

Sovereignty claims as used by Christopher Columbus, Vasco da Gama and a host of lesser known explorers, adventurers and settlers.

THE ATLANTIC


#7 The Founding Fathers Vacillated on Government Snooping, Too
by Ritika Singh and Benjamin Wittes

James Madison went back and forth over how security should inflect the powers we invest in government.

THE NEW REPUBLIC


#8 Remembering The Invasion of Grenada 30 Years On
by Michael Ledeen

Thirty years ago, the U.S. launched Operation Urgent Fury to liberate Grenada from its Marxist-Leninist regime.

THE DAILY BEAST


#9 Where Have All the Geniuses Gone?
by Darrin M. McMahon

The term has become generic, and all but banished from academe.

CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION


#10 The Killing of Trayvon Martin in Historical Perspective
by Hasan Kwame Jeffries

Why did African Americans and white Americans view the Trayvon Martin killing so differently?

OSU ORIGINS