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History News Network

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Roundup Top 10!


The Calamity of 1917

by Max Boot

The horrors that might have been averted if Bolshevism had been stopped.


Are Liberals on the Wrong Side of History?

by Adam Gopnik

Three new books interrogate the premises of the Enlightenment.


The Never-Ending War in Afghanistan

by Andrew J. Bacevich

We’ve come to accept the conflict as a perpetual state, an enterprise to be managed rather than ended as soon as possible.


The Paradoxes of Presidential Power: A Brief History of Executive Orders

by Dane Kennedy

While we can take some comfort in the fact that some EOs have proved beneficial and others have been fleeting and ineffectual, the history of this practice also gives us cause for concern.


The Betrayal of Democracy

by Chris Lehmann

Steve Bannon may have been inspired by Christopher Lasch's "The Revolt of the Elites," but he completely misunderstood the book's point.


The Forgotten History of “Christian” Political Activism

by Philip Jenkins

Across the political spectrum, most Americans would automatically describe the country’s religious heritage as “Judeo-Christian.” Rarely, though, do they think about the origins of this term, or how exceedingly odd it would have appeared before the 1950s (and still does to many non-Americans).


The Secret History of Emotions

by Lisa Feldman Barrett

The classical view of emotion is simple and intuitive, and wrong.


How Nixonian Is Donald Trump?

by Tim Naftali

A little-known pre-Watergate Nixon scandal helps us understand the road the new president’s traveling.


How the 'Green Book' Saved Black Lives on the Road

by Alexander Nazaryan

"The Negro Motorist Green Book" was 48 pages of practical scripture, offering safe passage through the United States—where you can sleep, eat and fill your gas tank.


Morton Keller & Julian Zelizer: How Significant Are Trump's Attacks on Obama?

by Julian E. Zelizer and Morton Keller

In the latest entry in their ongoing conversation, two historians debate the significance of the president’s wiretapping claims.