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History News Network

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Roundup Top 10!


FDR had a military parade, too

by Susan Dunn

It was in January 1941, after Franklin D. Roosevelt's inauguration to an unprecedented third term in office.


From the ‘Pocahontas Exception’ to a "Historical Wrong"

by Arica L. Coleman

The Hidden Cost of Formal Recognition for American Indian Tribes


The Strange, Dark History of North Korea and the Olympics

by Sheila Miyoshi Jager

The world is hoping a collaboration at the Games will help calm the threat from Pyongyang. The experience of 1988 says we shouldn’t count on it.


Abraham Lincoln's Secret Visits to Slaves

by William R. Black

In the mid-1930s, the Federal Writers’ Project interviewed thousands of former slaves, some of whom claimed the president came to their plantations disguised as a beggar or a peddler, telling them they’d soon be free.


The UK Treasury’s tweet shows slavery is still misunderstood

by David Olusoga

The modern equivalent of £17bn was paid out to compensate slave owners for the loss of their human property. Some people believe the British should be proud.


MLK's '68 struggle for economic justice still marching on

by Michael Honey

The bonds of memory and today’s vast disparities in wealth and well-being tell us that we must continue the struggle launched by workers and by King in the spring of 1968.


The failed president who almost got ousted

by Donald Nieman

Who’s the most vulgar, racist, thin-skinned, vituperative U.S. president? Donald Trump and Andrew Johnson have much in common.


News Flash: History Is Not Just for Straight People

by Hugh Ryan

"Without queer history, we cannot truly understand history, full stop."


Who Killed More: Hitler, Stalin, or Mao?

by Ian Johnson

7 years ago historian Timothy Snyder asked the provocative question: Who killed more, Hitler or Stalin? Maybe he should have included Mao, too.


The Case for “Retreatism” in the Trump Era

by Jeet Heer

Centrist columnists David Brooks and Andrew Sullivan are in despair over today's politics. An essay from the Great Depression suggests a cure.