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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!

Michael Cohen revealed Trump doesn’t understand America’s racist past

by Elizabeth A. Herbin-Triant

Ghettos exist because of housing discrimination.

I wrote about the waning popularity of history at universities. Historians weren’t happy.

by Max Boot

Americans are in vital need of the instruction that historians can provide. Instead of responding defensively to criticism, historians would be better advised to think about what all of us — I include myself — can do to counter the abysmal ignorance that has made so many people susceptible to a demagogue like Donald Trump.

Black women led the charge against R. Kelly. They’re part of a long tradition.

by Danielle McGuire

Why has it taken more than 20 years and testimony by about 50 accusers to get to this moment?

Revisiting The American Nazi Supporters of "A Night at the Garden"

by Margaret Talbot

One advantage to living through Trumpism is that it has compelled a reckoning with aspects of our country’s past that, for a long time, many Americans preferred not to acknowledge.

What journalists miss when they ignore history

by Kathryn Palmer

Media historian Earnest Perry explains why journalists should put more history in the headlines.

The Academy Is Unstable and Degrading. Historians Should Take Over the Government, Instead.

by Daniel Bessner

Were Mills and Chomsky correct to assume that radical intellectuals could have little effect on U.S. policy?

Beyond Slavery and the Civil Rights Movement: Teachers Should Be Integrating Black History Into Their Lessons

by Melinda D. Anderson

Much of what students learn about black people’s distinct American story is hit-or-miss.

2020 Will See a Monumental Clash Over America’s Place in the World

by Stephen Wertheim

Is it time for the U.S. to confront other great powers — or to retreat?

Stop calling Trump “medieval.” It’s an insult to the Middle Ages.

by Eric Weiskott

It’s not only ahistorical. It obscures uniquely modern evils.

Obama Makes It Harder to See the Arc of History Bend

by John Gans

My old boss’ post-presidential center is a missed opportunity.


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The important way the 2008 crisis was worse than the Great Depression

by Matt O'Brien

The 2008 crisis is still with us to this very day even though it officially ended almost a decade ago.