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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!

Why disabled Americans remain second-class citizens

by David Pettinicchio

The big hole in our civil rights laws.

How the failure of popular politics triggered the rise of Boris Johnson

by Jesse Tumblin

Instead of solving intractable problems, public referendums simply exacerbate them.

Ellis Island's history casts today's border cruelty in an even harsher light

by Megan J. Wolff

Conditions right now are dirtier, more dangerous, and significantly crueler than they ever were at Ellis Island -- most pointedly so where children are concerned.

When the American right loved Mexico

by Mario Del Pero and Vanni Pettinà

Back when conservatives exalted free markets, our neighbor to the south was a vital ally.

2020 election is a test America can't afford to fail

by Nicole Hemmer

If the American system re-elects Trump, then something is deeply wrong with either our system or ourselves.

Trump's Supreme Court Challenge Has a Historical Precedent

by Bethany Berger

As Trump agrees reluctantly to respect the court—at least in the case of the census—he follows, in part, that long-ago legal victory of the Cherokee Nation.

Chicago’s resistance to ICE raids recalls Northern states’ response to the Fugitive Slave Act

by Kate Masur

Almost 170 years later, the Fugitive Slave Act is viewed as one of the most repressive federal laws in all of American history.

The long, ugly history of insisting minority groups can’t criticize America

by Tyler Anbinder

Trump’s attack against four Democratic members of Congress fits a pattern in U.S. politics.

Fifty Years After the Moon Landing, Recalling One Small Misstep

by Tad Daley & Jane Shevtsov

Why did the first humans to set foot off Planet Earth plant the flag of only part of Planet Earth?

Trump revives the idea of a ‘white man’s country’, America’s original sin

by Nell Painter

It can’t be left to black Americans alone to resist the president’s racism. Citizens of all colours need to resist, and embrace activism.

Lincoln Would Not Recognize His Own Party

by David W. Blight

He would see the Republicans as the antithesis of everything he fought for.

All the Presidents’ Librarians

by Michael Koncewicz

Despite being spied on and intimidated during my time in Yorba Linda, I still think presidential libraries are too important for historians to wash their hands of them.


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The Vicious Fun of America’s Most Famous Literary Circle

by Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen

The Algonquin Round Table trained a generation of socially conscious writers.