Current Events that Relate to History
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Book ReviewThe Contradictory Revolution
Historians have long grappled with “the American Paradox” of Revolutionary leaders who fought for their own liberty while denying it to enslaved Black people.New York Review of Books -
Book ReviewHow America Became Hostile to Shade
A roving history makes the case for shade’s centrality to public health, climate adaptation, and even a more robust and inclusive public sphere.The New Republic -
AntecedentThe Socialist Mayor Who Came 100 Years Before Zohran Mamdani
George Lunn, socialist mayor of Schenectady, New York rose to power in 1911 by making a difference in people's lives.Made By History -
ObituaryOzzy Osbourne Taught Kids To Rebel By Subverting Christianity
In Ozzy Osbourne's hands, Satan gave a middle finger to hypocrisy and fearmongering.USA Today -
ArgumentGeneral Groves Invented the Atomic Bomb, Not Oppenheimer
Gen. Leslie Groves promoted Oppenheimer as the atomic bomb's inventor to craft a propaganda narrative, obscuring the true creators and moral implications.Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists -
NewsMuir Woods Exhibit Becomes First Casualty of White House Directive to Erase History
Muir Woods National Monument added contextual notes to signs, filling in historical gaps. The Trump administration removed them.SFGATE -
exhibitNational Parks
This exhibit examines the roles national parks have played in environmental conservation, tourism and recreation, and public history interpretation.
From the HNN Archive
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How to Succeed in Government Without Really Trying
The long history of promising an “efficient” federal government. -
So Ductile Is History in the Hands of Man!
The past and present of counterfactual history, from antiquity to the Napoleonic Wars to a few very active subreddits. -
Indifferent to the Fate of Freedom Elsewhere
Jimmy Carter is known for his defense of human rights worldwide. But in 1979, he threatened to deport thousands of Iranian student protesters. -
An Attempt to Defeat Constitutional Order
After the Civil War, conservatives used terrorism, cold-blooded murder, and economic coercion to fight the new state constitution in South Carolina. -
Whose Side Are College Administrators On?
There’s a long history of politicians targeting student protesters — and of campus leaders abetting those efforts. -
Solve for AI
What the history of the pocket calculator reveals about the future of AI in classrooms. -
“At Any Future Time”
In 1880, the daughter of a Welsh politician turned to fiction to expose perspectives missing from the official record, upending histories for generations to come. -
Letting the World Scream
In 1984, the U.S. rejected the International Court of Justice’s jurisdiction, revealing its tendency to ignore international rules it sees as unfavorable — even when it helped write them. -
Scared Out of the Community
Between 1929 and 1939 approximately half a million Mexicans left the United States. Many of the departing families included American-born children to whom Mexico, not the United States, was the foreign land. -
When Good Housekeeping Meant Getting Vaccinated Against Polio
The pages of 1950s lifestyle magazines offer a glimpse of a time when childhood vaccines were anything but controversial.