Recent Articles

• 
• 12-6-13
  

  Mandela's Lasting Legacy: Integrity and Dignity

  David Austin Walsh

  Cornell professor Judith Byfield on Nelson Mandela's passing.
  

  Historians/History

• 
• 12-6-13
  

  Nelson Mandela Was Truly One of History's Great Men

  James Mittelman

  A moral force in the world, Nelson Mandela sacrificed dearly for the values of freedom and social justice.

  Historians/History

• 
• 12-2-13
  

  Slim Majority of History PhDs Hold Tenure-Track Jobs

  David Austin Walsh

  But nearly a quarter of recent PhDs are in non-tenure track/contingent positions.

  Historians/History

• 
• 12-2-13
  

  Corporations Can Speak... But Can They Also Be Religious?

  Emma Long

  The Supreme Court will consider religious exemption challenges to Obamacare in the upcoming term.
  

  News at Home

• 
• 12-2-13
  

  How the New Deal Defines the Debate Over Obamacare

  David Davenport and Gordon Lloyd

  Lessons from Messrs. Roosevelt and Hoover.
  

  News at Home

• 
• 12-2-13
  

  The Battle for Ohio's Middle Class

  John T. McNay

  Labor's 2011 victory in Ohio offers a blueprint for the future.
  

  News at Home

• 
• 12-2-13
  

  Andrew Jackson: Symbol of a Southern Age

  Mark R. Cheathem

  From the Revolution through to the Civil War, the South dominated American political life.
  

  Historians/History

• 
• 12-2-13
  

  Does the Road to Mideast Peace Run through Tehran?

  Juan Cole

  The diplomatic breakthrough at Geneva is still only a down payment on a much bigger deal.

  News Abroad

• 
• 12-2-13
  

  The American Way of Manners

  Tom Engelhardt

  Col. Manners answers your questions on the etiquette of war, nuclear threats, and surveillance.
  

  News Abroad

• 
• 12-2-13
  

  Channelling George Washington: Should Obama Have Gone to Gettysburg?

  Thomas Fleming

  Our first black president is proof that we've finally had a new birth of freedom in America. But it's complicated.
  

  News at Home

• 
• Imperial & Global Forum
  11-20-13
  

  In Defense of Global History

  Marc-William Palen

  David Bell was too harsh on Emily Rosenberg's "A World Connecting: 1870-1945."
  

  Roundup: Talking About History

• 
• Imperial & Global Forum
  11-26-13
  

  Diminishing Returns of the Global Turn

  David A. Bell

  Global history has met the law of diminishing returns in its insights.
  

  Roundup: Historians' Take

• 
• 12-2-13
  

  The Nazis, the Haganah and a Feisty Dr. Ruth

  Bruce Chadwick

  Did you know that Dr. Ruth, America's favorite sex therapist, is a Holocaust survivor?
  

  Culture Watch

• 
• June 2006
  

  Where Did The Term “The West” Originate?

  Nathan Calverley

  What is the geopolitical entity known as “The West”?

  Google Questions

• 
• 12-2-13
  

  Review of Gary J. Bass's "The Blood Telegram"

  Ron Briley

  Contemplating America's complicity in the genocide of Bengali Hindus.
  

  Books

• 
• 12-2-13
  

  Review of Gershon Baskin's "The Negotiator"

  Murray Polner

  How Israel built bridges with its worst enemies.
  

  Books

• 
• November 2001
  

  Top 10 Myths About Thanksgiving

  Rick Shenkman

  The Pilgrims didn't even hold the first Thanksgiving.
  

  Fact & Fiction

• 
• November 2008
  

  Why Is Our Thanksgiving Bird Called a Turkey?

  Larry E. Tise

  Answer: Because the Turks were the first Old Worlders to domesticate the bird.
  

  History Q & A

• 
• 11-25-13
  

  Why are Thanksgiving and Hanukah on the Same Day This Year?

  Joshua B. Dermer

  Thanks to the Jewish lunar-solar calendar, we won't see Thanksgivingukah again for 77,000 years.
  

  Google Questions

• 

• HNN Hot Topics: Thanksgiving

  The best web commentary on the Thanksgiving holiday.
  

  Hot Topics

• 
• 11-25-13
  

  Documenting Historians' Revolutionary Demographic Change

  Alan M. Kraut and David A. Gerber

  In 1962, the president of the American Historical Association warned about young historians of "lower middle-class or foreign origins." How times have (thankfully) changed.
  

  Historians/History

• 
• 11-25-13
  

  I Don't Care Who Killed JFK

  Peter Dreier

  It really doesn't matter who killed the thirty-fifth president.
  

  Historians/History

• 
• 11-25-13
  

  The Nazis' Gun Ban Facilitated Kristallnact

  Stephen Halbrook

  Jewish-owned guns were registered and were easily confiscated in the weeks before the onslaught.

  Historians/History

• 
• 11-25-13
  

  The Problem with "Extraterritoriality"

  Alan McPherson

  U.S. soldiers accused of crimes in Afghanistan are tried in U.S. courts. That's been a problem before during the occupation of the Dominican Republic.

  News Abroad

• 
• 11-25-13
  

  What Happens When a Country's Culture is Replaced by Immigrants?

  Diana Muir Appelbaum

  It happened before in Mexican Texas.
  

  Historians/History

• 
• 11-25-13
  

  Averted: The War Between Iran and America

  Juan Cole

  The dream of the neoconservatives during the Bush administration -- an American flag in Tehran -- looks to be just that: a dream.
  

  News Abroad

• 
• 11-25-13
  

  More Danger at Home than at War

  Bruce Chadwick

  This off-Broadway play is something of a small miracle.
  

  Culture Watch

• 
• 11-25-13
  

  Why Did Jack Ruby Kill Lee Harvey Oswald?

  Bruce Chadwick

  "Witness to the World" asks.
  

  Culture Watch

• 
• 11-25-13
  

  Review of William G. Hyland Jr.'s "Long Journey with Mr. Jefferson"

  Kathryn Moore

  A biography fit for the author of the seminal six-volume biography of Thomas Jefferson.
  

  Books

• 
• 11-25-13
  

  Review of Paul Buhle's "Radical Jesus: A Graphic History of Faith"

  Jim Cullen

  A provocative approach to religion, pedagogy, and history.

  Books

• 
• 11-22-13
  

  A New Film Life of President John F. Kennedy [INTERVIEW]

  Robin Lindley

  Director Susan Bellows on the PBS documentary "JFK."

  Historians/History

• 
• 11-22-13
  

  Lee Harvey Oswald Inside the Soviet Union [INTERVIEW]

  David Austin Walsh

  Journalist Peter Savodnik discusses his new book, "The Interloper."
  

  Historians/History

• 
• 11-20-13
  

  Why Didn't Obama Say "Under God" in His Recitation of the Gettysburg Address?

  John Fea

  Simple: Because "under God" isn't in the version Obama was asked to read.
  

  Historians/History

• 
• 11-20-13
  

  Why Lee Harvey Oswald Pulled the Trigger

  Steven M. Gillon

  The Warren Commission painted him as a disaffected sociopath. But Oswald actually had a political reason to kill JFK: to impress Castro.
  

  Historians/History

• 
• 11-20-13
  

  Would We Still Have Had "The Sixties" If Kennedy Had Lived?

  James T. Patterson

  Remember, the turmoil of the 1960s stemmed from forces unrelated to JFK's assassination.
  

  Historians/History

• 

• 11/22: The Day "Truth" Died

  When JFK died, America's belief in "truth" as absolute certainty began to die too. 

  Ira Chernus's MythicAmerica

• 
• 11-18-13
  

  Changing the Teaching of History, One Byte at a Time

  Sam Wineburg

  History education is preparing students for the pre-Internet world. Here's how to bring the K-12 history classroom into the twenty-first century.
  

  Education

• 
• 11-18-13
  

  Is the "Yellow Peril" Dead?

  Ellen D. Wu

  How Asian Americans became the model minority -- and why whites still consider them to be a threat.
  

  News at Home

• 
• 11-18-13
  

  Will Typhoon Haiyan Cause Meaningful Political Reform in the Philippines?

  Richard T. Chu

  Natural disasters can often spark political reforms, especially in corrupt and nepotistic countries like the Philippines. But here's why that probably won't happen.
  

  News Abroad

• 
• 11-18-13
  

  Does PBS's "JFK" Whitewash Kennedy's Flaws?

  Sheldon M. Stern

  The new PBS documentary fails to rise above the imagery crafted by Arthur Schlesinger and Theodore Sorensen in the 1960s.
  

  Historians/History

• 

• HNN Hot Topics: Gettysburg Address

  Web commentary on the sesquicentennial of the most celebrated speech in American history.
  

  Hot Topics

• 
• December 2012
  

  How Historically Accurate is "Lincoln"?

  Kelsey McKernie

  The short answer is: very.
  

  Google Questions

• 
• 11-18-13
  

  The Kennedys and Martin Luther King

  Yohuru Williams

  King and the Kennedys remain important symbols of the power of hope and the promise of a just democracy.

  Historians/History

• 
• 11-18-13
  

  The Silver Lining of Obama's Weak America

  Daniel Pipes

  Obama's weakness is forcing America's allies to step up.
  

  News Abroad

• 

• HNN Hot Topics: John F. Kennedy

  The best of web commentary on the legacy of the thirty-fifth president.
  

  Hot Topics

• 
• 11-18-13
  

  Abraham Lincoln Never Believed in Racial Equality

  Alan J. Singer

  "I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races."

  Historians/History

• 
• 7-8-02
  

  What Was Lincoln's Record on Civil Liberties?

  David Greenberg

  Lincoln *did* suspend habeas corpus, but he did have good reason.
  

  Google Questions

• 
• 11-18-13
  

  A Vivid Look at Gay Life in Castro’s Cuba

  Bruce Chadwick

  Gay life was not much fun under communism.
  

  Culture Watch

• 

• Review of Richard Moe's "Roosevelt's Second Act"

  Bernard von Bothmer

  Was the 1940 presidential election the most important in American history?

  Books

• 
• 11-18-13
  

  Review of Linda Ronstadt's "Simple Dreams"

  Jim Cullen

  A musical memoir with a few too many silent notes.

  Books