Current Events that Relate to History
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NarrativeDying Before Germ Theory
The harrowing experience of being powerless against illness and death.Nursing Clio -
Book ReviewThe First Time America Went Beard Crazy
A sweeping new history explores facial hair as a proving ground for notions about gender, race, and rebellion.The New Yorker -
Book ExcerptA Brief History of New York’s First Great Architectural Firm
On the eccentric, creative minds behind McKim, Meade and White.Literary Hub -
AntecedentThe Dark History That Predates Trump's 'Alligator Alcatraz'
The location of Trump's immigrant detention center has a painful history of incarceration, abuse, and private interests.Made By History -
ComparisonThe Gilded Age Roots of American Austerity
Both Trump and Cleveland employed the rhetoric of worthiness and efficiency, anti-fraud and anti-corruption, as justifications for their austerity measures.Jacobin -
CommentFor Decades, a Treaty Contained the Threat of Nuclear Weapons. Now That’s All at Risk.
Trump did not create this situation, but he has accelerated its centrifugal forces.Slate -
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.