Current Events that Relate to History
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Museum Review'Founders Museum' from White House and PragerU Blurs History, AI-generated Fiction
Historians say it's good to highlight America's founders, but the project takes too narrow a view of history.NPR -
CommentWhy Don’t We Take Nuclear Weapons Seriously?
The risk of nuclear war has only grown, yet the public and government officials are increasingly cavalier. Some experts are trying to change that.The New Yorker -
Journal ArticleHamilton’s Real Immigration Story
The popular musical poses Alexander Hamilton as a symbol of the value of immigrants brought to America, but over time, his party became increasingly xenophobic.JSTOR Daily -
BiographyPretty Garrotte: Why We Need Dorothy Parker
While she always insisted that she wasn’t a ‘real’ critic, Dorothy Parker is more astute than most on matters of style.London Review of Books -
Book ReviewA Republican Excursion
As a new book on their travels together shows, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison's friendship went beyond politics.Law & Liberty -
ProfileWar Powers to the People
Louis Ludlow’s war referendum amendment was the high-water mark of American antiwar populism.The American Conservative -
exhibitEpidemic Proportions
How Americans have understood epidemics, from the Columbian Exchange to COVID-19.
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. -
Elevating the Few
What JD Vance excludes from the history of the Civil War and immigration. -
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.