Current Events that Relate to History
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Book ReviewThe Thinking Person’s Hawk
Zbigniew Brzezinski’s ideas had a profound impact in his time. What would he think of the world we face today?Democracy Journal -
Book ExcerptA Brief History of Solitary Confinement in America
The use of the punitive tactic exploded a century after US officials had deemed it too torturous.Jewish Currents -
sourcedGuantánamo’s Secret History
Trump isn’t the first U.S. president to use the military base to incarcerate migrants.The Dial -
Book ReviewAmerica’s Greatest Mistake
Globalization left millions behind as a policy and transformed the world politically, a new book argues.The American Prospect -
Origin StoryThe Polio Vaccine Was a Miracle—and We Must Not Forget It
As a polio survivor, I am a dinosaur today. My great hope is that our country’s living memory of the disease ends with my generation.The Bulwark -
Book ReviewI Do Not Have to Be You: Audre Lorde’s Legacy
Audre Lorde’s legacy shows how feminism can honor difference, as Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor argues in this review.London Review of Books -
exhibitPolarized Lenses
The battle lines taking shape across America's political, media, and cultural spaces seem to be thickening by the day. How can history help us navigate this growing polarization?
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. -
If the Slipper Doesn’t Fit
A scorched shoe is a crucial part of Zelda Fitzgerald’s modern mythology. But there’s no proof it existed. -
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.