Current Events that Relate to History
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VignetteAncestry.com and the Long Civil War
The sad remnants of a soldier’s life revealed through probate and Ancestry offer a moving glimpse into the afterlife of Civil War service.UNC Press Blog -
CommentTrump May be Repeating Reagan's Deep Sea Mining Mistake
Undermining international oceans governance could damage American interests.Made By History -
CommentChrist vs. Culture, Religion vs. Politics
Religious leaders hid behind the separation of church and state to uphold the institution of slavery and the forcible removal of Native Americans.Panorama -
CommentThe Archaic Sex-Discrimination Case the Supreme Court Is Reviving
In Skrmetti, the Court turned to a decades-old decision once thought to be consigned to history.The Atlantic -
CommentHow Israel Deceived the United States About Its Nuclear Weapons Program
Israel is attacking Iran’s nuclear sites, but Tehran’s secret path was blazed by the Israelis.Washington Post -
Q&AThe Mind and Heart of Margaret Fuller
Margaret Fuller was a polymathic intellect and writer, simultaneously ahead of her time and deeply enmeshed in the social and political fabric of her era.Library of America -
LongreadGaza and the Undoing of Zionism
A historian reviews new books by Peter Beinart, Avi Shlaim and Pankaj Mishra on the project that animates Israel’s violence.New Lines
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. -
What Is the Role of the Historian?
Rethinking the job of history — and the American Historical Association — after the veto of the Gaza “scholasticide” resolution. -
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. -
The Constitution Does Not Speak for Itself
In 1841, John Tyler said he was the president. The Constitution said he wasn’t. What happened next? -
“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.