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History News Network

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Roundup Top 10!


Oregon Was Founded As a Racist Utopia

by Matt Novak

When Oregon was granted statehood in 1859, it was the only state in the Union admitted with a constitution that forbade black people from living, working, or owning property there.


Can the Internet be archived?

by Jill Lepore

What happens when your evidence vanishes by dinnertime?


New generation of activist-athletes

by Jelani Cobb

Is the cultural march toward equality now in the hands of athletes, not artists?


When the South Wasn’t a Fan of States’ Rights

by Eric Foner

The strange, often forgotten, history of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850.


The Japanese diplomat who saved thousands of Jews from the Holocaust

He disobeyed orders. Today he’s a hero in Japan.


China must confront and learn from its postwar history

by Jonathan Zimmerman

China focuses on Japan's willful blindness to its WW II history, but China itself ignores its own.


The right’s Reaganomics trap: How it distorted “populism” — and the left went along

by Michael Lind

Pushing tax cuts for the masses instead of cuts for the rich isn't "progressive" — it's left-Reaganism. Here's why


Save Us From Washington’s Visionaries

by Andrew J. Bacevich

In (Modest) Praise of a Comforting Mediocrity


Is It Possible to Accidentally Plagiarize?

by Melissa Dahl

We're most likely to unintentionally plagiarize when we're trying to multitask; doing one thing at a time might help keep us from stealing without realizing.


Reagan’s bizarre defenders: Rick Perlstein, phony centrism and the strange attack on history

by Paul Rosenberg

The right attacked an acclaimed historian's Reagan book. What's really odd is how the sensible, smart set responded.