Newsletter Features

Where Did the Myth of the Victorian Prude Come From?

by Catherine Phipps

The actions of a few elites shaped the way we remember an entire generation.

Young Washington Is Old History

by Denver Brunsman

A new movie relies on 19th century myths to portray the very British George Washington as a moralistic proto-American ready to pursue independence. 

Declaring “Revolution”

by Robert A. Gross

Even after the fighting started, it took years before American Patriots started calling their cause a “revolution.”

Just Mad Mamas?

by Sam Worley

The women who founded the 1980s-era Parents Music Resource Center portrayed it as being beyond politics. Its actions, funding, and legacy suggest otherwise.

Birthright Citizenship Existed Before the Fourteenth Amendment

by Van Gosse

The idea that citizenship extends to everyone born on U.S. soil has precedents stretching back to the Founding.

Witness to a Revolution

by Marc Egnal

A historian thinks about how interpretations of the American Revolution’s causes have changed — and stayed the same — over the course of his career.

The Hard Work of Reckoning with Local History

by Claire Wolnisty and Felix Harcourt

How the residents of Sherman, Texas, came together to patch a hole in historical memory.

Reading Playboy for the History

by Chris Halsted

A historian stumbles upon an article that provides a fascinating glimpse into how the world thought about witchcraft and sex in 1963.

A Different Kind of Historical Labor

by Jaclynn Ashly

One man has been steadily carving rock-hewn churches in Ethiopia for more than a decade. Scholars appreciate what his work teaches them about the past, while marveling at something completely new.

A Roosevelt Corollary for the World

by Sean T. Byrnes 

Donald Trump didn’t bring back the Monroe Doctrine. That was the work of the 26th president — and many of the presidents who succeeded him.

What Has His Billion Dollars Made of Him?

by Olivia Paschal

Finding shades of Elon Musk in Upton Sinclair’s 1937 novel about Henry Ford.

There’s No Business Like Coup Business

by Barney Hagan

In 1876, Porfirio Díaz successfully deposed the Mexican government. He couldn’t have done it without the help of powerful Americans.

The Bad Bunny Doctrine

by Arturo Chang

The Superbowl LX halftime show tapped into a 200-year old tradition of elevating hemisphere over nation in the struggle against imperial rule.

An Appeal for Inaction

by Bruce W. Dearstyne

On the United States’ 150th birthday, Calvin Coolidge said that the country’s work was done. Not everyone agreed.

Deploying Federal Troops to U.S. Cities Is a Second Amendment Issue

by Noah Shusterman

But not because the founders wanted to see more guns in the hands of Americans.

History According to Robert Bork

by Toby Jaffe

How the conservative scholar’s 1996 bestseller anticipated blaming everything on “woke.”

On a Hunt for 19th-Century Erotica, We Found Lesbians

by Alexandra Vasti and Raisa Rexer

What are we to make of the sapphic love depicted in early fiction and photography?

The Daily Grail

by Aaron Ackerley

In the interwar period, a British media magnate set out to convince voters to stop worrying and love protectionism.

Governing by Police

by Brendan Hornbostel

The Metropolitan Police Department in DC has been an essential component of Washington politics since its founding.

America’s Privacy Policy

by Jillian Foley

Recent news coverage has called the Privacy Act of 1974 “Watergate-inspired,” but such framing misses the big picture.