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Historians/History


  • Ayn Rand's Defense of an Anti-Union Massacre

    by Greg Mitchell

    The screenwriter and novelist was inspired by the 1943 memoir of Republic Steel head Tom Girdler, in particular his refusal to apologize for collaborating with Chicago Police to crush a march of striking steelworkers and their families in 1937. 


  • From "Shell Shock" to PTSD, Veterans Have a Long Walk to Health

    by Charles Glass

    Iraq War veteran Will Robinson brought himself out of a mental health crisis by hiking more than 11,000 miles of trail from the Pacific Crest to the Appalachian, following the century-old prescription of British military doctor Arthur Brock. 


  • Travel Was a Driver of Eleanor Roosevelt's Leadership

    by Shannon McKenna Schmidt

    Eleanor Roosevelt's leadership on behalf of the New Deal and the national war effort were always enhanced by her enthusiasm for travel, which culminated in a 25,000 mile journey to the Pacific theater in August, 1943. 


  • For Derby Day, a Note of Caution About Horses and "Races"

    by Mackenzie Cooley

    The thoroughbreds on display at Churchill Downs next Saturday carry on Italian renaissance practices of horse breeding for sport and aesthetic pleasure. But the spectacle warns of another legacy: the fateful transfer of the term "race" from purposefully selected lineages of horses to broad groupings of humans. 


  • Why Did Madison Write the Second Amendment?

    by Carl T. Bogus

    Understanding the political peril that ensnared both the pre-ratification Constitution and James Madison himself makes it clear that the Second Amendment was written to ensure that southern state militias would be sufficiently armed to suppress slave revolts even if abolitionists controlled Washington. 


  • The Curious History of Ulysses Grant's Great Grandfather

    by John Reeves

    The military experiences of Noah Grant in the French and Indian War typified changes in military strategy in the Americas and cemented a family commitment to the military that drove his great grandson Ulysses. 


  • What Makes a Rebel Into a Hero?

    by Stephen Dando-Collins

    The same political process that made a hero out of the rebel Julius Caesar made villains out of his assassins, and burnished the reputations of some other rebels against the Roman Empire. 


  • Scientists: The Unsung Heroes of the American West

    by Elliott West

    From animal husbandry to epidemiology, the work of scientists was critical to America's conquest of the west, while the region also provided critical evidence in the debate over Darwin's theory of natural selection.