Current Events that Relate to History
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ComparisonThe Federal Government Botched the Bicentennial Too
There's a lesson laying there: Make it local, embrace the commercial, and ignore the president.Reason -
ObituaryAlan Greenspan Was a Faithful Servant of the Ruling Class
Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan was ideologically flexible but devoted servant of the powerful and a leading organizer of the war on US workers.Jacobin -
CommentHow Mexican Television Spread Soccer Across the U.S.
As the World Cup evolved into a multibillion-dollar spectacle, a bilingual culture emerged, onscreen and off.Zócalo Public Square -
Book Review‘Metsochism’
A new history of the Mets tries to turn the pain of losing into the struggle of class politics.New York Review of Books -
ArgumentThe Importance of the Battle of the Little Bighorn
The cultural lessons at the heart of Custer's failure.War on the Rocks -
CommentAs American as the Forward Pass
To understand the history of the nation, look to the history of its sports.The Atlantic -
exhibitThe Many Faces of Nativism
As this exhibit shows, anti-immigrant sentiment has been a throughline of American history.
From the HNN Archive
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Newsletter Features
Birthright Citizenship Existed Before the Fourteenth Amendment
The idea that citizenship extends to everyone born on U.S. soil has precedents stretching back to the Founding. -
Newsletter Features
There’s No Business Like Coup Business
In 1876, Porfirio Díaz successfully deposed the Mexican government. He couldn’t have done it without the help of powerful Americans. -
Excerpts
The Bicentennial Made American History Look Ridiculous
Many Americans felt the U.S. had failed to live up to its ideals on its 200th anniversary. They hoped it might improve by the Declaration’s next big celebration. -
Newsletter Features
An Appeal for Inaction
On the United States’ 150th birthday, Calvin Coolidge said that the country’s work was done. Not everyone agreed. -
Newsletter Features
What Has His Billion Dollars Made of Him?
Finding shades of Elon Musk in Upton Sinclair’s 1937 novel about Henry Ford. -
Newsletter Features
Reading Playboy for the History
A historian stumbles upon an article that provides a fascinating glimpse into how the world thought about witchcraft and sex in 1963.