Current Events that Relate to History
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CommentAccelerating American (and Planetary) Decline
A Talmudic tale of an attempt to cheat death is a metaphor for the Trump's attempts to portray U.S. empire as alive and well.Tom Dispatch -
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Iran
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Book ReviewGlobaloney: Brzezinski’s Cold War
As a Polish émigré and fervent Polish nationalist, Zbigniew Brzezinski focused most of his fear on the Soviet Union.London Review of Books -
Book ExcerptThe European Myth of Indigenous “Savages”
On race and religion in the colonization of Native Americans.Literary Hub -
BiographyJohn Adams
Great leaders succeed by choosing who else leads.In Pursuit -
RetrievalThe Hidden History of Native American Enslavement
Indigenous slavery, which lasted for centuries, has gone by many names. A new public history project wants us to see it for what it was.The New Yorker -
exhibitImperial Ambitions
Five hundred years of empire building in North America and beyond its borders.
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. -
If the Slipper Doesn’t Fit
A scorched shoe is a crucial part of Zelda Fitzgerald’s modern mythology. But there’s no proof it existed. -
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. -
Elevating the Few
What JD Vance excludes from the history of the Civil War and immigration. -
Whose Side Are College Administrators On?
There’s a long history of politicians targeting student protesters — and of campus leaders abetting those efforts. -
Solve for AI
What the history of the pocket calculator reveals about the future of AI in classrooms. -
“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. -
Slamming America’s Door Behind Him
How a son of European immigrants fought to keep Indian immigrants out of America. -
Governing by Police
The Metropolitan Police Department in DC has been an essential component of Washington politics since its founding. -
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.