Current Events that Relate to History
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CommentTwo Hundred and Fifty Years of Complicated Commemorations
Donald Trump’s aversion to admitting fault suggests that we will not see events that grapple with the nuanced nature of the nation’s history this July 4th.The New Yorker -
CommentThe Supreme Court Hacks Away at the Voting Rights Act Yet Again
Get ready for new fights over racist gerrymandering.The Bulwark -
Longread
The Rise & Fall Of ‘Petty Tyrants’
History shows that bad leaders can successfully undermine democracy — but the story always ends the same way.Noema -
Book ReviewDr. Freezelove
Who owns the Arctic?London Review of Books -
idea
2026 Iran war
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CommentWhite America’s Republican Drift
White Christians didn't get replaced—they changed their minds.Arc Digital -
exhibitVoting Rights: A Retrospective
Voting, a right not initially enshrined in the Constitution, has been secured, revoked, and contested since the nation's founding era.
From the HNN Archive
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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. -
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. -
Newsletter Features
The Bad Bunny Doctrine
The Superbowl LX halftime show tapped into a 200-year old tradition of elevating hemisphere over nation in the struggle against imperial rule. -
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.