Current Events that Relate to History
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Journal ArticleHow the Rio Grande Was Engineered into a Border
Twisting waters once blurred the boundary, but twentieth-century engineering turned the Rio Grande into a fixed, policed line.JSTOR Daily -
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2026 Iran war
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First PersonThe McKinsey Century
A young consultant’s rise reveals the firm's power and influence, and the growing tension between ethics, profit, and global impact.Compact -
CommentBorn in the USA
For the Supreme Court to accept the Trump administration’s attempt to revoke birthright citizenship, it would have to repudiate the Constitution.New York Review of Books -
Comment
How California’s War on Smog and Its Ambitious Car Pollution Rules Made Everyone’s Air Cleaner
The Clean Air Act gave California the authority to issue tough pollution standards for vehicles, with EPA approval. Now Trump is trying to stop it.The Conversation -
CommentImperial Decline in the Straits of Hormuz
The Iran War as America's very own Suez crisis.Tom Dispatch -
LongreadA Brief History of the History of Science
What do "Works in Progress" and "Social Text" have in common?Asterisk
From the HNN Archive
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What Has His Billion Dollars Made of Him?
Finding shades of Elon Musk in Upton Sinclair’s 1937 novel about Henry Ford. -
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. -
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. -
An Appeal for Inaction
On the United States’ 150th birthday, Calvin Coolidge said that the country’s work was done. Not everyone agreed. -
Governing by Police
The Metropolitan Police Department in DC has been an essential component of Washington politics since its founding.