Current Events that Relate to History
-
sourcedHow the Working-Class Man’s Game Became an Elite Sport in the U.S.
The path to the World Cup is accessible to only a narrow slice of American soccer players.Hammer & Hope -
BiographyStephen Foster and That Old, Weird America
The popularity of his music signaled the emergence of a very different country.The Hedgehog Review -
ExplainerHow the World Celebrated America’s 200th Birthday
Countries around the world participated in the 1976 bicentennial, in a turning point for US soft power.New Lines -
CommentWhat, to the American People, is the Semiquincentennial?
In the wake of vitriolic red-hat patriotism distorting the nation’s history, this essay revisits Frederick Douglass’s deftly critical work to ask.Pittsburgh Review of Books -
Book ReviewThe ‘Two Ships’ Theory of American History
Can our unruly national story be squeezed into two vessels?The Atlantic -
RetrievalThe Philly Killer at 50
Legionnaires’ disease is more prevalent than ever. So how did we forget it?Distillations -
exhibitAmerica’s Big Birthdays
Every 50 years, the nation comes together to wrestle with the principles of its founding and what they mean for us in the present.
From the HNN Archive
-
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
Declaring “Revolution”
Even after the fighting started, it took years before American Patriots started calling their cause a “revolution.” -
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.