Current Events that Relate to History
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CommentWhen the Cuban Missile Crisis Shook the Hemisphere
As nuclear war loomed, ordinary people throughout Latin America made their voices heard.Americas Quarterly -
Comment53 Years Later, a Police Murder Still Demands Dallas Reckon with Its Past
The 1973 murder of a 12-year-old changed Dallas forever. But activists say the city has to do more to ensure it’s never repeated.Dallas Observer -
Book ReviewAmerica’s Only Successful Coup Served the Ruling Class
The only successful coup in US history took place in Wilmington in 1898. It dismantled a black and white alliance that threatened the ruling class.Jacobin -
Book ExcerptHow Not to Save a Neighborhood
Nixon’s plan assumed precisely what Martin Luther King Jr. and Stokely Carmichael had warned against.Pittsburgh Review of Books -
Book ExcerptHow Leprosy Was Used as a Weapon Against Hawaii’s Indigenous Population
The intersections of illness and colonialism in the Pacific.Literary Hub -
LongreadJohn Adams: Pioneer American Conservative
He balanced a spirit of personal enterprise with a vigilant devotion to virtue.Modern Age -
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
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Newsletter Features
Young Washington Is Old History
A new movie relies on 19th century myths to portray the very British George Washington as a moralistic proto-American ready to pursue independence. -
Excerpts
A Danger to Civilization
Lothrop Stoddard believed that the concept of “natural equality” between people was a threat to America. In the 1920s, it was hardly a fringe idea. -
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
Declaring “Revolution”
Even after the fighting started, it took years before American Patriots started calling their cause a “revolution.”