Current Events that Relate to History
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AntecedentIn 1989, Senators Faced a Pete Hegseth Situation Very Differently
I covered the 1989 fight over George H.W. Bush's secretary of defense nominee. It feels awfully familiar.Slate -
CommentTrump’s Talk of the Panama Canal Taps Into Old Myths About U.S. Power
By threatening to reclaim the Panama Canal, Trump is evoking false stories about U.S. beneficence.Made By History -
DebunkThe Revisionist History of the Nazi Salute
Elon Musk’s defenders were quick to claim that his hand motion was actually an ancient “Roman salute” — but that gesture never existed.Hyperallergic -
Book ReviewWashington’s Hostess with the Mostes’
Dinner parties in the capital have long been a path to power, but Perle Mesta had her eye on a different prize.The New Yorker -
Book ReviewFarmer George
The connections between the first president’s commitment to agricultural innovation and his evolving attitudes toward his enslaved laborers at Mount Vernon.New York Review of Books -
ComparisonThe Attack on Birthright Citizenship Is a Big Test for the Constitution
Does the text mean what it plainly says?The Atlantic -
exhibit“All Persons Born or Naturalized in the United States...”
A collection of resources exploring the evolving meanings of American citizenship and how they have been applied -- or denied -- to different groups of Americans.
From the HNN Archive
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Letting the World Scream
In 1984, the U.S. rejected the International Court of Justice’s jurisdiction, revealing its tendency to ignore international rules it sees as unfavorable — even when it helped write them. -
The Burned-Over District
The Northeast caught fire this fall, in a way that recalls its past. History has some lessons about how to manage the region’s fire seasons to come. -
The Other Sherman’s March
How the younger brother of the famous general set out to destroy the scourge of monopoly power. -
Knight Club
Were the Knights of the Golden Circle responsible for Lincoln’s assassination? No one knows, but far-right secret societies always draw power from speculation. -
The Forebears of JD Vance and the New Right
Revisiting the Agrarian-Distributists and their fabrication of an American past. -
Nuggets of Condescension
By universalizing their own economic history, Western observers have used the past to portray African economic culture as backward and inadequate.