With support from the University of Richmond

History News Network puts current events into historical perspective. Subscribe to our newsletter for new perspectives on the ways history continues to resonate in the present. Explore our archive of thousands of original op-eds and curated stories from around the web. Join us to learn more about the past, now.

HNN Rundowns

Week of January 14, 2013

Up Front

HNN Hot Topics: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
This year, MLK Day and Inauguration Day are one in the same.
Tags: Martin Luther King, MLK, MLK Day

The History of Inauguration Day
Bradley Craig
There have been 44 presidents and 66 inaugurations. Here's the highlights.
Tags: inauguration, Thomas Jefferson, presidents, George Washington

A Brief History of Presidential Inaugurations
Rick Shenkman
Presidential inaugurations from Washington to Obama.
Tags: inaugurations, Hot Topics, presidents, Barack Obama

HNN Teacher's Edition: For Grade School

HNN’s Teacher’s Edition is designed to help busy teachers build classes around topics in the news. With just a few minutes preparation, teachers will be able to teach a class on current events, even if they haven't been in a position to follow the news closely.

Presidential Inaugurations
Lesson Plan
Backgrounder

Tags: Teacher's Edition, inauguration, presidents, presidency

Deficits and the Debt Ceiling
Lesson Plan
Backgrounder

Tags: Teacher's Edition, deficits, debt, economic history

Q & A

When Was the Debt Ceiling Created?
Bradley Craig
As with many money-raising instruments of government, it goes back to wartime expediency.
Tags: debt ceiling, Congress, Q & A, war bonds

Blogs

Crazy Right-Wing Conspiracy Theories Gone Mainstream
Steve Hochstadt
The right doesn't trust anybody these days ... and that's dangerous.
Tags: conspiracy theories, far right, Republican Party, right wing

“Ike” and the “Red Menace”: Some Myths Won’t Die
Ira Chernus's MythicAmerica
Eisenhower's narrative of "national insecurity" vs. Dr. King's.
Tags: Cold War, communism, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Martin Luther King

News at Home

The Real Origin of America's Gun Culture
Carole Emberton
Forget 1776: The Civil War, Reconstruction, and Samuel Colt are most directly responsible.
Tags: guns, gun culture, Civil War, Reconstruction

Why Ports Are the New Factories
Louis Hyman
And how port strikes can bring the "service" economy to its knees.
Tags: unions, strikes, Flint sitdown strike, Walmart

Does Slavery Still Exist Today?
Robert E. Wright
The answer, sadly, is yes.
Tags: slavery, human trafficking, Emancipation Proclamation, abolition

Channelling George Washington: Junking the Constitution
Thomas Fleming
A Georgetown law prof says we should ditch it -- President Washington says no.
Tags: Channelling George, Constitution, Thomas Jefferson, Founding Fathers

We're All [Ancient] Greeks Now When It Comes to Debt
Thad A. Titze
Classical Athens pioneered sovereign debt.
Tags: debt, ancient Greece, economic history, default

News Abroad

The Pentagon as a Global NRA
Tom Engelhardt
For Washington, there is no such thing as arms control abroad.
Tags: military-industrial complex, the Pentagon, guns, arms industry

Using Cold War Tactics to Confront Iran
Daniel Pipes
We've engaged both Stalin's Russia and Mao's China with the carrot and the stick, so why not Islamist Iran?
Tags: Iran, Cold War, Revolutionary Guard, foreign policy

Historians & History

Joyce Appleby Backing Petition to Disarm the Filibuster
Nearly one hundred historians have signed. If you would like to sign the petition, email Joyce Appleby at appleby@history.ucla.edu.
Tags: filibuster, petitions, Joyce Appleby, Congress

Eight Things I Miss About the Cold War
Jon Wiener
College was cheap, unions were strong, and there was no terrorism-industrial complex.
Tags: Cold War, unions, college tuition, terrorism

How Did the Gates of Hell Open in Vietnam?
Jonathan Schell
Nick Turse's Kill Anything that Moves confronts the ugly reality of the war in Vietnam
Tags: Vietnam, war crimes, atrocities, books

Antietam's Bloody Intersection of War and Politics
Robin Lindley
Richard Slotkin on the battle and the Emancipation Proclamation
Tags: Antietam, Civil War, Richard Slotkin, interviews

Historians on Reddit?
Kris Wood
Yes, they're out there.
Tags: Reddit, social media, AskHistorians, trends

Education

How to Revitalize Public Education
Mark Naison
Bring it back to the community.
Tags: education, education reform, teaching, schools

Culture Watch

Baseball's Hall of Fame Hypocrisy
Ron Briley
Not a single athlete was selected for Cooperstown this year because of the taint of the steroids era, but players are far from the only guilty party.
Tags: baseball, Cooperstown, sports, steroids

Chivalry Isn't Dead
David Patten
A recent Swedish study says that "women and children first" is a myth when it comes to shipwrecks. They're wrong.
Tags: chivalry, gender, masculinity, shipwrecks

Aux armes, citoyens!
Bruce Chadwick
Les Misérables is a winner.
Tags: film, Les Misérables, historical accuracy, movie reviews

The Agony of the Soldier Returned from the Wars
Bruce Chadwick
Quiara Alegria Hudes's Water by the Spoonful reaches for greatness but doesn't quite succeed.
Tags: drug addiction, Iraq, Off-Broadway, theater, veterans

The Tragedy of Involuntary Commitment
Bruce Chadwick
Charlotte Jones's Airswimming offers harrowing look at mental healthcare in 1920s England.
Tags: Off-Broadway, theater, mental health, England

Books

Review of Martin Duberman’s Howard Zinn: A Life on the Left
Ron Briley
This latest biography examines the personal as well as the political.
Tags: Howard Zinn, A People's History, books, biography

Review of Kevin Phillips's 1775: A Good Year for Revolution
Jim Cullen
Say you want a revolution...
Tags: American Revolution, books, Kevin Phillips, religion