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.

Roundup Top 10!


How the Right Gets Reagan Wrong

by Henry Olsen

And what will happen if they don't start getting him right.


Confederate Monuments and the Forgotten Warning of a Crisis to Come

by Ibram X. Kendi

Not every aspect of that heritage and history is well known.


Comparing Donald Trump to Richard Nixon is unfair — to Nixon

by Max Boot

Watergate was about a domestic political break-in. Kremlingate is far darker and more consequential.


What pundits and politicians have gotten wrong about inequality

by Destin Jenkins

A historian explains the broader dimensions of the wealth gap  –  and how race plays a role. 


African Americans Have Lost Untold Acres of Land Over the Last Century

by Leah Douglas

An obscure legal loophole is often to blame.


How the GOP Turned Against Medicaid

by Joshua Zeitz

It began as a modest, bipartisan program to help poor children. But as America’s economy hollowed out, Medicaid grew—and Republicans came to oppose it.


Watergate didn’t become Watergate overnight, either

by Frank Rich

Trump’s implosion is more likely to occur before there’s an impeachment vote on the floor of the House — as was the case with Nixon.


Mitch McConnell Refused to Meet With Group That Funded His Polio Recovery

by Jesse Hicks

He received treatments as a child at FDR’s Warm Springs. But turned his back on the March of Dimes when they came calling.


Sacrificing Black Lives for the American Lie

by Ibram X. Kendi

Fifty years ago, some Americans blamed the “rioters” who rebelled and were killed by the police in nearly 130 cities for their own deaths.


Why did ISIS blow up the mosque in Mosul?

by Kishwar Rizvi

It was following a tradition established by Saudi Arabia.