With support from the University of Richmond

History News Network

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!

The historical argument for impeaching Trump

by Heather Cox Richardson

Since Nixon, Republicans have pushed the envelope under the guise of ‘patriotism’, and Democrats have tolerated it because of ‘civility’.

The impeachment illusion

by Donald A. Ritchie

What is clear from the record is that politically-motivated impeachments fail. Only in cases where malfeasance has become overwhelmingly obvious to members of both parties in the House will there be any chance of conviction in the Senate, raising the question: is a losing effort worth the trouble?

There Is No Middle Ground on Reparations

by Ibram X. Kendi

Americans who oppose reparations care more about responding to political expediency than about the emergency of inequality.

Don’t Be Outraged They’re Being Called Concentration Camps. Be Outraged They Exist.

by Eladio Bobadilla

We should call Trump’s detentions centers what they are: concentration camps.

The End of History? FDR, Trump and the Fake Past

by Cynthia Koch

Trump is thinking more about history than we imagine and he is doing so in a way very different from former presidents.

Trump, America, and the Decline of Empires

by Tom Engelhardt

Trump is not an isolated phenomenon--historically or globally.

Why the Founders would be aghast that Trump would take ‘oppo research’ from foreign governments

by Christopher McKnight Nichols

Alexander Hamilton considered “the desire in foreign powers to gain an improper ascendant in our councils” among the “most deadly adversaries of republican government.”

She Was Born Into Slavery, Was a Spy and Is Celebrated as a Hero—But We're Missing the Point of the 'Mary Bowser' Story

by Lois Leveen

As a historian, I’ve grown concerned that our impulse to celebrate a black spy in the Confederate White House is impeding us from getting history right, in troubling ways.

The Opioid Epidemic as Metaphor

by Faith Bennett

As cinematic portrayals of opioid use and abuse tend to be this sensational, commonplace opioid usage almost feels as if it doesn’t fit into this pattern of addiction at all.

The Impeachment Roadmap from 1974 to 2020

by Sidney Blumenthal

What lessons does Watergate offer for politicians considering impeachment today?