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Gil Troy

Gil Troy is a professor of history at McGill University. His latest book — his tenth — is The Age of Clinton: America in the 1990s .



  • The Man Who Went Full Trump for FDR

    by Gil Troy

    He made up stories to smear the opposition and barely backpedaled when called out—Charlie Michelson perfected the nasty art of political mud-slinging.

  • How General Motors Saved Rosa Parks

    by Gil Troy

    In 1994 Civil Rights legend Rosa Parks had her house broken into and robbed. Then, without any publicity, the car giant stepped in to help.

  • When Eisenhower Took on Big Oil

    by Gil Troy

    Republicans weren’t always opposed to big government intervention, and one of the party’s icons wasn’t afraid to do it against the wishes of the oil industry.

  • Inside the Nazi Camp on Long Island

    by Gil Troy

    Next door to a Germans-only colony featuring streets named Hitler and Goebbels was a youth camp with swastikas on bunks and Hitler Youth short shorts.

  • The Racist Origins of the SAT

    by Gil Troy

    While it unintentionally aided the disadvantaged in its earlier forms, the SAT was the fruit of a very poisonous tree.

  • Westway, New York's Great Highway That Never Was

    by Gil Troy

    The idea was to transform four miles of the West Side into one hundred acres of urban parkland that would embrace houses, shops, and offices—with a six-lane highway underneath. But Westway never happened.

  • Filming Rodney King’s Beating Ruined His Life

    by Gil Troy

    Twenty-five years ago, George Holliday awoke to the sound of sirens and helicopters, hit ‘record’ on his new video camera, and preserved one of the most racially volatile moments in U.S. history.