A little-known law that radically changed America by Ted Widmer The Immigration Act of 1965 righted a wrong that began in 1924 with the passage of the McCarran-Walter Act.

Why Obama and Putin are Both Wrong on Syria by Juan Cole Obama wants al-Assad to stand down as a prerequisite for effective US action against Daesh in Syria. Putin thinks al-Assad is key to defeating Daesh and that everyone should ally with Damascus. What's needed is a synthesis of both approaches.

Islamophobia has a long history in the US Fear of Islam is tightly knit into the American fabric, and deeply rooted in its legal, political and popular imagination.

It is time to get very afraid: Extremists, authoritarians now run the GOP — and no one can stop them by Heather Cox Richardson Boehner and McConnell weren't conservative enough for them. Nor Eric Cantor. Right-wing purists won't stop here

What Ronald Reagan Teaches Us About Donald Trump by Rick Perlstein Reagan, and now Trump, reveal our own tendency to repress our fear of demagogues by dismissing them. And ultimately, it's all about us.

How Should Historians Remember the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act? by Geraldo L. Cadava Despite the rhetoric of equal treatment under the law, the 1965 Act bred inequality and was, at its core, restrictive and "conservative."

7 Slavery Myths Debunked by Jamelle Bouie and Rebecca Onion The Irish were slaves too; slaves had it better than Northern factory workers; black people fought for the Confederacy; and other lies, half-truths, and irrelevancies.

Debacle, Inc.: How Henry Kissinger Helped Create Our “Proliferated” World by Greg Grandin Each of his Middle East initiatives has been disastrous in the long run.

Jeb Bush’s Saying Blacks Want ‘Free Stuff’ for Votes Insults Our Dignity and History of Struggle by Peniel E. Joseph The GOP presidential candidate’s statement perpetuates a mythology of ignorance that casts black folks as a lazy mass of people dependent on government largesse for their existence.

History’s True Warning by Timothy Snyder How our misunderstanding of the Holocaust offers moral cover for the geopolitical disasters of our time.