Current Events that Relate to History
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LongreadThe Beaver and the Eagle: A 200-Year-Old Argument
The left case for an independent Canada.Jacobin -
Origin StoryThe Humble Beginnings of the National Airport
A swamp with a busy road going right through the middle, Washington’s airport was called “a disgrace.”Retropolis -
CommentThe Troubling Slavery-Era Origins of Inmate Firefighting
The history of enslaved firefighters offers a cautionary tale about the dangers of relying on involuntary labor to fight blazes.Made By History -
Art History
Rare Portraits Reveal the Humanity of the Slaves Who Revolted on the Amistad
William H. Townsend drew the rebels as they stood trial, leaving behind an invaluable record.The Conversation -
AntecedentAn “Iron Dome for America”: A History Repeating Itself
How America’s search for total security keeps making the world more dangerous.The Climate Historian -
ArgumentNo, We’re Not in a New McCarthy Era
Defending academic freedom doesn’t mean exaggerating the threats to it.The Chronicle of Higher Education -
exhibitInternational Trade
Histories of how money and commodities have flowed across borders, from the slave-based economies of maritime empires to contemporary globalization.
From the HNN Archive
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What Is the Role of the Historian?
Rethinking the job of history — and the American Historical Association — after the veto of the Gaza “scholasticide” resolution. -
Letting the World Scream
In 1984, the U.S. rejected the International Court of Justice’s jurisdiction, revealing its tendency to ignore international rules it sees as unfavorable — even when it helped write them. -
The First and Last Queen of Haiti in Exile
Queen Marie-Louise outlived most of her family, yet her story about the revolution and its aftermath was rarely consulted by those writing the era’s history. -
Ohio’s Little-Known Fascist Member of Congress
How a local prosecutor protected white supremacists and went on to a career in Washington, DC. -
The Forebears of JD Vance and the New Right
Revisiting the Agrarian-Distributists and their fabrication of an American past. -
Nuggets of Condescension
By universalizing their own economic history, Western observers have used the past to portray African economic culture as backward and inadequate. -
The Burned-Over District
The Northeast caught fire this fall, in a way that recalls its past. History has some lessons about how to manage the region’s fire seasons to come. -
Who Built the Panama Canal?
Finding testimony from the Afro-Caribbean workers who changed the Americas forever.