Current Events that Relate to History
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Origin StoryWhat the Birth of the Sanctuary Movement Teaches Us Today
The birth of the sanctuary movement some 45 years ago can teach us a lot about how to respond to today’s attacks on immigrants.The Nation -
Book ReviewWas the Civil War Inevitable?
Before Lincoln turned the idea of “the Union” into a cause worth dying for, he tried other means of ending slavery in America.The New Yorker -
DispatchWhat It Means to Tell the Truth About America
And what happens when empirical fact is labeled “improper ideology.”The Atlantic -
CommentSaid’s Specter
Columbia is at war with its intellectual heritage.The Chronicle of Higher Education -
NarrativeHow Dreams of Buried Pirate Treasure Enticed Americans to Flock to Florida During the Twenties
1925 marked the peak of the Florida land boom. But false advertising and natural disasters thwarted many settlers’ visions of striking it rich.Smithsonian -
CommentOut at Home?
Under the Trump administration's book police, Jackie Robinson’s life and actions are considered dangerous memories.Commonweal -
exhibitAmerican Environmentalisms
Tracing the many forms that environmentalism has taken in the U.S., from transcendentalism and conservationism to the 20th century push for regulation to today's climate justice movement.
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. -
“A Party for the White Man”
The scene at the 1964 Republican National Convention, when Barry Goldwater was nominated and black Republicans’ worst fears about their party were confirmed. -
Indifferent to the Fate of Freedom Elsewhere
Jimmy Carter is known for his defense of human rights worldwide. But in 1979, he threatened to deport thousands of Iranian student protesters. -
Ohio’s Little-Known Fascist Member of Congress
How a local prosecutor protected white supremacists and went on to a career in Washington, DC. -
When Good Housekeeping Meant Getting Vaccinated Against Polio
The pages of 1950s lifestyle magazines offer a glimpse of a time when childhood vaccines were anything but controversial. -
The Forebears of JD Vance and the New Right
Revisiting the Agrarian-Distributists and their fabrication of an American past. -
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.