Current Events that Relate to History
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OverviewHow Did Republican Fashion Go From Blazers to Belligerence?
Trump and his cronies’ style reflects a platform where grievance is currency and performance is power.The Nation -
LongreadHow Originalism Killed the Constitution
A radical legal philosophy has undermined the process of constitutional evolution.The Atlantic -
Book ReviewDressed for Reform
Long before it was fashionable, Amelia Bloomer pioneered what would later be dubbed "respectability politics."Contingent -
CommentUnderstaffing and Underperformance
A cautionary tale from the Veterans Health Administration’s troubled past.Nursing Clio -
Book ReviewThe Parallel Lives of Cold War Frenemies
On new biographies of Zbigniew Brzezinski and Henry Kissinger.History Today -
Book ReviewHow Today’s America Came About
Two different accounts from former Democratic Party insiders about the “giant U-turn” from postwar prosperity to the polarization and inequality of today.The American Prospect -
exhibitThe Limits of Free Speech
When the framers set out to enumerate fundamental liberties, freedom of speech was near the top of the list. Ever since, Americans have struggled to define the limits of this right.
From the HNN Archive
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How to Succeed in Government Without Really Trying
The long history of promising an “efficient” federal government. -
So Ductile Is History in the Hands of Man!
The past and present of counterfactual history, from antiquity to the Napoleonic Wars to a few very active subreddits. -
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. -
Elevating the Few
What JD Vance excludes from the history of the Civil War and immigration. -
Whose Side Are College Administrators On?
There’s a long history of politicians targeting student protesters — and of campus leaders abetting those efforts. -
Solve for AI
What the history of the pocket calculator reveals about the future of AI in classrooms. -
“At Any Future Time”
In 1880, the daughter of a Welsh politician turned to fiction to expose perspectives missing from the official record, upending histories for generations to come. -
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. -
Scared Out of the Community
Between 1929 and 1939 approximately half a million Mexicans left the United States. Many of the departing families included American-born children to whom Mexico, not the United States, was the foreign land. -
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.