Historians/History

Jimmy Carter: The Last of the Fiscally Responsible Presidents

by Joe Renouard

Jimmy Carter’s Economy Was Better than You Think

Remembering Soldier's Bravery at Iwo Jima, 75 Years Later

by Jack H. Lucas

"I had no way of knowing that in a matter of a few short hours I would make the most important decision of my life and in the lives of three members of my fire team. The choice would be mine: either I could die alone or all of us would die together."

Happy 200th Birthday to Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906)

by Sandra Weber

In commemorating Anthony’s birthday, women have examined the past, celebrated their progress, and looked to the future.

The Communist Manifesto Turns 172

by Sam Ben-Meir

This is a moment that we should not allow to pass without some reflection on the meaning to us today of Marx and Engels’ pamphlet.  

Re-Animating the 1619 Project: Teachable Moments Not Turf Wars

by James Brewer Stewart

Those of us who value the 1619 Project can reclaim our “teachable moment” by excavating beneath the heated rhetoric. There we will discover that the journalists and the historians embrace conflicting but equally valuable historical truths regarding slavery’s power to shape our nations past and present.

The Making of a Periphery

by Ulbe Bosma

How did the once-prosperous islands of Southeast Asia transform into a “peripheral” region?

Frank Ramsey: A Genius By All Tests for Genius

by Cheryl Misak

Unlike his friends Russell and Wittgenstein who focused on the vastness and the unknowability of the world, Ramsey believed it was more important to concentrate on what is admirable and conducive to living a good life. 

The 1619 Project Debate with History of Slavery in New York City

by Alan Singer

Slavery and its legacies in New York City. 

Why Thomas Jefferson Was Really No Friend of Religious Freedom

by M. Andrew Holowchak

Thomas Jefferson, because of the passage of his Bill for the Establishment of Religious Freedom, is customarily viewed by scholars as a paladin of religious freedom. Yet there is reason to question that view.

Kindergarten Goes to the University Classroom: The Educational Value of Show and Tell

by Andrew Joseph Pegoda

During the Fall 2019 semester, I experimented with having students do 10-minute Show and Tell presentations in my Secularisms/Atheisms religious studies and U.S. history seminar. The results couldn’t have been better.

How the South Dominated American Education

by John Heffron

An excerpt from John Heffron's The Rise of the South in American Thought and Education: The Rockefeller Years (1902-1917). 

Celia Sánchez Manduley: The Most Famous Woman You Have Never Heard Of

by Tiffany A. Sippial

The work to preserve and study the history of the Cuban Revolution and its contributors—like Celia Sánchez Manduley—is arduous but important. 

Twelve Scholars Critique the 1619 Project and the New York Times Magazine Editor Responds

Scholars composed a letter to The New Times Magazine concerning 'The 1619 Project.' The NYTM editor, Jake Silverstein, responded but the NYTM declined to publish the letter and his response. The scholars created a reply and Silverstein had no objection to publishing the exchange in another venue. It is published here.

Modeling Grief: the Death of Children in Historical Perspective

by Maria E. Doerfler

As students of the history of emotions have argued, even the deepest and most primal feelings require models for experiencing one's own suffering and for responding appropriately to others’. The relative lack of such models in contemporary American society contrasts sharply with other eras' approach to voicing bereavement.

The History of Presidential Misconduct Beyond Watergate and Iran-Contra

by HNN Staff

At the AHA, James Banner, Kathryn Olmstead, Kevin Kruse, and Jeremi Suri discussed how they revived a long forgotten report on presidential misconduct. 

The History Behind the Border and Immigrant Detention Centers

by HNN Staff

Families are separated at the border and people are indefinitely detained in overcrowded facilties. How a panel at this year's AHA conference examined the history of immigration. 

What Will the Museums of the Future Be Like?

Help the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History by taking this brief survey to share what you’d like to see from *your* National Museum.

Remembering Dennis Showalter, Grandmaster of Military History

by Paul A. Thomsen

On the evening of December 30, 2019, Dennis Showalter, a noted scholar of German, American, and military history, fought his last battle and rode off on a pale horse.

Four Speeches by Dr. King That Can Still Guide Us Today

by Alan Singer

Martin Luther King, Jr. challenged the war in Vietnam, U.S. imperialism, and laws that victimized working people and the poor, not just racial discrimination.

Do Morals Matter in Foreign Policy?

by Joseph S. Nye, Jr.

Examining 14 presidencies since 1945 shows that a radically skeptical view of morality is bad history. Morals did matter.