Historians/History

25 Years Ago Saddam Invaded Kuwait. The World Was Never the Same Again.

by Tom Clifford

Why did he invade? He did it for the money. He’d gone to war with Iran on behalf of Saudi Arabia. He was owed.

On Wall Street: Slavery Lost, Found, and Remembered

by Pearl Duncan

The slave market that once existed on Wall Street is long gone. But we shouldn’t let absence define our memory.

Why Aren’t Pro-Life Evangelical Christians Appalled by America’s Record of Gun Violence?

by Lawrence S. Wittner

They preach love, but turn a blind eye toward the deaths of 30,000 by guns each year.

The Persistence of Myth in Southern Politics and Life

by Ron Briley

The notion that the Civil War and Reconstruction were foisted upon a defenseless South by a tyrannical central government retains considerable influence in a Southern ideology of persecution.

Was Jefferson Really a Racist?

by M. Andrew Holowchak

A careful reading of his book, Notes on Virginia, suggests he wasn’t.

Do You Remember William P. Rogers?

by Dr. Justin P. Coffey

Few recall he served as both attorney general under Ike and secretary of state under Nixon. But they should.

This Myth Obscures the Surprising Truth About the Confederacy

by Joan E. Cashin

When white Southerners proclaim that the Confederate flag represents their history, they are misrepresenting their own history. Some of their ancestors opposed the war effort, and some of them fought for the United States flag.

75 Years Ago FDR Decided to Break the Two-Term Tradition

by Richard Moe

Two memos, largely ignored by historians, explain why FDR felt comfortable going ahead.

What I'm Reading: An Interview with Juan Cole

by Tiffany April Griffin

The interview includes his favorite history book, his reason for writing a new textbook on world history, and his advice to history grads. 

The Anarchist Who Stood Up to Lenin and the Bolshevik Coup of October 1917

by Sergey V. Saytanov

His name was Peter Kropotkin. We should remember him.

Five Myths About Genghis Khan

by Frank McLynn

Forget all the things you’ve heard. This is the real Genghis Khan.

The Strange Beef Jefferson Had with the European Naturalist, Comte Buffon

by M. Andrew Holowchak

When Buffon claimed that animals and plants in America were inferior to Europe, Jefferson tried to prove he was wrong. Really?

This July 4th Let’s Begin to Change the Way We Think about America’s Past

by Thomas Fleming

In our colleges and universities, too many people, from professors to students, are taking a moral approach to the past.

The List of Presidential Assassination Attempts Is Shockingly Longer than Anyone Thought

by Mel Ayton

A new study shows that half a dozen presidents faced the threat of death in cases that were hushed up.

Who Did in the Counterculture? An Interview With Ron Jacobs

by Aaron Leonard

In his new book, Jacobs explains the role Nixon, corporations and the police played.

October 18, 1962: This Is What It’s Like in the White House in an International Crisis (Part 3)

by Sheldon M. Stern

The frightening debate inside the White House at the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Did Waterloo Really Matter?

by Mark Jarrett

It did. Here’s why.

We’re Remembering Napoleon’s Failure at Waterloo this Week. Here’s Another.

by Katherine B. Aaslestad

Unable to defeat Great Britain on the high seas, new research shows that he tried and failed to win by sabotaging Britain’s economy.

How Watergate’s E. Howard Hunt Made Me a Better Historian

by David A. Horowitz

The lessons learned from my encounter with Howard Hunt would penetrate my subsequent scholarship on the 1920s Ku Klux Klan, New Deal opponents, pre-Pearl Harbor noninterventionists, post-World War II anticommunists, 1960s racial segregationists, and latter-day critics of the Washington political class.

How Radical Was Jefferson?

by M. Andrew Holowchak

By the standards laid out by Hume, the answer is: pretty radical.