Historians/History

Andrew Jackson’s Reputation Is Changing Again

by Steve Inskeep

The debunkers in the seventies focused on the Trail of Tears. Now historians are taking a broader perspective.

Theodore Roosevelt: An Old West Sheriff in the White House

by Daniel Ruddy

And the greatest law-and-order president in American history (and the last one to wear a gun in the White House).

When the Jews of Iraq Faced Murder and Mayhem

by Edwin Black

The June 1941 Farhud Massacre.

The Lives, Loves & Lies of Russia's Most Dangerous Spy

by Jeremy Dronfield and Deborah McDonald

Only now can her story be told.

Just What Exactly Are People Commemorating on the 200th Anniversary of Waterloo?

by Alan Forrest

For each of the nations present on the battlefield Waterloo had a different resonance.

The Woman Behind the Creation of the Hubble Space Telescope

by Alexander S. Collie

Vital to the creation of the telescope was Dr. Nancy Roman, sometimes called the “mother of Hubble.”

How Lafayette’s Arrival on the Hermione Made Yorktown Possible

by Thomas Fleming

The fascinating story of France’s role in our victory.

My Relatives Were on the Ill-fated Jewish Refugee Ship, the St. Louis

by Martin Goldsmith

They perished in the Holocaust. This is what I found when I looked for their roots.

The Hypocritical and Shameful History of the Democratic Party Before the Civil War

by Michael Todd Landis

Though they called themselves democrats, they weren’t.

On Our Evolving Knowledge of the Brain and Nervous System: An Interview with Dr. Mitchell Glickstein

by Robin Lindley

History is the best way to learn about the complex field of neuroscience, asserts renowned neuroscientist Dr. Mitchell Glickstein in his sweeping new book, "Neuroscience – A Historical Introduction."

Remember the Kerner Commission Report? Here's What You Don't Know.

by Steven M. Gillon

What made it speak to America was the last-minute work of a couple of wordsmiths. 

Was Robert Kennedy Really the Dove He and Arthur Schlesinger Jr. Made Him Out to Be During the Cuban Missile Crisis? (Part 2)

by Sheldon M. Stern

That’s not what the audio tapes show, says Sheldon Stern, in Part 2 of his series, “Capturing History as it Really Happened in October 1962.”

What Reagan Learned from FDR

by H. W. Brands

Roosevelt showed what a president can achieve by tapping the power of the American people, and Reagan was nothing if not an apt pupil.

Why Aren’t American Museums Doing more to Return Nazi-Looted Art?

by Elizabeth Campbell Karlsgodt

17 years after the US hosted the Washington conference on Nazi-confiscated art and pledged to facilitate “just and fair” solutions, a lack of transparency in American museums remains.

Why I Wrote a Book About the Wright Brothers (Interview)

by David McCullough

"They were both brilliant. They weren’t just a couple of clever bicycle mechanics who got lucky. I’m convinced, and it’s self-evident once you know the full story, that Wilbur Wright was a genius."

The North Won. This Wasn’t Inevitable.

by Joseph Wheelan

Until Lincoln’s reelection in November 1864, Union victory was never inevitable.

The History Wars in Ukraine Are Heating Up

by Christopher Gilley and Per Anders Rudling

Bad history is being enshrined in law. Critical historical research is under threat.

Thomas Jefferson’s Weird Fear of George Washington

by Thomas Fleming

The fantasy politics of our third president.

What Else You Should Know About Baltimore

by Calvin Schermerhorn

In the first half of the nineteenth century it was known as the slave traders’ capital city.

What Was on the Minds of the Big Three at Potsdam?

by Michael S. Neiberg

It wasn't the looming Cold War.  It was the way World War I had ended.  Call that the power of analogies from history.