Roundup

The US Constitution Is Over 2 Centuries Old and Showing Its Age

by Richard Kreitner

To fix our broken system, we need a new constitutional convention.

The ugly history of the Pledge of Allegiance — and why it matters

by Christopher Petrella

Requiring displays of patriotism have often been tied to nativism and bigotry.

Video of the Week: Portland’s racist past and present

"Oregon is a racist utopia.” – Oregon historian.

Roundup Top 10!

This week's broad sampling of opinion pieces found on the Internet, as selected by the editors of HNN.

How to Be Less Stupid About the Civil War

by Ta-Nehisi Coates

"For the past 50 years, some of this country’s most celebrated historians have taken up the task of making Americans less stupid about the Civil War."

Paleo Politics

by Jedediah Purdy

What made prehistoric hunter-gatherers give up freedom for civilization?

The North tried compromise. The South chose war.

by Carole Emberton

The South's insistence upon protecting and spreading slavery caused the Civil War.

What Should We Do with Confederate Monuments?

by Dane Kennedy

A standing-room-only crowd gathered at the Rayburn House Office Building to hear three leading authorities on the subject: David Blight, Karen Cox, and Gaines Foster.

Gurriel was wrong to mock Darvish's eyes, but why?

by Jonathan Zimmerman

There's an ugly two-century record of Westerners denigrating Asian eyes.

America Has Been Fighting Over Statues Since the Founding

by Stephen F. Knott

Two centuries ago, another monument fight captured American politics: Hamilton vs. Jefferson.

Video of the Week: The crazy, true story of Nixon and the basic income

Tech CEOs like Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk are talking up the idea of a universal basic income. But the American history of the basic income goes back decades and includes Richard Nixon and a bizarre, centuries-old British experiment.

Students today don't know enough

by John Haas

"I’ve found that I really need to watch my vocabulary. It is not just technical terms that lose them. Words I would have never thought the least bit arcane are unknown to them."

What Is Really Unprecedented About Trump?

by Julian E. Zelizer

In many respects, the way that the president thinks about politics is utterly conventional.

How President Trump Is Succeeding Where FDR Failed

by David Kaiser

Trump’s conflict with Senators from his own party has an important historical precedent.

The Cuban Missile Crisis at 55

by James G. Blight and Janet M. Lang

“The bullshitter…does not reject the authority of the truth, as the liar does, and oppose himself to it. He pays no attention to it at all. By virtue of this, bullshit is a greater enemy of the truth than lies are.” —Harry G. Frankfurt, "On Bullshit"

The Perishable Politician

by Antoine Lilti

Our enduring, unhealthy relationship with celebrity presidents.

Roundup Top 10!

This week's broad sampling of opinion pieces found on the Internet, as selected by the editors of HNN. 

Video of the Week: How Southern Socialites Rewrote Civil War History

The United Daughters of the Confederacy altered the South's memory of the Civil War.

What the 'Trumpification' of the presidency means to Generation Z

by Julian Zelizer

If Richard Nixon taught the baby boomers that they could never fully trust a president, Trump is erasing any expectation whatsoever that the president should aim to heal and lift the dignity of the Republic.

The Casting Couch Perverts Who Peddled Fairy Tales

by Gil Troy

Hollywood always has, still is, and likely will be full of predators. But two of the most prolific were also two men who dramatically changed the industry.