Roundup

This Article Is Not About Donald Trump

by Tom Engelhardt

(And If You Believe That, You’ll Believe Anything)

The Strange History of Empowerment

by Steven M. Gillon

The history of empowerment is that liberals and conservatives have transformed a potent concept of social change into a meaningless euphemism.

Where did the BDS movement originate?

by Lee Kaplan

The movement grew out of the Arab League boycott of Israel begun in 1950 after Israel’s War of Independence.

“The Dangers of a Fake Tubman Quote,” by Dr. W. Caleb McDaniel

by W. Caleb McDaniel

The trouble with the quote was that Tubman never said it.

Free trade is once again tearing apart the Republican Party

by Marc-William Palen

Free trade has become the Republican elephant in the room, thanks to Donald Trump.

Roundup Top 10!

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

The Sovereignty of Women

by Jill Lepore

What can be expected in the way of attacks on the legitimacy of a female ruler?

A New Fascist Revolution?

by Susan Schorn

We're in a fascist moment in many countries.  But what kind of fascism?  

Pop Culture Roundup: This Week

This week ... Rembrandt in 3-D, Brad Pitt's WW2, Hitler comedy, New Yorker TV, Ken Burns, and much much more. 

Jackie Robinson: Militant Black Republican

by Leah Wright Rigueur

“I’m a black man first, an American second, and then I will support a political party—third,” said Robinson in 1968.

Civic Education in the Age of Trump

by Jonathan Zimmerman

Public schools in the United States aren’t teaching students how to engage diverse opinions.

My Grandmother Voted for Hitler… But Then Hid Jews

by Marianne Schaefer Trench

This German granddaughter has always wondered how Hitler persuaded decent people like her grandmother to vote for him. Listening to Trump, now she knows.

Why Cruz Is Worse Than Trump

by Paul Krugman

On economics, that is.

Donald Trump’s Nuclear Uncle

by Amy Davidson

He mentions his uncle so often, and in such extravagant terms—“brilliant,” “one of the top, top professors at M.I.T.”—that it seems worth asking what the professor and his arcane knowledge mean to him.

Video of the Week: Ken Burns Talks Race and Jackie Robinson

Ken Burns explains how race is the common thread in all of his work, and why Jackie Robinson’s story is still so relevant.

What Today’s Congress Can Learn From the First Congress

by Fergus M. Bordewich

The First Congress produced the most successful record of accomplishment by any single Congress in American history.

‘It Was Riotous’: An Oral History of the GOP’s Last Open Convention

by Adam Wren

Twenty Republican Party figures remember 1976.

Is Hillary Clinton responsible for rise of ISIL, as Bernie’s Campaign Manager Alleged?

by Juan Cole

"She continues to have a very, very hawkish foreign policy that has led to the rise and expansion of ISIS throughout the Middle East.” - Jeff Weaver, Bernie Sanders’s campaign manager

Reconsidering Body Worlds: why do we still flock to exhibits of dead human beings?

by Samuel Redman

For nearly as long as physicians and anatomists have attempted to understand the body, they have attempted to preserve, illustrate and present it.

Happy Confederate History and Heritage Month

by David B. Parker

But just what cause are we honoring exactly?