Roundup

When Conservatives Invoke Lincoln: From Dred Scott to Obergefell

by Corey Robin

But Lincoln never said what they say he said.  He said the opposite. 

Putin’s Imperial Adventure in Syria

by Simon Sebag Montefiore

Moscow lacks the resources to replace America and will find in Syria a quagmire, but Russians feel that a great imperial Russia has always been a player in the Middle East — and boldness counts for much in this wild world.

Roundup Top 10!

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

Social Media News: What People Are Talking About

This week ... David Greenberg, Simon Schama, Rick Perlstein, Michael Beschloss and more. 

Pop Culture Roundup: This Week

Stonewall, the Imitation Game, and Robert Redford's new movie about Dan Rather's report on George W. Bush's military record. 

When did polls became important tour understanding of American religion?

by Robert Wuthnow (Interview)

It was in 1976 when pollsters suddenly discovered the evangelical vote.

Are Transatlantic Slave Trade Reparations Due?

A NYT panel is convened to answer the question posed to David Cameron last week.

When Ronald Reagan Embraced Gun Control

by Francis X. Clines

Unlike Republican party leaders these days, Mr. Reagan eventually came to support reasonable gun control proposals.

Will the Supreme Court’s New Term Deliver the Next Great Dissent?

by Melvin I. Urofsky

We are so used to the Court deciding a case by a divided vote that we forget that until the 1940s over 90 percent of the cases decided each term were decided unanimously.

Medicare's Civil Rights Roots

by Vanessa Burrows and Barbara Berney

Thanks to black doctors and activists, Medicare transformed and equalized U.S. health care.

No, Carly Fiorina, a degree in medieval history doesn't qualify you to fight Isis

by David M. Perry

While the Middle Ages do in fact shape contemporary events all the time, Fiorina unfortunately almost always gets the lessons of history wrong.

Abortion is still illegal in the UK, thanks to this Victorian law

by Sally Sheldon

The 1861 act is an archaic, badly flawed piece of legislation, which is ripe for reform. It includes specific offence such as failing to feed one’s servants properly.

The Messiest Speakership Battle in History

by Josh Zeitz

160 years ago, a similarly fractured GOP took months to settle on a speaker.

Donald Trump and the “F-Word”

by Rick Perlstein

An unsettling symbiosis between man and mob

Sean Wilentz is wrong about the Constitution and slavery

by Patrick Rael

According to Sean Wilentz’s opinion piece in the September 16 New York Times, the Constitution of 1787 did not make slavery a national institution. Wilentz badly misinterprets the antislavery sentiment evident at the constitutional convention of 1787.

No, Donald Trump, Mideast wouldn’t be more Stable under Saddam & other Dictators

by Juan Cole

The mistake Mr. Trump is making is to think ahistorically, that is, to think as though societies do not change dramatically over time.

Why Hungary’s PM should read up on his history before shunning Syrian refugees

by Ursula Rothe

For a start, Syria has a much longer Christian history than Hungary And. 2,000 years ago Hungary was home to a very large and prosperous Syrian community.

How to Protect the Working Poor From 300 Percent Interest Rates

by Louis Hyman

Banks could be encouraged to make small loans -- as they did during the Great Depression with the support of the federal government.

This is why the canonization of Junípero Serra is so controversial

by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

Visitors to California missions don't usually notice the whipping posts.  Serra is the one who began the practice of having Native Americans whipped. 

Roundup Top 10!

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