Roundup

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: William Ashley (AKA: Billy Sunday) Preaching Against Alcohol

How preachers used to sound (and some still do).

The Pope Is Coming to Get Us -- At Least That's What We Used to Think

by Edward T. O’Donnell

It was not that long ago that word of the impending arrival of a pope on the shores of the United States would have triggered bloody riots and a call to arms.

The Question of Narrative

by Tom Cutterham

Should historians employ the narrative approach? Or is it limiting?

Pop Culture Roundup: This Week

by HNN Editor

Topics include: GOP debate, Yitzhak Rabin, Bill O'Reilly's new book, "Killing Reagan."

From ‘the Scarlet Whore’ to Pope Francis: A Brief History of America and the Papacy

by Ted Widmer

It would have amazed the Founders that a pope would be willing to speak to Congress—and that Congress would want to hear him, for that matter.

Why the Pope wants to canonize Father Junipero Serra

by Steven W. Hackel

Serra may be remembered for whipping Indians, but the Pope hopes he'll serve to remind Americans of their Hispanic roots. 

Kissinger the Freedom Fighter

by Niall Ferguson

Henry Kissinger is often condemned as a heartless practitioner of realpolitik. But early in his career, he was strikingly idealistic.

Ben Carson Would Fail U.S. History

by Denise A. Spellberg

The idea of a Muslim president was first debated 227 years ago

Bernie, Donald, and the Promise of Populism

by William Greider

Both candidates have been mislabeled as populists. The movement of that name was a genuine people’s rebellion that reinvigorated democracy. We can do it again.

Six Myths about the Coup against Iran's Mossadegh

by Morgan Carlston

The CIA is often blamed for the August 1953 coup removing Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh from power. But a careful examination of older studies reveal that common conceptions of the events and chronology are flawed.

The Radical Roots of the Great Grape Strike

by David Bacon

Dawn Mabalon, a history professor at San Francisco State University, has documented the radical career of Larry Itliong, who headed the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC), one of the two organizations that carried out the 1965 strike.

The Founding Fathers: Demigods or scoundrels?

by Joseph J. Ellis

May I suggest that both images — the founders as secular saints or as politically incorrect sinners — tell us more about us than them.

The 168 Year-Old, One-Eyed Racist That Explains The Rise Of Donald Trump

by Ian Millhiser

Benjamin Ryan Tillman laid the legal groundwork for Jim Crow in his state — often advancing his racist views through murderous tactics.

Parental Advisory Forever: An Oral History of the PMRC's War on Dirty Lyrics

by Zach Schonfeld

Thirty years ago, the music industry changed forever in the midst of the Parents Music Resource Center's fight to identify and label explicit lyrics.

Greece is making us look bad

by Jonathan Zimmerman

Despite their economic troubles, most Greeks are welcoming refugees

Confederate flag flap isn’t an invitation to rewrite history

by Alex Beam

Dylann Roof’s attachment to the Confederate battle flag has set off a dramatic reconsideration of how we remember the Civil War.

How the Republican Party became a haven of resentment and rage

by Randall Stephens

The latest Republican presidential primary debate had it all: denunciations of President Obama, angry rants about America’s future, and all manner of bile. It seems like a new low – but in reality, Republican candidates have been singing this tune for years.

Roundup Top 10!

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

Dear Iraqi Architects, Archaeologists and Friends of Iraq World-Wide

by Ihsan Fethi

A New Destructive Project for Karbala Shrine!