Roundup

The Srebrenica Precedent

by David N. Gibbs

The Srebrenica massacre was a tragic event. But for the last twenty years, it’s been used to justify more war and US intervention.

The Dream World of the Southern Republicans

by Howell Raines

Demographics are transforming Southern society. Will the G.O.P. respond in time?

How Did President Zachary Taylor Actually Die?

by Zachary Crockett

Was he murdered?

No, the American Revolution was not a mistake

by Jeff Stein

The American Revolution "was a mistake," Dylan Matthews argued last week. He has a thought-provoking argument but Matthews's alternate history is not really correct.

Two Cheers for the Middle Ages!

by Eric Christiansen

Prejudice against the medieval runs deep.

To Each Age Its Inequality

by Ian Morris

We can find deep insights on this issue by looking all the way back to the end of the last Ice Age, 15,000 years ago.

Roundup Top 10!

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

What Does Marriage Equality Have to Do with Dred Scott?

by Amy Davidson

In part, Dred Scott is simply being used to give Obergefell a bad name—as pure invective, another way to call the decision rotten and the Supreme Court deluded.

Why Is Bill Kristol Embracing Confederate Nostalgia?

After all, neoconservatives historically have been hostile to Southern traditionalism

The Confederate Flag at War (But Not the Civil War)

by Greg Grandin

How Endless War Helps Old Dixie Stay New

Video of the Week: The History Of Homosexuality On Film

With gay marriage now legal in America, let's take a look back at how homosexuality has been portrayed on film. It's 120 years of misrepresentation in 10 minutes!

How Jackson Made a Killing in Real Estate

by Steve Inskeep

We all know the warrior president kicked Indians off their land. What's less known is why.

The Supreme Court's Challenge to Housing Segregation

by Richard Rothstein

Justice Kennedy’s surprise support for the Fair Housing Act is breathtaking — and saved the law from the demolition intended by Roberts, Alito, Scalia and Thomas. 

Frederick Law Olmsted’s indictment of journalism 150 years ago is as fresh as ever

by Richard Kreitner

A founder of The Nation, he wanted the magazine to bring depth to public debates.

Whining White Southerners

by Robert Parry

It is also not an affront to history to recognize the evil realities of history.

The Uses and Misuses of History: On Jefferson Davis, Thomas More, Martin Luther, and Other Villains

by Ronald A. Lindsay

An interest in history can become an unhealthy preoccupation with historical grievances. It is not necessarily a good thing to be obsessed with the ghosts of the past.

Hauling Down the Confederate Flag

by Davis S. Reynolds

From Elmer Ellsworth to Bree Newsome, Americans have risked life and limb to remove a symbol of a cause they revile.

Blame Jefferson for the Confederate Flag

by Nicolaus Mills

The Confederate flag debate has lately included the problematical Robert E. Lee. But Lee is not our real problem regarding slavery’s legacy. Thomas Jefferson is.

The political work of the Confederate flag

by Joseph Crespino

Public opinion on the flag has seemed to shift with lightning speed, and yet it is a wonder how, in our modern multiracial democracy, a symbol of a rebellious slave-holding regime from the 19th century has held on as long as it has.

Charleston Shooting Exposes America’s Pro-Apartheid Cold War Past

by R. Joseph Parrott

To win friends during the Cold War Rhodesia and South Africa, playing up its anti-communism, courted the white south.