Roundup

What Did Lincoln Really Think of Jefferson?

by Allen C. Guelzo

“Lincoln hated Thomas Jefferson.”

America is unworthy of black forgiveness

by Mark Santow

White frustration with the unwillingness of blacks to recognize that claim to racial innocence constitutes a search for cheap grace.

Confederate Monuments Don't Belong on the Landscapes of Government

by Karen L. Cox

Not all public spaces are alike, and when it comes to government-sanctioned spaces like local courthouses and state capitols, an argument can and should be made for their removal.

Ukraine’s easy, misunderstood Babel

by Timothy Snyder

Not a few Russian intellectuals, depressed by the Orwellian state of Russian public discourse, have come to see Ukrainian cities as the hope for the future of Russian culture.

The Grand Dilemma: What Is the Most Dangerous Threat to America?

by Mark N. Katz

From ISIS and Iran, to China and Russia, which threat should America focus on?

How a long-dead white supremacist still threatens the future of Virginia’s Indian tribes

by Joe Heim

Walter A. Plecker’s goal as Virginia’s registrar of vital statistics was to ban race-mixing.

Roundup Top 10!

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

A New Deal for Greece?

by Bill Kelson

Like the Roosevelt administration of the 1930s, Syriza and its coalition partners want to break Greece out of a straightjacket of budgetary constraints.

The Conflict in Washington Over Who Should Lead America’s Enemies List

by Michael T. Klare

A country without a coherent plan for advancing its national interests is a sorry thing. Worse yet, however, as we may find out in the years to come, would be a country forever on the brink of crisis and conflict with a beleaguered, nuclear-armed rival.

Obama’s place in history becomes even more secure

by Steve Benen

It is a little early to start reflecting on Obama’s place in history, but after last week there’s been renewed talk, not just about Obama’s rejuvenated presidency, but also about his qualifications for the pantheon of American leaders of historic consequence.

The Atlantic Slave Trade in Two Minutes

by Andrew Kahn and Jamelle Bouie

Watch the slave ships plow the Atlantic in an ever increasing race from Africa to the Americas.

Han Chinese Marriage: A Lesson for Chief Justice John Roberts

by Andrew Meyer

Marriage has evolved (much more recently than most people imagine) to become a relationship between equals, thus there is no justification to exclude same-gender couples from the marital bond.

Liberals have reason to rejoice

by Julian Zelizer

But they should still not be sanguine. They shouldn't go too far in thinking that the nation is all of a sudden trending to the left.

A Biography of ‘The Nation’: The First Fifty Years

by D.D. Guttenplan

Founded by abolitionists to finish the job of Emancipation in 1865, The Nation became a moribund defender of the status quo. But its firm anti-imperialism, and one crusading editor, brought it back to life.

Suffragist Belle La Follette earned a spot on the $10 bill

by Nancy C. Unger

The winner should be someone who fought for everyone’s rights

PBS Documentary About Early Palestine Substitutes One Myth For Another

by Alyssa Goldstein Sepinwall

The documentary disputes the idea that Muslims and Jews have always been enemies; it also challenges standard Zionist narratives about Jewish settlement in prestate Israel.

The President Against the Historian

by Bret Stephens

Michael Oren’s candid account of Obama’s Mideast policy has won him the right enemies.

A New Right Grounded in the Long History of Marriage

by David M. Perry

Citing the work of historians that demonstrates the constant evolution of the institution, the U.S. Supreme Court decides to recognize a constitutional right to same-sex unions.

"Hi, I'm Uncle Sam and I'm a War-oholic"

by William Astore

War on drugs. War on poverty. War in Afghanistan. War in Iraq. War on terror. The biggest mistake in American policy, foreign and domestic, is looking at everything as war.

Bring down the Confederate flag, not memory of Civil War fallen

by Jonathan Zimmerman

In the wake of the Charleston murders, the campaign against the Confederate flag has morphed into attacks on other historical vestiges of the Confederacy itself. And anyone who cares about history should be alarmed by that.