Roundup

Privatizing History

by Patrick Stephenson

It's hard to have historical grievances if you don't know any history.

The Iranian Ascendancy

by Peter Van Buren

Twelve Years Later, We Know the Winner in Iraq: Iran

John Wilkes Booth and the Higher Law

by David S. Reynolds

Was Abraham Lincoln's assassin inspired by the militant abolitionist John Brown?

What happened to freedom of speech?

by Jonathan Zimmerman

We need to educate our students against bigotry without turning our backs on the Constitution.

Remains From Lincoln’s Last Day

by Timothy Egan

Today’s Republican Congress wouldn’t pass a Homestead Act, which provided a path to citizenship and prosperity for those who were neither citizens nor prosperous.

Do Assassins Really Change History?

by Benjamin F. Jones

Yes, they do — but with some important caveats.

The Myths of Kim Philby

by Jefferson Flanders

A Spy Among Friends offers an entertaining and amusing account of the fading English elite in all its eccentric glory—a comic Downton Abbey view of the British intelligence establishment. As a serious work of historical scholarship, however, Macintrye’s book leaves much to be desired.

The Iran Deal and Its Consequences

by Henry Kissinger and George P. Shultz

"Until clarity on an American strategic political concept is reached, the projected nuclear agreement will reinforce, not resolve, the world’s challenges in the region."

Freedom In Martyrdom

by Dr. Alon Ben-Meir

To effectively counter violent extremism, we must carefully consider how the development of events in the wake of World Wars I and II have impacted the psychological disposition of the Arab population throughout the Middle East.

Remember the Carter Doctrine

by Max Boot and Michael Doran

A better way forward in the Middle East.

Roundup Top 10!

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

How the Computer Got Its Revenge on the Soviet Union

by Slava Gerovitch

Condemned as a capitalist tool, the computer would help expose the USSR’s weakness.

Why the Confederacy Lives

by Euan Hague

One hundred-fifty years after Appomattox, many Southerners still won’t give up.

No, Jews Aren’t Defecting to the GOP

by Josh Zeitz

Republicans have tried to woo them many times before. It’s never worked.

The Civil War Isn't Over

by David W. Blight

150 years after Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox, Americans are still fighting over the great issues at the heart of the conflict.

Two new histories show how the Nazi concentration camps worked.

by Adam Kirsch

Over the several phases of their existence, prisoners were treated simultaneously as inmates to be corrected, enemies to be combatted, and workers to be exploited.

President Rand Paul’s Middle East Policy

by Juan Cole

What would a Rand Paul presidency look like with regard to Middle East policy?

Oldest footage of New York City ever

Incredible footage of New York City with maps showing where the camera was. 

Rand Paul and the Problem of Political Experience

by Jeff Shesol

The troubling thing about Rand Paul and the other Republican hopefuls is their indifference—indeed, their proud resistance—to the kind of experience that broadens one’s perspective and changes one’s mind.

The U.S. and Israel: Diverging Interests

by Lawrence Davidson

It is often alleged that the basis for U.S.-Israeli relations lies in “shared concerns and interests.” However, what really holds the relationship together is a systemic aspect of American politics - the system of special interest lobbying and the money that underlies it.