Roundup

Yitzhak Rabin’s legacy reconsidered

by Moshe Dann

Rabin’s legacy was the “Oslo process” which shifted national momentum from Zionism and Jewish sovereignty to Palestinianism and the “two state” delusion.

Fifteen Ways Nelson Rockefeller Still Matters

by Jonathan A. Knee

The sheer magnitude of Rockefeller’s ambition across the domains of business, government and philanthropy and the unselfconscious ease with which he moved among these worlds stand in stark contrast with what would be even conceivable today.

Is Barack Obama the Worst President in American History?

by Ivan Eland

With America’s ahistorical orientation and restrictive two-party political system, people on the right of the American political spectrum reflexively and viscerally believe that the current left-of-center president is the worst in history; left-leaning people had the same opinion of George W. Bush.

US Dilemma in Syria: Moderate Stronghold Falls to al-Qaeda, Fighters desert to Extremists

by Juan Cole

Not only did Syria Revolutionaries Front leader Jamal Marouf have to flee his hometown, but some of his fighters actually turned on him and joined the Succor Front.

LBJ's archived phone calls show a different side of power (video)

by Scott Calonico

Filed under the heading:  You can't always get what you want 

The Powerlessness of Positive Thinking

by Rick Perlstein

The battles over American history and censorship in Colorado are part of the longstanding cult of optimism on the Right.

From Ancient DNA, a Clearer Picture of Europeans Today

by Carl Zimmer

Advances in biotechnology have made it possible to begin extracting entire DNA from the bones of ancestors who lived thousands of years ago.

Videochatting With Communists

by Julia Barton

As Cold War tensions came to a head, two men, working across the ocean from one another, became united in the quest to create conversations between Americans and Russians over the telephone lines.

How photography – and phrenology – helped make Abraham Lincoln president

by Joanna Cohen

A virtual unknown on the national stage in 1860, Lincoln needed a public image in the run up to his first presidential campaign. Artists and print-makers all rushed in – but Lincoln was fascinated by the process of photography.

America’s conspiracy mania: Why Ebola and 9/11 truthers reflect a tortured history

by Jonathan Zimmerman

From 9/11 to McCarthyism, we have a long history of conspiracy theories -- and government acts have encouraged them.

Behind the Wall

by Amy Davidson

"It’s often said that the Berlin Wall finally fell by mistake."

Why do we care about politicians' personal lives? Blame Disraeli

by Daisy Hay

It sometimes seems you can’t get anywhere in politics until you’ve been photographed with your arm wrapped around a photogenic spouse – or, if you are a man, gallantly unloading your own dishwasher.

The ominous symbolism of the noose

by Jack Shuler

"The noose ... became a stand-in for vigilantism, for murder by community, an unveiled threat and a symbol to brandish to keep blacks especially 'in their place.' "

Nothing You Think Matters Today Will Matter the Same Way Tomorrow

by Frank Rich

Just look at the future we imagined in 1964.

Why Does No-one Remember the Assyrian Victims of Ottoman Turkey's Christian Holocaust?

by Uzay Bulut

The Assyrian genocide occurred 100 years ago, and decimated a people whose territory stretched from the areas now known as Iraq, Turkey, Syria and Egypt.

Roundup Top 10!

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

150th Anniversary of Lincoln’s Reelection: How the campaign might have looked in the TV age

What would the 1864 presidential campaign have looked like if Abe Lincoln and Gen. George B. McClellan had used today’s deceptive campaign techniques and video attack ads?

ISIS and American Idealism: Is History Going Our Way?

by David Kaiser

In the Middle East, it's theory versus reality.

Jewish History's Lesson for Handling Ebola

by Joshua Teplitsky

In 1712 Plague Outbreak, Jews Were Placed in Quarantine

The Reagan Reflex

by Jeff Shesol

Reagan’s appeal seems only to intensify with time.