Roundup

401(k)s are retirement robbery: How the Koch brothers, Wall Street and politicians conspire to drain Social Security

by James W. Russell

The decades-long tale of how the Kochs, Reagan, Wall Street and even Democrats have tried to gut Social Security

We Are Long Overdue for a Paul Robeson Revival

by Peter Dreier

Paul Robeson was the most talented person of the 20th century.

The Strangest Wars in History

The shortest war?  The longest war?  

Roundup Top 10!

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

The Abuse of History in the Ukrainian Crisis

by Marco Siddi

By invoking inflammatory slogans like “Putin is Hitler” and “Ukrainians are fascists”, both Russian and western leaders distort the realities of 21st Century Ukraine.

Phineas Gage, Neuroscience’s Most Famous Patient

by Sam Kean

Each generation revises his myth. Here’s the true story.

How Memory Speaks

by Jerome Groopman

The role of memory in virtually every activity of our day is put in sharp focus when it is lost.

Ronald Reagan's Benghazi

by Jane Mayer

Congress actually undertook a useful investigation and made helpful recommendations.

Thomas Piketty Is Pulling Your Leg

by John Judis

Perhaps, Piketty is on the defensive because of the pathetic review on National Review’s blog.

Ukraine's Crisis and the "What if" in Ukrainian History

by Taras Kuzio

What would Ukraine look like today if the Viktor Yushchenko presidency had not been a total failure?

The Surprisingly Engrossing History of Patent Examiners

by Kara W. Swanson

In the 19th century, they were celebrities!

ANC Uses History to Sweep South Africa’s 2014 Elections

by Emily Bridger

The African National Congress’s continued political success owes much to its use of the past and the memory of Nelson Mandela.

Boston tapes were never meant to be part of current affairs – they're a history project

by Diarmaid Ferriter

During the 1930s in Ireland, politicians, educators and IRA veterans expressed increasing concern about the urgency and importance of collecting testimony from survivors of the War of Independence for historical posterity.

Netanyahu’s Blood and Soil: The Racist-Nationalism of his “Jewish State” Ideal

by Juan Cole

Binyamin Netanyahu is again beating the “Israel is a Jewish state” drum, and now wants to have it legislated into Israeli organic law.

Yellow Blood: Hepatitis C and the Modernist Settlement in Japan

by Vivian Blaxell

Japan has one of the highest rates of hepatitis C virus infection in the industrialized world.

Clarence Thomas’s Counterrevolution

by Corey Robin

Thomas believes that racism is so profoundly inscribed in the white soul that you’ll never be able to remove it.

Felon disfranchisement preserves slavery’s legacy

by Pippa Holloway

Nearly six million Americans are prohibited from voting in the United States today due to felony convictions.

What Should Historians Make of "Black Confederates?"

by Glenn Brasher

Most of the sightings were likely of slaves serving as body servants for their soldier masters.

If America is Weak, Who Made it Weak?

by Jim Sleeper

"We no longer have an army with a large pool of fit recruits, or an adequate budget, or even a national will, owing partly and inescapably to stances that these blowhards of American Destiny have urged us to take since before 9/11."

Was the Great War a Holy War?

by Philip Jenkins

When Europe went to war a hundred years ago this summer, all the nations involved loudly claimed to see God’s hand in the struggle.